I am grateful for the wisdom of older people who have enriched my world

I would like to thank my academic supervisors Professor Jan Oyebode and Dr Andrea Capstick, for challenging me when I needed challenging, and supporting me when I needed supporting. Their input and patience has been invaluable in helping me to learn how to do research, and to navigate some of the of the more emotionally challenging aspects of this project. Their creativity and wisdom are inspirational.

I would also like to thank the countless experts who have offered guidance, feedback and suggestions along the way – Dr Anita Sargeant, Professor Neil Small, Dr Ros Taylor, Dr Sarah Russell, Dr Alan Blighe, Dr Erica Borgstrom, Dr Kath Sleeman, Professor Allen Kellehear, Professor Arthur Frank and many others. Thank you to my ‘Shut Up and Write’ group – Sarah, Helen, Alison, Lindsey and Jenny, for motivation and momentum.

I would not have been able to complete this without some amazing people for whose help I am immeasurably grateful: my daughters, Martha and Eve, for tolerance and patience, and for putting up with me being a part-time mum for such a very long time! Andy, for endless deep conversations and rock steady support in the final stretch; to my best friend Alice, for never-ending patience, encouragement and cake; to my parents for believing it would (one day) come to an end, and to Mike for reminding me that things can change. I am grateful for the wisdom of older people who have enriched my world – to my grandparents, to the participants in the study, to the many patients I have met during my nursing career who showed me how to live until we die, to my Uncle Stanley Simmons without whose example I never would have followed this path.

I could not have done any of this without you. Thank you all.

Laura

Contributor: Laura Green

Source: Green L (2018) Here, there is nobody; an ethnography of older people’s end of life care in hospital, PhD, University of Bradford

Everyone at the Exeter branch of Headway Devon for being so brilliant

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped me along my student journey. So many people have been so kind. There are far too many to name but there are some people who I would like to especially thank. First and foremost I would like to thank the participants in the study and everyone at the Exeter branch of Headway Devon for being so brilliant. Everyone at the Open University, particularly my supervisors Dr Lindsay O’Dell and Dr Sarah Earle have been wonderful and ensured that this journey has been great fun as well as educationally enriching. Thanks to my examiners, Professor Dan Goodley and Professor Rose Barbour for an intellectually stimulating and enjoyable viva. Finally I would like to thank my family. My family have been so supportive and have given me unconditional encouragement throughout; I would not have been able to complete a PhD without them. I would like to especially thank my nephew Oliver for bringing me so much happiness and for allowing me to watch cartoons with him.

Contributor: Jonathan Harvey

Source: Harvey, J (2015) Navigating the complexities of Acquired Brain Injury: Theorising everyday activities in identity (re)construction, PhD, Open University

A mentor and friend, from whom I have learnt the vital skill of disciplined critical thinking

Foremost, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my two supervisors, Professor Phil Trinder and Dr Patrick Maier. Their patience, encouragement, and immense knowledge were key motivations throughout my PhD. They carry out their research with an objective and principled approach to computer science. They persuasively conveyed an interest in my work, and I am grateful for my inclusion in their HPC-GAP project.

Phil has been my supervisor and guiding beacon through four years of computer science MEng and PhD research. I am truly thankful for his steadfast integrity, and selfless dedication to both my personal and academic development. I cannot think of a better supervisor to have. Patrick is a mentor and friend, from whom I have learnt the vital skill of disciplined critical thinking. His forensic scrutiny of my technical writing has been invaluable. He has always found the time to propose consistently excellent improvements. I owe a great debt of gratitude to Phil and Patrick.

I would like to thank Professor Greg Michaelson for offering thorough and excellent feedback on an earlier version of this thesis. In addition, a thank you to Dr Gudmund Grov. Gudmund gave feedback on Chapter 4 of this thesis, and suggested generality improvements to my model checking abstraction of HdpH-RS.

