I am an architect living in Manchester and am registered with the Architects Registration Board in the UK.  I have worked in an architect’s practice for the last eight years working predominantly on education projects including primary and secondary schools and a school for pupils with special educational needs.

I have recently worked on a school for pupils with Emotional, Social and Behavioural Disorder to provide a learning environment for pupils with Autistic Spectrum disorder and/or ADHD; and I have also designed a vulnerable children’s unit.  I have worked on a number of schools built under the Building Schools for the Future programme and have worked on a church/community project.

I am from Ireland originally and have a B.Sc. (Hons) in Psychology from University College Dublin after which I gained a Masters in Personnel Management and worked in the field of human resources.

Since then I was drawn to the field of architecture and design, and studied to become an architect.  I was attracted to the education sector as I have two children of my own, giving me a ‘user’ perspective and a desire to make a positive impact on the design of schools.

My masters dissertation focused on the question: “Can the morphology of schools/learning spaces be extrapolated from theories of child development?”  I believe that much can be learned from the field of psychology when designing in the built environment.

I would like to stand for the board because I believe that I am in a unique position having qualifications and experience in the disciplines of psychology and architecture.

My participation in the IAPS conference in Glasgow in 2012 had a big effect on me; I appreciated that the development of ideas involves sharing, discussing, and evaluation in small and larger groups with input from professionals from various disciplines.

It helped me to understand that architecture, design and the construction industry expands far beyond the walls of architectural studios, and highlighted the significance of the work we do in practice.

There is a lot of research available to psychologists and social scientists and it would be helpful to develop these into guidelines to give architects, design teams and clients insight into how these concepts can be applied to their work and thereby strengthen the relationship between architecture and psychology.

I can bring an understanding of the architecture profession to the committee and would like to develop the flow of information and look at how summaries of research could be prepared, and establish further mechanisms for the conduit of information and the transfer of knowledge between the disciplines.