Research

My research investigates the relationships between thinking and doing in performance, training and everyday life. I draw on detailed case studies from real-world situations like riding bikes down rock gardens in the jungle, performing at height on the trapeze, and learning to navigate the daily challenges of living with chronic pain.

I am particularly interested in the remarkable ways people flexibly and intelligently adjust their actions in response to challenge, pressure or unpredictability; the impact of the broader context surrounding a given moment or event, and; what these studies reveal about human capacities for coping and excelling in high-risk, high-pressure situations.

Please contact me if you’re interested in upcoming talks or workshops related to this work.

This video, shot by Mark Parry, weaves together my work in the media and research worlds, for students of an undergraduate course at Macquarie University called Cognitive Science in the Real World. Other videos in the series are here.