Having grown up around the Jurassic Coast and the New Forest, Jess is a self-proclaimed country girl who moved to Nottingham for an undergraduate degree in Zoo Biology and a subsequent postgraduate degree in Anthrozoology.
For her ninth birthday she managed to pester her parents into paying for horse-riding lessons. Assuming it would be a brief “phase” and that the novelty would soon wear off, they agreed, and nearly 15 years later the “phase” is still going strong and has led to a life-long love of horses and an interest in human-animal interactions.
Jess has since moved her Arabian mare, Dini, up to the Midlands with her and is undertaking a PhD in Equestrian Sport Science at Nottingham Trent University.
She is investigating how videography is currently being used within the equestrian industry and how it could be developed to help improve safety in eventing. Jess has a passion for communicating science in such a way that it can be understood and utilised by everyone and, as such, hopes to present her research at a variety of conferences and to a variety of audiences.
Jess’ PhD is part funded by An Eventful Life and you will see her at many events where we are filming - if you spot Jess out on the cross-country course, please feel free to say hello and ask her how the project is going!
Find out more about the joint Nottingham Trent University and An Eventful Life PhD project here
