I started off as a physicist, then became a historian of science. I was curator of the museum at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge and have published extensively on J.J. Thomson and the discovery of the electron. I am a Research Associate of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

In 2006 I was appointed as a Lecturer in Learning Technology in the Caledonian Academy at Glasgow Caledonian University, having previously been a research fellow at Dundee University. My research interests are mainly in the representation of learning design. Most recently I have worked on the JISC-funded, LADIE, and Mod4L projects.

I am also an Associate Lecturer with the Open University in Scotland on course AT308: Cities and Technology. I am the Vice Chair Representation of the Associate Lecturers Committee and serve on a number of university central committees, including Senate. In 2006 I received two teaching awards from the OU.

I live in Fife, Scotland with Ken, Ben and Jennifer and was a parent member of Madras College School Board.