Profile
Alex Willcox
My CV
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Work History:
Pizza Hut, waitress (2011-2015)
Cardiff University, BSc Neuroscience (2013-2017)
Boston University (2015-2016), Research Intern
McDonalds, server (May 2017-August 2017)
University of Bristol, PhD (2017-present)
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Current Job:
PhD Student and Outreach Tutor
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About Me:
My name is Alex, a PhD student based in Bristol. In my spare time, I love to craft, knit & cook!
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I live in South Wales with my fiancé and our two chinchillas, Finley & Diego
. My favourite food is pasta 🍝 and I know almost every line of the Harry Potter series⚡. My pronouns are she/her.Finley & Diego
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To look at how our movements change with age, I study Motor Adaptation. Adaptation is how we update our movements, so that we can use them in lots of different ways. For example, Adaptation explains why we can type on lots of different keyboards, even though they are different shapes and sizes. If we couldn’t perform adaptation, we would only be able to type on the keyboard we learned to type on. This s also the case for any movement we make!
I study how adaptation changes with age, using adaptation tasks in humans of different ages👨🧓and am also developing an adaptation task for rodents 🐀
My 84 year-old Grandad completing an Adaptation task!
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My Typical Day:
Every day for me is different! I catch a train to Bristol and enjoy a walk through the city centre. Once at work, I can spend my day meeting lovely volunteers, training animals or teaching people about the brain! 🧠
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would use the prize money to expand my outreach sessions on Motor Adaptation for primary and secondary schools! Adaptation, while being difficult to explain is really simple to understand with some practical demonstrations 🙂
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Ageing brain researcher
What did you want to be after you left school?
A dentist... Until I actually looked at teeth!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
No, I was far too boring to get in trouble
Who is your favourite singer or band?
I can't choose! 🙈
What's your favourite food?
Pasta! 😍🍝
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1. To pass my driving test (I'm currently learning to drive). 2. To be able to time-travel. 3. Three-day weekends!
Tell us a joke.
How do you make a potato puff?? Chase it around the garden!
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