Student blog

Clare Davis began her time at Sussex with a Foundation Year before studying Psychology as an undergraduate and now pursuing a PhD. We caught up with her about her time here and her research. 

Why did you choose the University of Sussex? And what may motivated you to continue your studies here through to PhD?  

The fact that Sussex offered a foundation year was a big thing, because a lot of universities I looked at didn't. And the area, being near Brighton, so quite inclusive, and also having the South Downs on my doorstep.  

And then I've stayed here. To be honest, I'm quite resistant to change, but I like it here, I’ve developed good relationships and then the PhD project that came to fruition was just really exciting and suited my interests.  

What were some of the biggest challenges you've faced and how did you overcome them? 

Before I came to uni, my education history was a bit unconventional and I had been out of school for a few years at various times. Doing a degree was a big thing for me and it took me a while to adjust. I started in my foundation year not doing very well and things went really awry at one point, but I gradually improved as I went along. My personal growth helped with that and I was always really passionate about my subject.  

I also had good support from all kinds of people at the Uni. The staff within psychology are brilliant and being autistic and registered with disabilty support, I’ve had access to study skills support throughout my time at Sussex. In particular, Claire, my study skills mentor, has supported me to improve my organisation and it’s always been through a neurodiversity-affirming lens, she's never made me feel I need to be less autistic.  

The biggest challenge for me has been my body dysmorphia, which makes it difficult for me to attend in person sometimes. Throughout most of my undergraduate degree my attendance was about fifty per cent, which is awful. It made it hard to keep up with the work.  

Remote learning during COVID really helped me with that and my grades shot up. Since then, things have been more flexible. I've also found it helpful to be open about my needs with people at the Uni. They can't always solve everything, but at least if they're aware of the difficulties then it takes a bit of pressure off. 

Can you share some of the most memorable experiences or highlights from the time in Sussex?  

Getting PhD funding was a big one. I knew how competitive it was and the application process was very long and involved. It was just a brilliant moment when I got confirmation of the funding.  

My placement year was an important milestone on my research journey. After my second year, I did a placement in autism research here at the University. It was the most enjoyable part of my degree. I wasn't completely sure what I wanted to do a few months before that, but the placement reinforced my love of research and helped me build my confidence. I'd really recommend it to current students if they're interested in research, and there's other placements too, in clinical settings or in industry.  

[Editors note: You can find out more about placements on the Student Hub.] 

Also, I won the Mike Scaife prize for my undergraduate dissertation on the academic learning experiences of autistic students. That was very validating. I have a lot of self-doubt and I didn’t know if my dissertation was any good when I submitted it. And then I got this prize that proved it was. The more positive things I achieve, the more evidence I have against my imposter syndrome.  

How has the support and community at Sussex contributed to your success? Is there anyone who stands out as having had a significant impact on your journey?  

I have three great PhD supervisors, they’ve been really proactive in supporting me and opening up new opportunities. But there's one person, in particular, Sophie Anns. She was my supervisor for my placement and then for my undergraduate dissertation and now my PhD and she's always been incredibly supportive and championed me at every stage.  

I want to give a shout out to the Methods team in Psychology too, because their teaching has just always been excellent. I experienced that as a student, which was part of me learning to love statistics. I've also been a doctoral tutor on Methods modules recently and they've been great to work with. I’ve been able to speak to them openly about the challenges of tutoring and to learn from their stats wisdom as well.  

Since starting my PhD, I’ve also found that there’s an amazing community amongst PhD students here at Sussex. There's opportunities to socialise, like weekly lunches, writing retreats and a coding club which has just started up. A lot of it the PhD students organise, but the School also makes an effort to bring people together. 

Finally, can you tell us a bit more about your research?  

I’m exploring environmental causes of visual discomfort in autistic people, within the University and other public spaces. I'm trying to identify specific, low level visual features which cause discomfort, things like spatial frequency and colour contrast which can be generalised across environments. Then, at the higher level, I’m hoping to map out discomfort hotspots across campus. The plan is to develop a toolkit, which is going to help designers and architects to create more inclusive and accessible public spaces.   

If you would like to find out more about Clare's research, including how to take part in future studies, you can contact her via email: crd26@sussex.ac.uk