Dr Emma Preece completed her undergraduate degree and PhD at the University of Worcester, under the supervision of colleagues there and at the University of Birmingham and Liverpool John Moore’s university. Her PhD investigated how the average age at which words and concepts are learnt, and their frequency of occurrence, influence how quickly and accurately these stimuli could be identified, processed and articulated using a combination of laboratory studies and eye-tracking. Dr Emma Preece previously worked in various research and teaching roles, including as a research fellow, teaching fellow, research associate and research/teaching assistant. As such, she has experience in psycholinguistics, service evaluation, service user engagement, cognitive psychology, social psychology, health psychology and mental health. Her previous projects have included exploring attitudes towards science and religion, evaluating NHS training initiatives (e.g. a mobile skills bus and training to help NHS staff identity and challenge discrimination and prejudice in disciplinary processes), investigating care provision (e.g. the experience of pharmacist independent prescribers, prevalence of dementia on older adult wards and attitudes towards care homes), evaluating virtual health environments for young adults and evaluating an educational resource for general practitioners which raised awareness of suicide risk in young adults.