Rebecca studied History at University College London for her BA, where she developed an interest in Renaissance concepts of human nature and the individual. Graduating with first class honours, she undertook her MA (pass with distinction) in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies at the University of York (CREMS); her Master’s Thesis looked at the concept of memory and physiological models of the passions in the late seventeenth century. Her doctoral research looking at the uses of rhetoric in Dr Thomas Willis’s model of the brain and nerves is funded by the Centre for the History of the Emotions, Wellcome Trust award.

Research interests:
Thesis topic: ‘The uses of rhetoric in Dr. Thomas Willis’s (1621-1675) theory of the brain and nerves.’

Rebecca’s research examines how broad changes in scientific writing – from rhetorical or literary style to a supposedly objective and neutral language – is used to police the boundary between pre-modern and modern science. Specifically, her work considers how these ideas have unduly shaped scholarly examinations of seventeenth-century physician and natural philosopher Thomas Willis. Willis’s position in the present as a founding father for contemporary neuroscience sits uncomfortably alongside enduring critiques of Willis’s ‘love of words as words’. Her work situates Willis’s use of language within the wider context of early modern science’s debates over the use of rhetoric. These debates constitute an entry point for a critical examination of the ways in which a desire for objective and neutral language still inform science writing and practice today.

Rebecca also co-secured funding, devised, organised and performed in a public engagement event, ‘The Carnival of Lost Emotions’ (2012), for a Wellcome Trust Public Engagement with Neuroscience award in association with the Dana Foundation for Brain Awareness Week. The event subsequently appeared at the Wellcome Trust Wonder Street Fair event at the Barbican. She continues to work on this project, which will next feature at Universities Week (2014) at the Natural History Museum.