Get to know your Student Representatives – Jennifer Baldock

Tell us a little about you?

I am a fourth-year PhD student in the College of Nursing and Health Science. My research sits within a multidisciplinary area called “Cognitive Hearing Science”. I use eye-tracking technology to measure changes to pupil size during listening tasks. These pupillary changes allow us to quantify the listening effort that specific listening tasks require.

At a broad level, I am interested in psychophysiology, how the brain processes information, and how we use this information to navigate the world. More specifically, I am interested in hearing, speech/language comprehension, memory and mental effort.

Really though, I am enthralled by all aspects of science and research methods. I am very excited by the Open Science movement!

What do you like to do for fun?

Here is a list of my varied (non-academic) hobbies!

  • Cooking! (and not following recipes)
  • Painting/crafting (I seem to be painting a lot of birds, lately)
  • Live music/music in general (preferably punk-ish styles)
  • Podcasts/audiobooks (currently listening to “Naked Statistics” by Charles Wheelan)
  • Reading (currently reading “Seeing Voices” by Oliver Sacks)
  • Getting hooked on a series (currently re-watching Sex Education)
  • Camping (unless it’s too hot – the Canadian in me struggles in the heat).

My typical weekend looks like a mash up of all these activities (unless I have deadlines, of course).

Your favourite Authors?

Oliver Sacks – A neurologist who has a beautiful way of scientific story telling.

Neil Gaiman – For when I need some quirky, fantasy time.

Anyone who can help me understand statistics better!

What do you enjoy most about being a Student Representative?

My favourite thing has been meeting my peers, being able to provide support where possible, and getting that support back! The College of Nursing and Health Science is so diverse, being able to connect with people from such different disciplines has been an absolute delight. My HDR journey hasn’t been the smoothest. I know how difficult things can get so I am quite passionate about helping others in this space. I am always up for a chat, so do get in touch if you want. I am just an email away jennifer.baldock@flinders.edu.au.

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