Dr Luke Kendrick is already a familiar face to most of our students. Here we celebrate Luke's recent appointment as a permanent Teaching Fellow and learn a little more about his work and interests.
What’s your favourite thing about Psychology at Royal Holloway?
One of my favourite things about the department is how we have a close community feel - this includes both staff and students. I have supportive colleagues who are not only on hand to offer advice (about work or maybe a meal recipe!) but are also supportive about career development. I also enjoy how we as members of staff get to know our students both formally through project supervision, personal tutoring, or lectures/workshops but also in more informal settings such as at our yearly Christmas panto (this year included me singing and learning ballet!!). It is great speaking with students when they’re around the department and catching up about how their studies are progressing - it gives the department a real collaborative feel.
Can you tell us a little about the teaching you have carried out at RHUL?
Some of my teaching has involved research methods and statistics and I enjoy trying to find new ways to help students support their learning. All the skills that students develop from these modules can be applied to any area of psychology, so I really enjoy being a part of that process. Recently, I have also lectured on topics that include human intelligence, psychopathology, and neuropsychology. Additionally, I also supervise student research projects. How listening to music impacts our ability to learn was one of the fun experimental projects I developed with students this year.
What is the best part about teaching our students?
Teaching in larger lectures is fun but I enjoy one-to-one project supervision the most as I get the chance to discuss a student’s own thoughts and ideas about psychology research. By the third year of their degree, students are ready to run their own research projects with supervision from a member of academic staff. It is great to work with students to develop their own ideas into research questions, and eventually a fully developed psychological experiment. I love that I can also learn new things from them too, whether it is an interesting research paper or an exciting research question! It is genuinely exciting to see the passion and motivation students have for the many interesting questions that exist within psychology.
What do you do outside of work?
Mainly music, the outdoors, and a good beer. I’m always listening to music and I play piano. I’m a fan of being at the beach when the weather permits, although I will quite happily have a swim in the sea regardless of how cold it is. Finally, a quiet drink in my local cosy pub is usually a nice way for me to end the week (I should add that since the Covid-19 lockdown my weekly beer has been replaced by home baking, this week it is banana and chocolate cake!).
