Olivia Foster Vander Elst (2010) has been in touch to tell us about becoming a new PhD research fellow based at the Center for Music in the Brain at Aarhus University in Denmark, researching the neuroscience of music and dance.  After leaving Wells, she read Chemistry at the University of Oxford on a 4-year Master’s programme, where she researched magnetic field effects in both liquids and crystals.
 
After graduating from Oxford, Olivia carried on playing viola in a range of ensembles in London while working as a private tutor, and has embarked on this PhD to combine her interests in science, music and dance. Her particular research interests in neuroscience are groove (the aspect of music which makes one want to move), interpersonal interaction (particularly in partner dancing), and the effects of dance & musical training.