Dr Chechlacz initially trained and carried out a doctorate in cellular and molecular biology (2002). After working as a biologist (Larry L. Hillblom Foundation Fellowship at the University of California, San Diego) she decided on a career change to a more human-oriented science and neuroimaging. In order to gain formal training in cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, she completed a second doctorate in psychology at the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Glyn Humphreys (2012). From 2013 to 2016, she held a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship and EPA Cephalosporin Junior Research Fellowship, Linacre College at the University of Oxford. In 2016 Dr Chechlacz returned to the School of Psychology, University of Birmingham as a Bridge Fellow.