Profile
Bridget Waller
Final two!!
My CV
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Education:
Sir Roger Manwoods Grammar School, Sandwich, Kent (1992-1996)
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Qualifications:
University of Portsmouth (PhD Psychology, 2002-2005); University of Liverpool (MSc Evolutionary Psychology, 2000-2001); Royal Holloway University of London (BSc Zoology, 1996-1999)
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Work History:
Glasgow Caledonian University, University of Portsmouth, Free University Berlin
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Current Job:
Senior Lecturer in Psychology
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I analyse facial expression in humans and other primates (chimpanzees, gorillas, macaques etc.) to try and understand what evolutionary selection pressures caused facial expression to evolve. The fact that we use our faces to communicate with each other is fascinating, and how we do this can make or break a friendship! Many people think that how we speak to each other (and what we say) is the most important thing that affects how we interact, but I don’t think this is true. Lots of our communication is ‘non-verbal’ (e.g. facial expression, gestures, body position) which is something we share with many other primates. So, my job is to try and understand how it works, and why we evolved like that. 🙂
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My Typical Day:
I don’t have a typical day, which is part of the fun!
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My working day can change on a daily basis… Sometimes I am stuck in the office all day, probably writing grant applications (to try and convince the government and other funding organisations that my work is worth investing in!) or writing scientific papers. Sometimes I am at the zoo conducting research with the animals (either observing their behaviour, or doing experiments to see how they ‘think’ about things). The most exciting thing we are doing at the moment is planning to train crested macaques (monkeys from a small island in Indonesia) to use touch screens in cognitive tasks at Marwell Zoo. This means we can see how they understand facial expressions and other social signals. The problem with this type of research is that is takes a very long time to train the monkeys – most of the time they will love taking part, but sometimes they are far too busy doing their own monkey thing in their social group! 🙂
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I will buy touch screen equipment so that zoo visitors can understand how we are working with the monkeys, and what monkeys are capable of 🙂
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Enthusiastic, thick-skinned, lucky
Were you ever in trouble at school?
All the time…
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Belle and Sebastian
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Successful grant funding, a ‘Nature’ paper and I would like to own a whole army of cats
Tell us a joke.
RUBBISH at jokes. :P
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