A special mention for Dr Edsko de Vries of Well Typed, for our insightful and detailed discussions about network transport design. Furthermore, Edsko engineered the network abstraction layer on which the fault detecting component of HdpH-RS is built.

I thank the computing officers at Heriot-Watt University and the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre for their support and hardware access for the performance evaluation of HdpH-RS.

Contributor: Rob Stewart

Source: Stewart, R (2013) Reliable Massively Parallel Symbolic Computing: Fault Tolerance for a Distributed Haskell, PhD, Heriot Watt University

Making me realise that I should never let being dyslexic hold me back from what I want to do

This PhD thesis is the culmination of a life-long interest in geology and has turned into as much a labour of love as a scientific study. Numerous people over the years have helped me get here, so there are many people I need to thank. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors from Durham University, Richard Davies and Richard Brown for their support, encouragement and advice throughout this project. I would like to thank my supervisors from Statoil UK Ltd, Jenny Morris and Rosie Fletcher for their guidance and assistance, and for giving me valuable insights into the petroleum industry. I would also like to thank my past supervisors, Dougal Jerram and Dorthe Møller Hansen for helping to set up this project. I am very grateful to the Volcanic Margins Research Consortium for providing excellent field trips, a place to discuss my research and access to some of the most knowledgeable people in my field, both in academia and industry. I would especially like to thank Tim Watton, Sam Clark, Bansri Raithatha, Heather Rawcliffe, Catherine Nelson, Clayton Grove, Nick Schofield, Simon Passey, David Brown, Richard Walker and Brian Bell for interesting discussions, both in the class room and down the pub. At the end of my PhD, this thesis was examined by Peter Burgess from Royal Holloway, University of London and Claire Horwell from Durham University. I would like to thank both of them for the many suggestions that improved this manuscript.

I would like to extend my gratitude to Statoil UK for funding this project through the CeREES scholarship program, and for providing much of the seismic reflection data. To David Ellis, Peter Dromgoole, Alex Reid and Adam Pugh for useful discussions and advice throughout my PhD. To DONG Energy UK for providing an internship and for letting me get my hands on industry data without any real expectations. To Mike Smith, Steve Cannon, Catherine Horseman, Alwyn Ross, Rémi Rateau, Giuseppina Pezza and Richard Nice for letting me ask many, many questions about Petrel. To the Rosebank partnership, Chevron, Statoil, OMV and DONG Energy, for permission to use the work undertaken during my internship as part of my PhD thesis. To Chevron, CGG Veritas, Fugro Multi Client Services, PGS, Spectrum ASA and WesternGeco for providing the seismic data under licence from Statoil UK Ltd and DONG Energy UK. To Halliburton for providing the seismic interpretation software through the Landmark Universities software grant program and Schlumberger for providing Petrel under licence to DONG Energy UK.

From Durham University, I am grateful to all the administrative staff for practical support throughout my PhD, including Katie Daniels, Andrea Bailey, Karen Atkinson, Janice Oakes, Paula Elliot and April Furnal. I would also like to thank members of the academic staff for advice and support, including João Trabucho-Alexandre, Jon Gluyas and Chris Greenwell. In addition, I would like to thank Dave Stevenson and Gary Wilkinson for data loading, software and hardware support. I would like to thank my fellow postgraduate students for providing a sense of community and camaraderie, there are too many of you to mention but I would especially like to thank Claire McLeod, Isobel Yeo, Harriet Ridley and Amy Clarke. I would also like to thank Mark Ireland, Steve Richardson, Katie Roberts, Amélie Leduc, Dom Maloney and David Moy for helping me get to grips with my research and the more technical elements of interpreting seismic reflection data. Many thanks to the Durham Volcanology Group for providing interesting discussions and introducing me to other aspects of volcanology. Going back in time, I want to thank my classmates and lecturers from the Geology Department at University of Leicester who helped me to believe in myself, made learning a fun experience and who provided me with a strong foundation in the subject I love. I am also grateful to Paul Starr and Paul Edmunds who taught ‘A’ level geology at Bishop Stopford School, Kettering. You set me on the path I am on now and I have never looked back.

