Why Neuroscience?
Truth be told, I’ve been obsessed with human behaviour for as long back as I can remember. As an observationalist, I have spent more time analysing people than I’d care to admit. This makes for great content that goes into my fictional stories, but I’ve always closely held the desire to develop my education around making sense of the reasons behind behaviours.
In secondary school, I gravitated towards humanities and selected that route once the time came to apply yo universities. However, the interest in one day studying the mind remained despite it’s dormancy in favour of courses that seemed more attainable given the aptitude I showcased on the humanities side.
Years later, I found myself organising for-profit conferences and happened to land the forensic science portfolio as the content manager. With this, I had the chance to deep-dive into the associated fields including forensic psychology. While the content didn’t work well with my own psychological profile, I found great relief in discovering novel areas in which human behaviour was being researched academically.
Then, one day, a conference speaker posed the ultimate question that was about to change everything for me: why don’t you go back to school and retrain to do the things you spend all your free time researching for fun? Why didn’t I? My inner voice replied, as I stood frozen in front of one of the world’s most renowned criminal profilers. Truth be told, I hadn’t really thought I could do it.
A few more years down the line, I had moved with my husband to Saudi Arabia to start a new life as a public servant working at an embassy. Without my large-than-life social agenda in a city, I found that I had a significant amount of free time to realistically pursue new interests. I found the Applied Neuroscience MSc course at my alma mater, King’s College London, which offered a fully online study option. This degree would offer me the chance to study all the fundamental aspects of the human brain without the attachment to crime that had discouraged me from pursuing an interest in forensics. I applied thinking that I’m probably not getting in anyways.
Much to my surprise, in the middle of winter wonderland carnival ride, I was notified that the status of my application had changed and I was made an unconditional offer to join the next term. It was finally happening, I was going to become a neuroscientist. I accepted the offer, albeit slightly deferred due to a life changing injury, and since June 2022 have been working towards completing this degree.
Even before my graduation, the course has already opened up tremendous opportunities for me. I was nominated chair of the regional Diversity & Inclusion Committee at the government agency I work for, and still currently serve as co-Lead of D&I for EMEA in addition to my trade advisory role. I’ve been involved with community advocacy projects using knowledge gained in this programme, which was recognised with the King’s College London Champions for Change Award in July 2024.
So really, why neuroscience?
Through my studies, I’ve been able to further understand key areas of current research around brain functioning, human behaviour, cognition, mental health, community wellbeing, and several other areas. I plan to utilise the knowledge and research gained through the course as a part of my own development as professional that implements applied neuroscience practices.
Most importantly, I aim to use the platforms I have to promote mental health and disseminate contemporary knowledge to a wider public beyond the neuroscientific community.
