School Dayz

So Thought I'd give you an update on how school is going for me these days. Well, I'm loving it! Our lectures are some of the top researchers in their respective fields so the quality is definitely tops. We have been fortunate in our neuroimaging lectures to have invited guests who are leaders in this field from Italy and the UK, including one of the founders of the fMRI approach, Bob Turner. On top of that each Monday afternoon they invite a lecturer from outside of the university to present their research which has covered a variety of topics in psychology such as the development of intelligence, visual perception and geographic differences in personality. My colleagues may be interested in the work on development of intelligence by Mike Anderson and his research PROJECT KIDS see http://www.psychology.uwa.edu.au/about/staff/Mike_Anderson for more information. Each Friday we have a research meeting. One of the professors or Ph.D. or PostDoc students in our programme present information on the current research in which they are involved. Needless to say, I'm getting my fill of new information and insights.

Right now I've finished my first block of classes (most courses I take are 5 weeks in length with lectures and tutorials). I have a couple of essays due later in November and a Statistics exam at the beginning of December. My second block of classes starts this week with data collection, cognitive neuroscience and a continuation of the statistics and brain imaging courses.

Now for some really great news. On Wednesday I heard news that I had been awared the Edinburgh International Masters Scholarship Award. I was very pleased and surprised as I thought this prize was already awarded to someone else. The award is worth 3000 pounds towards my student fees - quite a lot of money that will be a big help to us! There will be a large awards ceremony at McEwan hall on November 21st for all scholarship receipients.