People

Principle Investigator: Kira Shaw

Interests: Family time, reading fiction, Blackburn Rovers, cooking, pub walks.

I completed my PhD at the University of Sheffield in 2016, working with Dr Jason Berwick on developing a mouse model to study neurovascular coupling in health and ageing. I then moved to the University of Sussex to join Professor Catherine Hall’s lab as a postdoc, where I continued studying neurovascular coupling and developed a particular interest in how brain region, APOE status, and neurodegeneration (such as Alzheimer’s disease) shape brain function. Following the birth of my son in late 2021 and a move back to Lancashire, I stepped away from research briefly to take up a teaching-focused role in undergraduate Psychology at University Centre Blackburn College. I returned to academic research in 2024, re-joining the University of Sheffield to work with Dr Jason Berwick and Dr Clare Howarth on evaluating the disease-modifying potential of vascular-based therapies. In February 2025, I was awarded an 8-year Wellcome Trust Career Development Award. I will start my own lab at the University of Manchester in January 2026.