Profile – Promethium Zone

Education:

Dr Challoner’s High School & the University of York
Qualifications:

MSc in Human-Centred Interactive Technologies, MEng in Electronic Engineering with Music Technology Systems
Work History:

In the past I have worked doing database management and analysis (boring!) and also as a fishmonger in a supermarket (smelly!)
Current Job:

I am a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Computer Science at the University of York AND I’m doing my PhD degree there too

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My work is quite varied – I’m a Teaching Fellow at a University so a large part of my job is (obviously) teaching students about Computer Science. I teach my students how to make websites that are easy to use and about my research field of Human Computer Interaction.

Human Computer Interaction is all about understanding how we can make technology easy and fun for all people to use, including people that have disabilities like blindness and dyslexia.

Most recently I have been trying to understand how background music can be incorporated within technology to make people work more productively and faster. For example, I try to answer questions like… if you are listening to music with sung lyrics, do the words distract you so you can’t type accurately and fast? I’m still working on this particular question, so can’t tell you the answer yet I’m afraid!
My Typical Day:

I really don’t have a typical day….
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Well, my job is super varied which is why it’s really fun:

sometimes I’m lecturing 80 students about Computer Science
sometimes I’m running an experiment
sometimes I’m analysing data I’ve collected
sometimes I’m writing reports
quite often I’m eating cake
What I'd do with the prize money:

I’d go and visit some schools and run an “introduction to computer science” workshop with as many students as possible!

Anna Bramwell-Dicks