On a more personal note I would like to thank Emily Boon, Karen Bianchi, Kathy Mather and Jo Variava for never letting me doubt myself and for reminding me there is a whole world outside of my PhD. I would especially like to thank Rhian Meara for toblerone martinis, peanut butter M&M’s and for always being there when I needed her. I would also like to thank Helen and Mike Hedley for their support and for always inviting me to take a break and go away with them to play in the snow. I am eternally gratefully to my family, my parents Helen and Michael, my siblings Tom and Fiona, my Grandmother, the American and Canadian contingents and those family members more recently rediscovered. Thank you for encouraging me, supporting me and making me realise that I should never let being dyslexic hold me back from what I want to do. This PhD is a testament to your faith in me, I hope I have made you proud. Finally I would like to thank my long suffering other half Ben Hedley. Words cannot express my gratitude for everything you have done. Thank you for accompanying me on this adventure, I look forward to our next one!!

Contributor: Kirstie Wright

Source: Wright, K (2013) Seismic Stratigraphy and Geomorphology of Palaeocene Volcanic Rocks, Faroe-Shetland Basin, PhD, Durham University

I want to thank my secondary school history teacher

I would like to thank both of my supervisors Bob Harris and Charles McKean for their support throughout the many years of a part-time PhD, keeping me going when times were tough, asking insightful questions, and offering invaluable advice. I would also like to thank my fellow student Louisa Cross for her support, in the form of lively discussions, encouraging emails, and sharing relevant publications. I must also thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council who funded my doctoral research.

Thanks are also due to all the librarians and archivists who facilitated access to various records and publications, but particularly to the staff of the archives at the University of Dundee, Hazel Anderson at the National Archives of Scotland who arranged for me to borrow a substantial amount of digital images of Dumfriesshire testamentary records, and the staff at the Heritage Hub in Hawick who allowed my husband to digitally photograph Selkirk Subscription Library’s voluminous borrowing records, letting me transcribe and analyse them at home, the only way I could work through them practically by that point.

Both of my parents have been a great help throughout my history studies, both at Dundee and before. In addition I want to thank my secondary school history teacher, Ian Landles at Hawick, who at an early stage set my class a school project to produce a family tree, which was the prompt for my own journey of historical research, leading me to visit archives in the Borders and Edinburgh from a young age. But the greatest thanks of all must go to my husband Martin, who understands the challenges of doing a PhD more than most people, particularly when long-term ill as I am, and has been a rock throughout.

Contributor: Vivienne Dunstan

Source: Dunstan V (2010) Reading habits in Scotland circa 1750-1820, PhD, University of Dundee

…my parents for everything. You made me into who I am.

Although writing up the PhD thesis might be the effort of one person, the reason that person even gets as far as starting to write up is thanks to all the people supporting that PhD student. I am grateful for everyone who has been there to support my journey towards the finished thesis. I’m indebted to and grateful for the following persons…

… my main supervisor Stefan Holmlid, for all the support and letting me find my own path whilst at the same time showing me which alternate paths I might be missing. Never forcing, always suggesting suits me perfectly!

… my two co-supervisors Arne Jönsson and Björn Alm. Both of you have provided invaluable outsiders perspectives on my research when most needed. Björn, a special thank you for all the fruitful discussions in general and on the methodological approach in general. And to Arne, thank you for your experience and making sure the research continued to progress towards a finished thesis.

… everyone who has participated in my studies. I am extremely grateful for all your help. In total roughly 50 people have been involved in one way or another in providing the data used in the studies. This thesis would not have been possible to write without your help. An extra warm thank you to everyone in the three agencies I worked in/with for the final study for allowing me to be a part of your work places.

