Ryan Burnell

Self-confessed maths nerd Ryan Burnell came from Wellington to Waikato to study for his doctoral degree, largely because of the quality of staff in Waikato’s School of Psychology and the expertise of Professor Maryanne Garry in particular.

“I really wanted to work with Maryanne because of her work on human memory, so coming to Waikato to do my PhD with her was a no-brainer,” Ryan says.

His focus is now people, much more than he ever thought, but the maths is invaluable when it comes to analysing data, he says.

For the last year Ryan’s been working as a research associate at Imperial College London. And he’s just accepted an offer to join the University of Cambridge (UK) as a postdoctoral research associate.

He readily calls on his Waikato experience at work.

“I draw on my knowledge of experimental design and human memory almost every day, as well as my statistical knowledge and my writing, speaking, and project management skills.

“On top of that, I really enjoyed the wonderful friendships and working relationships I built at Waikato with all the members of my lab. Being able to hear about and contribute to so many cool projects on memory was an amazing experience I will always remember.”