果冻影院

Current job title:听CEO and听Co-Founder of Gorilla Experiment Builder
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Congratulations on being named one of Computer Weekly's Rising Star Women in Tech! What does this recognition mean to you?

I鈥檝e been leading the team at for 8 years now, and it鈥檚 truly humbling and serves as a powerful affirmation of the innovative work being done by me and the team at Gorilla.听 We know we鈥檙e creating best in class software for experimental psychology and behavioural science more generally, and it鈥檚 invigorating for that to be recognised. I think the highlights the importance of embracing technology to tackle human problems, and challenges us to push further in our mission to revolutionise the research landscape both in academia, but also in industry.

For me, it鈥檚 also a validation of a strategic decision I made in 2009 to go back to university (果冻影院), retrain, and build a life that allowed me to be a good parent and have a rich and rewarding career.听This was a scary step.听At the time I had a good job, but looking into the future I couldn鈥檛 see how I could create the work life balance I鈥檇 want.听They say the only thing that鈥檚 worse than an unbearable job is a bearable one, because you stay when you should go and find meaningful and rewarding work that lights you up. Looking back, I鈥檓 proud of my past self for having the courage to make that leap!

Can you tell us what the Gorilla Experiment Builder is and how it came about?

Gorilla is a SAAS platform for creating and running behavioural studies online. It allows you to create questionnaires, reaction time tasks, navigation tasks, games, shops, multiplayer tasks and more - and then combine them all together into a controlled experiment without needing to code! It's easy enough for students and powerful enough for professionals.听All while saving your precious time, so that you can focus on the science and discovery!

Gorilla empowers experimental psychologists and behavioural scientists at all career stages and across industries who want to collect data on human behaviour at scale.

Whether you鈥檙e a student running your very first practice study, a commercial company looking at consumer behaviours, or a professional researcher that鈥檚 leading their field - we make creating your protocol easy.

It was my own struggles collecting data that drove me to create Gorilla. When I was studying at 果冻影院, that meant learning to code in MATLAB.听Now, I was up for that as I have a background in engineering, but it definitely wasn鈥檛 possible for everyone in my cohort.听Then, so that I didn鈥檛 have to test participants 1-by-1 in the lab over several months, I persuaded the Director of the Science Museum to let me set up my lab there, so that their visitors could participate in science, not only consume science history.听I got parent and child dyads to do an Implicit Association Test to see if they shared semantic representation of food / weight / healthiness.听In 3 weeks, I had collected data from 200 parent-child dyads.听It was exciting!

When I graduated -听so that others could do what I had done with ease -听I set about creating a modern online research suite that covers the wide range of tools needed by Experimental Psychologists.听And that鈥檚 how Gorilla came to be born.听We started with the simple tools and then added more innovative tools.听It鈥檚 been hugely successful as Psychology Departments and Behavioural Science Consultancies across the world want to collect data at scale.

As an aside, the reason it鈥檚 called Gorilla is because while chatting to 果冻影院鈥檚 Prof Daniel Richardson about how to improve the teaching of research methods, I said 鈥淥h! So you want a bigger and better Survey Monkey?鈥澨� And he said, 鈥淵es! I want a Survey Gorilla!鈥� and the name stuck.听Daniel has gone on to embrace these new possibilities for ; he is an award-winning visionary when it comes to inspiring students.

鈥淲hat we鈥檝e managed to do with Gorilla is give students the tools and templates to make their own experiments, with minimal supervision. Students can go out and test a hypothesis via social media. Results flood in from all over the world, and they鈥檙e creating this incredible range of studies. It鈥檚 a much richer learning experience.鈥�听- Professor Daniel Richardson, 果冻影院

What are your hopes for the future?

We鈥檙e only just getting started. Looking ahead our vision is to continue being a dynamic company that delivers best in class research software.听We have big plans for 2024; including extensions to Gorilla鈥檚 capabilities, improvements to Gorilla鈥檚 ease of use and some improvements to our Open Science workflows. Ultimately we hope to continue to equip researchers with even more powerful tools to unravel the complexities of human behaviour and drive positive societal change through data-driven insights.

What course did you study at 果冻影院 and how did this shape your career path?

I studied Experimental Psychology at 果冻影院.听My background was in financial modelling and decision analysis, and I鈥檇 got curious about maths education.听So, I considered doing a PhD in mathematical cognition; I was keen to create evidence-informed maths games that develop kids鈥� maths and problem solving skills.听But, I realised that the experiment design tools were so limited that this would have been really painful.听So I ended up creating Gorilla, in order to solve that challenge.

Initially I thought I might go back to mathematical cognition, but actually it鈥檚 more rewarding to support great experimental psychologists across the world.听Incidentally, with Gorilla, I have had the great pleasure of working on maths games with Professors Brian Butterworth and Diana Laurillard who are developmental mathematical cognition experts at 果冻影院.听A government (not ours!) is now discussing rolling these games out across all their primary schools.听 So - in some ways - I got to do both!