… HCS for providing an enjoyable place to work in. And special thanks to IxS and the fika-crowd. IxS for providing an intellectually inspiring  environment to work in, in which there always are new perspectives to be found when needed – thank you Stefan, Johan, Matti, Johan, Lisa, Eva, Mathias and Tim. And to the fika-crowd for providing many laughs, exciting discussions and a few beers during my PhD studies. So a big thank you to all of you; those of you who were here when I started and now have moved on (Sanna, Maria and Sara), those who have been here throughout most of my PhD (Johan, Amy, Jody and Anna) and all of you have joined the last few years (Lisa, Jonas R, Mattias, Kricke, Falkenskägg, Robin, Tim, Camilla and Karin). Also, thanks to all the administrative staff, especially Lise-Lott and Anne.

… an extra thank you to Johan and Lisa, the ones I tend to turn to first when I have something to discuss. Or just need a break.

… all the photo models. For the cover I want to thank the Zodiaken-staff in general for allowing me to take the photos on the front and back of the thesis cover, and Kristofer Frendesson in particular for getting in front of the camera. Similarly, my thanks go to the “customers” Matti, Lisa, Johan, Amy, Stefan and Tim. Furthermore, many thanks go to Jalal Maleki for taking the photos at Zodiaken. For the examples of visualisation techniques, my thanks go to Anna for modelling and Jonas H for photographing.

… my parents for everything. You made me into who I am.

Research support: The research presented in this thesis has been supported by: Vinnova: SERV project: Service Design, innovation and involvement. Ref no: 2007-03444. European Union: CIP Competitiveness and Innovation Program, research project “Service Design as an approach to foster competitiveness and sustainability of European tourism”.

Contributor: Fabian Segelström

Source: Segelström F (2013) Stakeholder Engagement for Service Design: How service designers identify and communicate insights, PhD, Linköping University

Thank you for being my muse, editor, proofreader, and sounding board

Carrying out the requisite work and then writing this thesis was, undoubtably, the most arduous task I have undertaken. However, one of the joys of having completed the thesis is looking back at everyone who has helped me over the past three, seven, and twenty-five years.

I would like to begin by thanking my three supervisors: Professors Sasha Movchan, Ian Jones, and Natasha Movchan. It is an often used cliché, but in this case it is no overstatement to say that without the consistent guidance, tutelage, support, unparalleled knowledge, and encouragement of my three supervisors, this thesis would never have existed. In particular, I would like to thank Natasha who went above and beyond to read every line of the manuscript in meticulous detail. I must say a special thank you to Sasha and Ian who, during my third year as an undergraduate, whetted my appetite for research and gave me the opportunity to study mathematics further.

Thank you also to Will Daniels and Serco Assurance for piquing my interest in industrial mathematics and providing me with such an interesting project to study during my third year as an undergraduate.

I would also like to thank the co-authors of my papers: Dr Mike Nieves for his encouragement, support and guidance; Dr Michele Brun for his hard-work, willingness to help, and knowledge, but mostly for his sense of humour; and Professor Ross McPhedran for his unsurpassed experience and knowledge of Mathematical Physics.

I should also like to thank fellow graduate student Stewart Haslinger, and indeed all the graduate students at the Department of Mathematical Sciences, primarily for giving me someone to moan at when work wasn’t progressing according to plan.

To my family, particularly my parents and sister, thank you for your love, support, and unwavering belief in me. Without you, I would not be the person I am today.

Above all I would like to thank my wife Nicola for her love and constant support, for all the late nights and early mornings, and for keeping me sane over the past few months. Thank you for being my muse, editor, proofreader, and sounding board. But most of all, thank you for being my best friend. I owe you everything.

Finally, despite my love for mathematics, the work reported in this thesis would not have been possible without the financial support of an EPSRC studentship (EP/H018514/1), for which I am grateful.

