Today’s bio in our Early Career Researcher blog series is from Jennifer Waymont at the University of Aberdeen.  

Jenny Waymont is a PhD candidate in Medical Imaging at the University of Aberdeen. Her PhD thesis is on the automated detection and analysis of white matter hyperintensities in healthy ageing and in neurodegenerative disorders.

Jenny’s background is in psychology, having gained a BSc (hons) in Psychology with Clinical and Health Psychology, an MSc in Psychological Research, and an MSc in Neuroimaging, all within the School of Psychology at Bangor University in North Wales. During this time, she developed research experience across a range of topics, including personality and substance misuse, evidence-based medicine and clinicians’ prescribing behaviours, language acquisition and bilingual aphasia, and the neural bases of social perception.

Outside the lab, Jenny volunteered extensively for services enriching mental health, children’s palliative care, and support for those living with and caring for individuals with dementia.

Jenny’s research interests lie within the intersection of the brain and the mind, with a particular interest in psychosocial influences on brain ageing processes. Currently, Jenny is analysing brain MRI data from large healthy ageing cohort studies (the ‘Aberdeen Children of the 1950s’ and the ‘Stratifying Resilience Against Depression Longitudinally’ studies), and from a Phase III clinical trial for an Alzheimer’s disease treatment, to determine the risk factors and outcomes of increased white matter hyperintensity burden in older adults.

The SDRC continue to feature blogs from ECRs and PhD students throughout August. Follow us on Twitter so you know can keep up to date with the series.