Meet the scientists!

My CV

School:

Wootton Bassett Comprehensive, from 1987 to 1994

University:

Magdalen College, Oxford University. I studied philosophy and psychology. Then did a PhD at Cornell University in New York.

Work History:

Stanford University and the University of Santa Cruz, California

Employer:

University College London

Current Job:

Photo:

Daniel Richardson

Favourite Thing: Sitting round with friends talking about ideas, and then figuring out how to prove someone wrong by making up an experiment.

Me and my work

I study social cognition – in this case, how people talk, think and lie – by using lots of gadgets to track movements of their eyes and body.

You can read more about my work at my lab webpage: http://www.eyethink.org

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My Typical Day

i wake up, answer questions from the array of small children standing over me (‘who was the first person to be born?’ ‘Why don’t lizards have cars?’) then go to work, potter around on the internet reading about research, try and write a paper, lecture to undergraduates, try and fix a broken gadget in the lab and fail, come home and answer more questions.

What I'd do with the money

I would take the money and use it to fund an experiment to find the answer to the best question that I couldn’t answer

My Interview

How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

nerdy. lazy. lucky.

Who is your favourite singer or band?

tom waits

What is the most fun thing you've done?

Water fights with my brother. He had a water pistol. I had a hose. I was 5.

If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

more money, more time and fewer allergies

What did you want to be after you left school?

Were you ever in trouble at school?

What's the best thing you've done as a scientist?

made people believe that I had powers of telepathy

Tell us a joke.