Contributor: @DanielColquitt

Source: Colquitt, D J (2013) Mathematical modelling of the dyamic response of metamaterial structures, PhD, Liverpool University

Showing that someone ‘out there’ is interested in what I’m doing has been immensely valuable

First, I would like to thank my friends at Brunel who have taken the greater part of this PhD journey with me, as part of the Cleaner Electronics Research Group and within Brunel Design more generally. In particular, thank you, Dr Alex Plant, Dr Nicola Combe, Fergus Bisset and Richard Young. While we were all doing our own thing, having your support and friendship has meant a great deal during both the good times and those when things haven’t gone so well. This kind of research can be a very lonely experience, and to know, and be able to talk to, others who are going through similar struggles is incredibly important.

Thank you to my supervisors: Professor David Harrison at Brunel, who took a chance on me back in 2007, enabled this whole PhD, and has been a constant source of support and sensible advice, and Professor Neville Stanton (now at Southampton), who has offered his comprehensive knowledge and strategic insights throughout, and to the Ormsby Trust and Thomas Gerald Gray Charitable Trust for their support.

Other colleagues at Brunel, past and present, both staff and students, whose help I have appreciated over the course of this PhD include:

Alexander Ambridge, Dr Marco Ajovalasit, Dr Sharon Baurley, Dr Stewart Birrell, Dr Jane Coughlan, Annemarie Dah, Loic De Buck, Dr Hua Dong, Dr Sam Duby, the late Lyn Edgecock, Chris Ellis, Professor Graeme Evans, Stephen Green, Linda Hartley, Dr Gareth Hay, Tim Holley, Jane Jang, Dr Dan Jenkins, Ron Jackson, Dr Ljubica Lazarevic, Amy Liu, Chris McGinley, Farnaz Nickpour, Dr Alexandre Pelegrini, Rob Phillips, Nick Sardar, Dr Darren Southee, Paul Turnock, Nikii Wang, Dr Yanmeng Xu, Dr Mark Young

I must thank my colleagues at WMG, University of Warwick from 2011-12—Dr Rebecca Cain, Professor Paul Jennings and Dr Seb Giudice—for their support and for showing me that the approach I have taken in this PhD is valued in a different academic context. Most recently, in 2013, I would like to thank my new colleagues at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, and SustainRCA, at the Royal College of Art, for opening up an infectiously optimistic worldview on the potential of people-centred design for sustainability and quality of life. Thank you to Catherine Greene, Flora Bowden, Rama Gheerawo, Jo-Anne Bichard, Clare Brass and Professor Jeremy Myerson.

The most enjoyable part of this PhD has been meeting a wonderful group of fellow researchers from all over the world, working on similar, intersecting or tangentially related subjects around persuasive technology, behaviour, interaction, design for social benefit and sustainability. Nominally they are situated in lots of different disciplines—with perhaps surprisingly few in `design’—but they share a commonality in considering understanding people to be an important part of understanding technological systems. The help and support they have given ranges from brief discussions to deep, sometimes metaphysical conversations, to a strengthening of a feeling of camaraderie, even when half-way across the world. Everyone has been useful, in one way or another, in getting this PhD done. I would, therefore, like to thank:

