Natalie Doig

Neuroscientist

I am a neuroscientist interested in how the brain controls movement. I became interested in studying the brain during the first year of my BSc at the University of Otago in NZ, before this I had never even come across neuroscience, and so I transferred to a degree focussed on this topic. I then went on to do a PhD at the University of Oxford, I then took some time out, before doing a postdoc in Santiago, Chile. I am now working as a postdoc at the MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit in Oxford. I work on a brain area called the basal ganglia, this is an area essential for movement and it is also the area affected in Parkinson’s Disease. Understanding how this brain area works normally can help us understand when it goes wrong.

Aside from doing the science I also like sharing the work that we do – I regularly visit schools to talk about neuroscience and careers in STEM. The Unit where I work is committed to facilitating the understanding of what researchers do (and why and how they do it) – have a look here to find out more.