Alex Oliver

I graduated from Edinburgh Napier University with a BA (Hons) in Psychology in 2014.

Psychology is all around us and it is in everything we do. Therefore, I loved modules with an applied perspective including occupational psychology and forensic psychology because they really helped bring psychology to life. Although, one my most memorable moments would be Dr Phyllis Laybourn juggling at one of my first ever lectures as she demonstrated the complexities of multi-tasking!

My fascination of psychology in applied settings, particularly those in performance settings with increased psychological demand, led me to an MSc. in Performance Psychology at The University of Edinburgh. During my masters studies I became increasingly interested in self-regulatory and metacognitive processes in sports performance – essentially how athletes plan, monitor, and control their own thoughts and performance while competing.

I took this interest forward to PhD study at Glasgow Caledonian University where I looked to develop an understanding of the metacognitive processes that govern attention in golf. This line of study was made all the more interesting by the fact I’ve never played a round of golf in my life! Golf, however, provides a window to understand attention and its shifts because it is self-paced and stop-start. I recently became a ‘viva survivor’ and hope to soon have a leather-bound thesis to sit alongside my honours project on my bookshelf!

At present, I have teaching roles at Glasgow Caledonian University and The Open University. My plan for the future is to continue with teaching and research.

If you’ve got any questions, feel free to reach out to me on twitter: @aoliverpsych.