Dr Conny Bakker, Dr Magnus Bang, Professor Russell Beale, Lykke Bertel, Professor Robert Biddle, Dr Lennart Bjorneborn, Professor Casper Boks, Dr Kristina Borjesson, Loove Broms, Elizabeth Buie, Dr Stuart Candy, Kara Chanasyk, Jessica Charlesworth, Anne-Kathrine Christensen, Dr Benjamin Cowan, Dr Salmaan Craig, Dr Brian Cugelman, Johannes Zachrisson Daae, Dr Janet Davis, Dr Annelise De Jong, Christel De Maeyer, Sebastian Deterding, Jens Wilhelm Dinesen, Dr Steven Dorrestijn, Filip Drozd, Dr Dean Eckles, Dr Edward Elias, Dr Gloria Elizondo, Dr BJ Fogg, Dr Alain Forget, Dr Jon Froehlich, Gonzalo Garcia-Perate, Louise Norgaard Glud, Sandra Burri Gram-Hansen, Lasse Burri Gram-Hansen, Dr Elke Greifeneder, Victoria Haines, Dr Qin Han, Arjan Haring, Alex Heeney, Jason Hreha, Sadhna Jain, Kirsikka Kaipainen, Elin Olsen Kallevik, Dr Maurits Kaptein, Lucy Kimbell, Lenneke Kuijer, Ksenija Kuzmina, Dr Mark Lacy, Dr Tuomas Lehto, Dr Debra Lilley, Dr Erica Lofstrom, Professor Elizabeth Losh, Kendra Markle, Richard Mawle, Dr Ramia Maze, Dr Christian McLening, Dave Miller, Jordy Mont-Reynaud, Maria Alejandra Moreno, Dr Ruth Mugge, Prof. Sendhil Mullainathan, Dr Sean Munson, Kiersten Nash, Dr Hien Nguyen, Sylvia Nicholles, Prof. Harri Oinas-Kukkonen, Luis Oliveira, Dr Rosie Onions, Ida Nilstad Pettersen, Dr Laura Rafferty, Dr Teppo Raisanen, Dr Rathna Ramanathan, Valentina Rao, Julie Ravn, Dr Wolfgang Reitberger, Sara Renstrom, Mia Ridge, Professor Henrik Scharfe, Dr Melissa Sedmak, Dr Katarina Segerstahl, Anneli Selvefors, Don Steiny, Goril Storroe, Helena Strömberg, Dr Lauren Tan, Professor Harold Thimbleby, Dr Ann Thorpe, Dr Cameron Tonkinwise, Dr Kristian Torning, Nynke Tromp, Dr Marcella Ucci, Fred Van Amstel, Roseliek Van de Velden, Tjebbe Van Eemeren, Professor Peter-Paul Verbeek, Frank Verberne, Tricia Wang, Tristan Weevers, Dr Renee Wever, Garrath Wilson, Jorge Zapico

What set me on this PhD journey in the first place was the confidence that this was an interesting and worthwhile subject, and that I was capable of tackling it. That confidence came, to a large extent, from correspondence with a whole range of people, a few of whom I have still never met in person, from all over the world: people who had read and commented on my blog, or emailed me examples and pictures and references to look up, points of view and contacts who might be useful, and people who urged me to investigate these issues further. Since the toolkit itself in its various forms was made public, another whole wave of people has helped (even if they don’t realise how much) by taking part in workshops, giving me feedback, inviting me to come and talk and run events, suggesting improvements, and so on. Again, that enthusiasm—quite basically, showing that someone `out there’ is interested in what I’m doing—has been immensely valuable and has kept me going during some times when I was close to packing it all in (so, as well as the people named here, I also want to thank the many thousands of anonymous readers who have, in their own way, contributed). Thanks to:

Stephen Anderson, Kate Andrews, Lauren Argenta, Alison Austin, Sophie Barrett, Tim Barrow-Williams, Steve Baty, David Bausola, Martin Belam, Dr Simon Blyth, Andreas Bovens, Cennydd Bowles, James Box, Dr Harry Brignull, Alex Brown, George Buckenham, Andy Budd, Kate Bulpitt, Meagan Call, Emily Campbell, Samidh Chakrabarti, Dr Jennifer Cham, Adi Chambers, James Christie, David Churcher, Giles Colborne, Dr Mary Rose Cook, Dr Fionnuala Costello, Martin Couzins, Ian Crawford, Harriet Creed, Kimberley Crofts, Vicky Cullen, Lauren Currie, Raphael D’Amico, Dawn Danby, Vincenzo Di Maria, Cory Doctorow, Duncan Drennan, Sarah Drummond, Robert Fabricant, Dr Frank Field, Eliot Fineberg, Crosbie Fitch, Seth Godin, David Gray, Adam Greenfield, Mags Halliday, Michael Hallsworth, Rory Hamilton, Tim Harford, Warren Hatter, Edward Horsford, Lydia Howland, Paul Irish, Dr Laura James, Dr Patrick Jordan, Amy Kapell, Aviv Katz, Elizabeth Kessick, Dr Gary Klein, Michael Kohn, Johanna Kollmann, Adrian Leaman, Katy Lindemann, Nick Marsh, Robert Maslin, Adam Menter, Jason Mesut, Felix Mitchell, Jaimes Nel, Luke Nicholson, Mayo Nissen, Dr Bill Nuttall, Oliver Payne, Martyn Perks, Steve Portigal, George Preston, Tom Randall, Ben Reason, Eric Reiss, Chris Risdon, Frankie Roberto, Ayush Saran, Fee Schmidt-Soltau, Joey Scully, Richard Sedley, Adrian Short, Dr Paul Shrubsole, Timothy J Silverman, Clare Sinclair, Matthew Solle, Paula Sparling, Zoe Stanton, Francis Storr, Bruno Taylor, Agnes Tirat, Elle Tweedy, Alice Tyler, Vincent van der Lubbe, Mark Vanderbeeken, Megha Wadhawan, Marney Walker, Laura Walker-Hudson, Adrian Westaway, Dr Duncan Wilson, Jamie Young

