Tochukwu

My research is on understanding how change blindness influences eyewitness facial recognition. I’m looking at the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms underlying the link between these two research streams.

I chose to research this because mistaken eyewitness identification has been shown to be a major source of miscarriage of justice, and continues to play a prominent role in the conviction of the innocent. A full understanding of how change blindness moderates eyewitness facial recognition is of forensic utility, especially in understanding the reliability of eyewitness memory.

I chose to study at Leicester because the University of Leicester is among a few institutions that are internationally recognised as a centre of excellence for research which span across different departments including psychology. The Psychology Department has got modern teaching and research facilities including laboratory equipment that make research exercises fascinating. My department has a good blend of researchers from different backgrounds. The lecturers are very supportive, friendly and encouraging and are willing to assist you in attaining your professional career goal.

The University has a good academic climate, good student support network, high quality research staff and, above all, is held in very high esteem amongst employers. So the University offers a great learning opportunity as well as fostering personal and career growth.

My first few weeks at Leicester were full of excitement trying to adapt to University life, the environment and also to familiarise myself with the city life in general. The city is nice, friendly and peaceful. There’s a really diverse nature to Leicester.

I’ve made use of the University’s careers support. I took part in workshops about the importance of skills in job hunting and applications; how to write a good application, covering letter and CV; how to match your skills to meet job descriptions and person specifications. This has increased my enthusiasm and made me become more motivated to build more skills that will make me marketable in the employment market.

Following my degree I hope to make use of my passion for research through teaching and consultancy work. This has always been my goal; however, my time at Leicester has helped shape my career.

My time so far at the University has been a fulfilling and rewarding experience. I can see the two sides of the same coin: 'the University passing through me and me passing through the University.'

I would recommend Leicester to a new student without any reservations. One piece of advice I would give to a new student starting here is be focused, work hard but smart, access any support networks available and ask questions when unsure. To prospective research students, make sure you always have a backup plan otherwise known as 'plan B' in case you encounter an unwanted guest: statistical null effect in the course of your research.