Sally Hind

Job title:

Developmental Psychologist at the Medical Research Council, Institute of Hearing Research, Nottingham.

What degree did you study?

I studied on a Human Psychology degree from Loughborough University, followed by a PhD in Psychology also from Loughborough University.

What are your main duties of work? 

I’m interested in young children and how they learn. I specialise in child development and hearing impairment. I’m lucky because I really enjoy my work, I like being presented with a problem and then thinking out how to solve it. The Institute is interested in the Auditory Brain, and there is such a lot we need to understand about that. I am especially interested in applied research.

My current contribution is helping to develop a battery of psychoacoustic computer-based tests to diagnose hearing problems in children. These tests are fun to run, and include interesting graphics drawn by the man who drew Sonic the Hedgehog. I’m currently visiting nurseries, collecting data (psychoacoustic, cognitive and language measures) from young children.

What are your favourite aspects of the job?

I enjoy travelling to other countries to talk about my work at conferences. I have many friends in the UK and abroad who are doing similar work.

What kind of salary can a graduate expect to earn in this job?

Anyone joining our team as a newly qualified graduate research support assistant would get around £19,000 per year as their starting salary.