I am lucky to have had a wonderful group of friends who have helped me through the last few years, in particular Julian Wood and Michael O’Donnell. I would also like to thank my family—my parents, Barry and Carol and my brother, Tom, for all their support and advice and belief that I was capable of taking on the PhD. And most of all, I want to thank Harriet, who has been endlessly patient, kind, loving and brilliant.

Contributor: @DanLockton

Source: Lockton, D (2013) Design with Intent: A design pattern toolkit for environmental & social behaviour change, PhD in Design, Brunel University

…to Chris, for not letting me not do it, and for understanding and being wonderful

Dedication

This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my Mum, Pavla Marie Atherton, to whom I never really got to explain much of this, but who approved. She would have been tickled to see me wearing a mortarboard.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisors,

Dr Charles Leek (University of Wales, Bangor), Dr Neil Thacker (University of Manchester), and Professor Alan Jackson (University of Manchester)

for their kind help and endless patience, and also for just letting me get on with it. I am particularly indebted to Charles for his helpful suggestions and unfailing geniality.

I would like to express my profound gratitude to Dr Guillaume Thierry (University of Wales, Bangor), for his tireless assistance with the ERP study, which was very much appreciated.

Thanks are also due to the following people, without whose patient technical assistance I would not have been able to complete the work presented here:

Mark Roberts (University of Wales, Bangor) Dr Shane McKie (University of Manchester) Yvon Watson (University of Manchester) Dr Igor Hollander (formerly of the University of Manchester)

I would also like to thank Professor Neil Roberts (University of Liverpool) and Dr Rob Ward (University of Wales, Bangor) for their helpful comments and suggestions for improvements to this thesis.

Last, and most importantly, love and thanks to my parents, Pavla and Graham, for believing I could do it, and to Chris, for not letting me not do it, and for understanding and being wonderful.

Contributor: @finiteattention
Source: Atherton, C (2005) The Neurobiology of Object Constancy, PhD, University of Wales, Bangor

Without her support (mental, motivational, and financial) I may never have completed this thesis

I would like to thank my supervisors, Professors Mark Good and Rob Honey, listed in purely alphabetical order as their intelligence, contributions, support and, where necessary, motivational talks were equal and without parallel.

I am also extremely grateful to Dr. Mihaela Iordanova, for basically showing me exactly what it was I was meant to be doing on countless occasions, and always being willing to lend assistance whenever required.

I must also thank my family for their support and patience, specifically my Mam and Dad, without whom I wouldn’t be here, or, in fact, anywhere. I would also like to thank Mum and Dad Sachdev, for their generosity and support, and tolerance of the bizarre individual who is now a part of the family.

Finally, I must thank my wonderful wife Vanita, as without her support (mental, motivational, and financial) I may never have completed this thesis.

This work was funded by a studentship from the BBSRC

Contributor: @garwboy