It鈥檚 not an overstatement to say that studying experimental psychology at 果冻影院 has been pivotal in shaping my career trajectory. Not only in terms of the science I learnt, but also it gave me an visceral appreciation for the struggles of experimental psychologists and I鈥檝e formed lasting relationships with inspiring faculty members.

Without 果冻影院 it would not have been possible for me to create Gorilla and power online research methods for over 1000 universities around the globe.

What advice would you give to psychology students looking to get the most out of their time at university?

The first thing worth knowing is that the product of a degree or PhD is you, not the science, not the grades.听It鈥檚 how you change and grow and learn that is more important.听So, allow the experience to stretch and change you.

To all the budding psychologists out there, I would emphasise the importance of research methods.听The subject matter knowledge will always be changing and growing, but if you master research methods - in particular experiment design and data analysis - this will take you far.听With great methods, when you don鈥檛 know the answer, you鈥檒l always be able to say 鈥淏ut I can find out!鈥�.

I鈥檇 also recommend exploring career opportunities both in academia and in industry.听There are lots of companies now hiring experimental psychologists to do a wide range of roles including:听user research, experience design, data science, behavioural consulting, human factors engineering and more!听Think broadly about how your skills can be applied to make the world a better place.听You鈥檒l get more out of your degree if you know what learning experiences will prepare you for your next adventure.

Did you always know that you wanted to build a career combining your passions for psychology and technology?

Goodness no!听I鈥檝e had a very mixed career.

Technology has always been core to my interest.听When I was little, my Dad and I used to program computer games to teach me times tables or spelling.听He made a very basic version of Wordle (the 5 letter word game) when I was a kid in the 80s!听But it took me a long time to find the second piece of the jigsaw with psychology.

My childhood was very challenging, and one big motivator for me is to make the world a better place, so that people don鈥檛 suffer as much.听There are researchers studying addiction, depression, learning, neurodiversity, vaccine denial, climate change, prejudice and more on Gorilla.听I hope that with better data, we鈥檒l be able to make better interventions that promote health, happiness and education.听It is quite a thrill to witness the widespread impact of Gorilla on the research community.

Fundamentally, I think I fell in love with the idea of empowering researchers across the world to get the data (facts) they need to create knowledge.听With the optimistic hope that eventually this knowledge will be used to create a better world for humans to thrive in.

What advice would you give to young girls looking to pursue a career in STEM?

We have an unfortunate cultural prejudice that the humanities are fun and interesting and creative, while STEM subjects are dry, hard and boring.听But the whole point of science, technology and engineering is to make things that didn鈥檛 exist before. And when you take your STEM skills out into the world you get to be a part of creating the most wonderful and interesting things.听It鈥檚 not just creative, it鈥檚 creating. A new technology platform, a new vaccine, a new car, a new material, a new energy capture process.听The possibilities for meaningful impact are endless!

For young girls, there are a few specific messages.

Firstly, don鈥檛 buy into the idea that STEM subjects are not for women.听Women have been pioneers in STEM subjects throughout history.听If the sciences light you up, then go for it.听Life is too short to waste your time living someone else鈥檚 life!

Secondly, we need you!听Across domains designers continue to design for the average man, and this puts women at a disadvantage or risk.听Read for an appreciation of just how big this problem continues to be.

If there is a shortage of women in STEM, then there is a shortage of people solving women鈥檚 problems.听These problems need fixing!听 If not you, who?

Thirdly, if you want practical advice, then it鈥檚 study maths.听The problem solving and thinking skills (rather than maths skills) you develop while studying maths transfer to many other domains; they really are a super power.

When not working, how do you like to spend your time and 'switch off'?

I have two young kids (8 and 4) so I spend a lot of time enjoying them and doing art, music, maths and boardgames.

I鈥檓 not sure you鈥檇 call it switching off, but I like to push myself every day to become better through reading, meditation, music and exercise. It鈥檚 been extremely hard to become disciplined about personal growth, but it鈥檚 also exciting and rewarding.听A recent breakthrough was finding exercise I enjoyed!听Last year鈥檚 New Year鈥檚 Resolution was to find regular exercise, and I got a daily walk in, but it wasn鈥檛 enough.听This year鈥檚 New Year鈥檚 Resolution was to find a regular exercise that I enjoy!听 And I found it. I now go horse riding (dressage) nearly every week. It鈥檚 hugely challenging and physically demanding, but it strengthens my whole core while developing my self awareness, self control and leadership skills.

My husband and I enjoy playing music together.听I play piano and he plays the guitar.听It鈥檚 a fun way to unwind at the end of the day.

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