Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

My role is in the Centre for Performance Science, a partnership between the RCM and Imperial College London that promotes collaborative research and teaching among musicians and scientists.

My main responsibilities are divided between teaching and research. In terms of teaching, I lead the RCM's MSc in Performance Science, as well as supervising doctoral students. In terms of research, I have received funding from organisations such as the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Arts Council England to investigate how music can support and enhance mental health.

My days are always varied. I spend time organising and planning my teaching and overseeing the MSc programme I lead, to make sure that everything is progressing smoothly. During term-time, I give lectures and seminars, and meet my students for one-to-one supervisions. I also spend a lot of time designing research projects and working with colleagues to secure research funding, as well as collecting and analysing research data and writing reports and papers. Finally, I peer-review research papers, work with international research groups and give papers at conferences all over the world.

I love the range of people that I meet, and the insights and new practices that research catalyses. Teaching RCM students, and introducing them to ideas in psychology and research, is a privilege and always keeps me on my toes. I also get to travel a lot with my job (mainly for conferences) and to meet people from all over the world. This is a real highlight, as is the intellectual challenge and freedom that comes with working in academia.

My job is very multi-faceted, so juggling all of my daily tasks can be a challenge - but this makes every day interesting. Although I now have a permanent role, research and teaching posts in higher education are often on fixed-term contracts, which is not always ideal in terms of job security!

I've always enjoyed music, and during my time at Sheffield I became more and more interested in research in music psychology and music education. I knew I didn't want to go on to be a performing musician, so this area of work allowed me to bring together music with academia and science - a perfect fit!

In terms of qualifications, I needed undergrad and postgrad qualifications in my field, which I got at Sheffield. I also use the skills from my PhD - this qualification and the associated skills have been very important.

Day-to-day, I need a lot of research and teaching skills, which I started learning during my studies at Sheffield and consolidated during my PhD. Organisation is also vital - the ability to plan my days and to plan in advance is essential with a heavy workload. Also people-skills; particularly when I'm supervising students or interviewing people for research projects, it's so important to be able to relate to different people and to be open-minded. Finally, flexibility and dedication have been key!

2004-2008: Research Officer, Royal College of Music

2008-2013: Research Associate, Royal College of Music

2013-: Research Fellow, Royal College of Music

To continue working in higher education, moving towards senior academic posts.

Grab every opportunity you get, while you're at uni and when you get your first job. If you're doing a research degree or starting out in a research role, aim to attend and/or present your research at conferences so that people in the field get to know your name, and if possible submit your research to peer-reviewed journals in your field.

Be proactive, passionate and purposeful – the more you put into your studies/job, the better people around you will respond and the more you will take away.

Sheffield gave me an amazing start to my career - so much of what I learnt as a student, especially about myself and what I want from my life and job, feeds into what I do now.