Before pursuing my PhD at the University of Birmingham in 2000, I lived and worked in Singapore. I graduated in 2005 with a PhD from Birmingham and moved back to Singapore for a brief period. In 2007, I was offered a position at Birmingham. I was initially in the English for International Students Unit (now known as the Birmingham International Academy) and joined the Department of English Language and Linguistics in 2009.

I have held several leadership roles in the department (Admissions Tutor, Undergraduate Programme Director and Head of Department). I was Head of Internationalisation for the School of EDACS (2016-2020) and I have also held college, institutional and national roles in widening participation (2010-2021). I was Deputy Director of Education for Digital Education and Distance Learning (2019-2024) in the College of Arts and Law. 

My primary research focus is on writer identity in academic and digital texts. My broader research interests include writing for research publication purposes, the recontextualisation of academic texts for wider audiences, the pedagogical applications of artificial intelligence in second language education and literacy education in schools.