Profile
Jennifer Allen
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About Me:
I live in Bristol near the harbour. I’m a researcher in child and adolescent mental health by day, and a dancer and musician in the evenings.
On the weekends I go hiking, dance, practice music and see friends.
Hiking on the Isle of Skye, Scotland
I grew up in Australia but I’m also a British citizen.
Me, my brother and his kids at Luna Park with the Sydney harbour bridge in the background
Me getting my British citizenship in 2015
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My favourite hobby is dancing: swing dancing, tap dancing and Tango. I go to classes, give performances and travel to dance festivals and camps all over Europe to dance.
Swing dancing is done to jazz music, and festivals will have jazz bands play and fancy dress evenings. My love of jazz music also inspired me to learn the clarinet and piano.
My entire dance class at a camp in Sweden.
Solo jazz class performance
swing dance performance
swing dance class performance
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I do research on empathy (the ability to share the feelings of other people – especially when they are sad or afraid) and child misbehaviour in schools.
Children who misbehave at school can be low or high in empathy. Children with low empathy misbehave more often, and are more likely to hurt others (hitting, pushing, saying or doing mean things). I wrote about empathy, for Psychology Review, a magazine for high school students studying Psychology.
My research team looks at how children respond to rewards and discipline at school. We want to know the answer to questions like:
‘Do some types rewards and discipline work better than others to help kids learn, get along with other kids, and behave well in class?’
‘What kinds of rewards and discipline work better for kids who have low levels of empathy?’My students use different methods to answer these questions, such as interviews, questionnaires, tests, experiments, and watch the behaviour of students in class to see how they respond to teacher rewards (praise, awards, winning school points) and discipline (frowns, sent out of class, losing school points).
My PhD student Suhlim and students in South Korea
Some of my PhD students are from China and South Korea, so they have done their research there. It’s been interesting to see how schools, and the behaviour of teachers and children in Asia differs from the United Kingdom.
My PhD student Suhlim and two students in South Korea
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My Typical Day:
I wake up and have breakfast (granola and strawberries). I work online from my home starting at 9am. I check my emails and meet with staff and students. Then I get lunch from the markets near my flat at 1pm. In the afternoon I help students to write up their results and publish them. I finish work at 5pm.
In the evenings, I go to dance classes or paddleboard.
Me and another dancer practicing in a class in Sweden
Me on a paddleboard in front of the SS Great Britain on Bristol harbour
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My research team is called SHINE (www.shineresearchlab.com). In research team meetings, my students and I help each other to think of good ideas for research projects.We also practice talks about our research that we plan to give at other universities or at conferences.
At conferences, my students and I also present posters describing our research.
An important part of a scientist’s job is writing up and publishing our research. I published a book in March on how psychologists can help families and children with mental health problems.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I’d talk to young children in schools about how all children have different personalities, and this may make some things hard and other things easy for them at s
chool.I will explain this by telling short stories using puppets with different types of personalities.
We’d also do fun games ton an iPad so they can see how they respond to rewards (winning points) and punishment (losing points).
I’d do these activities at early years schools with the Bristol Aspiring for All (BAFA) project. They help children to who find school hard to enjoy learning, make friends and get along well with others.
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Education:
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
University of Newcastle, Australia
Whitebridge High School, Newcastle, Australia
Charlestown Primary School, Newcastle, Australia
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Qualifications:
Doctor of Philosophy & Masters in Clinical Psychology
Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), Honours Class 1
My tertiary entrance rank (TER) was 95.2. This means I came in the top 5% of the state of New South Wales, Australia in the senior high school exams.
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Work History:
Associate Professor at University College London Institute of Education
Senior Researcher, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London
Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, University of Basel, Switzerland
Postdoctoral fellow, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales
Research Assistant, Discipline of Psychiatry, University of Newcastle, Australia
Cloakroom attendant
Sales Assistant, Borders book store
Sales Assistant, Grace Bros department store
Checkout chick, K-Mart
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Current Job:
Reader and Research Director on the clinical psychology doctoral training programme
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Mental health researcher
What did you want to be after you left school?
Research psychologist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Yes - mainly for talking too much in class. Lots of 'easily distracted' comments from my teachers in school reports.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Rihanna
What's your favourite food?
Warm chocolate brownies with ice cream!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
To be a professional dancer or musician
Tell us a joke.
Q: What do frogs drink? A: Croak-a-cola
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