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Role:
Department staff:
- Qualifications:MA Oxon, PhD, FHEA
- Position:Senior Lecturer in Biological Psychology
- Department:School of Social Sciences
- Telephone:+441179656261
- Email:Naomi.Heffer@uwe.ac.uk
About me
I am a psychology researcher and neuroscientist with a broad range of interests across topics involving perception, individual differences and emotional/social cognition. I am also a keen science communicator and promoter of public engagement, having spent three months working in the digital team at The Royal Institution in London, and regularly producing blogs, videos and podcasts.
Previously, I received a first-class BA in Neuroscience from the University of Oxford, during which time I also worked as part of an international task force on lithium treatment for Bipolar Disorder. My undergraduate dissertation focused on how using non-invasive brain stimulation can affect the brain’s oscillatory activity and the excitability of cortical neurons.
More recently, I have completed my PhD at the Universities of Bath and Exeter on the topic of multisensory emotion perception in anxiety and PTSD, and held a lecturer position at Bath Spa University where I was responsible for leading the second year research methods course.
At UWE, I will be responsible for co-leading the final year Psychopharmacology module, as well as contributing to other second and first year modules, including leading on the Biological Psychology block of the Introduction to Psychology module.
Area of expertise
My current research is focused on the cognitive mechanisms underlying mood and stress-related disorders, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I am particularly interested in individual differences in social perception, such as differences in emotion processing from facial expressions, and use psychophysics, neuroimaging and physiological measures to address my research questions.