Elinor joined UCL as a Teaching Fellow in Statistics in 2014, was promoted to Senior Teaching Fellow in 2016, and was recently promoted to Principal Teaching Fellow, with the promotion taking effect in October 2020. Before this, she was a Statistician at the University of Reading.
Her day-to-day role varies depending on the time of year:
Teaching is always the highlight for me as I love seeing students' understanding of the subject develop over the course of a module. Other than that I chair the departmental Board of Examiners, and also run open days for prospective students through my role as one of the department's admissions tutors.
Elinor is originally from North Wales, and working at UCL is her first London-based job. However, pre-coronavirus she commuted in from her home in Hampshire - a three hour round trip, which she enjoys, as it gives her time to tie up loose ends from work. She’s very happy to work in the Department of Statistical Science:
My job is very varied and the staff in the department are extremely friendly and supportive. The students are fantastic, and I really enjoy teaching them. I'm really lucky to have a job that I love. What I really value about this role is the encouragement I've received to do things outside of the department. I run maths sessions for school children through the Royal Institution's Masterclass scheme, and do something similar via the London Mathematical Society's Holgate scheme. I'm also involved with the Royal Statistical Society among other things.
This work at the RSS includes chairing the Teaching Statistics group, which promotes best practice for teaching in post-16 education.
This is providing ample motivation for me to think about how I'll teach my (fairly large) classes next academic year. I'm using the opportunity to be creative in how we teach and assess our students, and enjoying the process of talking to other teaching staff both at UCL and from elsewhere to gather ideas.
Elinor is also currently writing the next edition of the popular textbook “The R book” together with Dr Simon Harden, with the next edition is due to be published next year.
Outside of work, her main hobbies are sport and fitness related - she’s a keen runner, and during lockdown has been able to replace her commute with more running, which keeps her happy.
You can find out more about Elinor on her academic profile, via the Department of Statistical Science website.
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