The character arc of Sarah-Jayne Blakemore

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 11 August 1974 in Cambridge and educated at Oxford High School and the University of Oxford. Between then and now sit a congratulatory first class degree in experimental psychology in 1996, a doctorate at University College London in 2000 co-supervised by two leading figures, a fellowship at the United Kingdom Parliament taken while still a doctoral student, an international postdoctoral fellowship in Lyon from 2001 to 2003, a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship, a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, public lectures and school talks, and a Cambridge chair. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Sarah-Jayne Blakemore?

The teenage brain is not a broken adult one. She proved it.

She was born in Cambridge and educated at Oxford High School and then at St John's College, Oxford, where in 1996 she graduated with a congratulatory first class degree in experimental psychology. A congratulatory first is a rare thing: it is awarded when the examiners want to say something beyond the mark.

She went to University College London for postgraduate work and was awarded a doctorate in 2000, for research co-supervised by Daniel Wolpert and Chris Frith, two of the most significant figures in British neuroscience. During the doctorate she also took a fellowship at the United Kingdom Parliament, which is an unusual detour for a scientist and says something about wanting the work to matter outside the laboratory.

She spent 2001 to 2003 as an international postdoctoral research fellow in Lyon, working on how the human brain perceives causality. Then came two Royal Society fellowships at University College London in succession, from 2004 to 2007 and from 2007 to 2013, which is nearly a decade of funded freedom to follow one question.

The question is adolescence. Her work is on how the brain develops through the teenage years, and its effect has been to replace a very old idea, that a teenager is an adult who is behaving badly, with a much more useful one: that the brain is still under construction, in particular ways, on a known schedule. She is professor of psychology and cognitive neuroscience at Cambridge. She gives public lectures and talks in schools, and acted as scientific consultant on a television series about the mind in 2003.

The moments

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore's timeline.

The 1990s

Oct 1993

Experimental psychology at Oxford

Milestone. Oxford High School, then St John's.

Jun 1996

A congratulatory first

Milestone, and it changed everything. Not just a first. The kind the examiners add a note to.

~1998

A fellowship in Parliament

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A doctoral student taking time out to work inside Parliament.

The 2000s

Jun 2000

A doctorate at UCL

Milestone, and it changed everything. Two of the biggest names in British neuroscience, supervising one thesis.

~2001

Three years in Lyon

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Another country, another language, and a question about cause and effect.

~2003

Television, and school halls

Milestone, and it changed her direction. She goes into schools and explains their own brains to them.

1 Sep 2003

Which question to spend it on

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: take on adolescence, taken, or stay with causality. The work changed how schools and clinicians understand adolescence, and she holds a Cambridge chair.

~2004

A Royal Society fellowship

Milestone, and it changed everything. Nine years of funding to follow one question wherever it went.

~2008

The adolescent brain

Milestone, and it changed everything. She made the teenage brain a subject rather than a complaint.

The 2010s

~2019

A chair at Cambridge

Milestone, and it changed everything. A professorship in the city she was born in.

The laboratory at Cambridge is still working on the same years of life, and she is still standing in front of school halls explaining them. What she set moving is in every staff room where somebody now says a thirteen year old is not being difficult on purpose, which is a small sentence that changes how a child is treated.

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Sarah-Jayne Blakemore: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What is Sarah-Jayne Blakemore's character arc?

A girl born in Cambridge who took a congratulatory first at Oxford, a doctorate at University College London under two leading figures, three years in Lyon and nine years of Royal Society fellowships, and spent them on the adolescent brain.

What does Sarah-Jayne Blakemore research?

The development of the brain through adolescence. Her work replaced the old idea that a teenager is an adult behaving badly with the more useful one that the brain is still under construction on a known schedule.

Where did Sarah-Jayne Blakemore study?

Oxford High School and then St John's College, Oxford, where she graduated with a congratulatory first class degree in experimental psychology in 1996, and University College London, where she was awarded a doctorate in 2000.

What is the congratulatory first Sarah-Jayne Blakemore received?

A first class degree where the examiners add a note of commendation beyond the mark itself. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore received one in experimental psychology at Oxford in 1996, before going on to her doctorate at University College London.

Does Sarah-Jayne Blakemore do public work?

Yes. She is actively involved in increasing public awareness of science, frequently gives public lectures and talks at schools, and acted as scientific consultant on the BBC series The Human Mind in 2003. She also held a fellowship at the UK Parliament.

Where does Sarah-Jayne Blakemore work?

The University of Cambridge, where she is professor of psychology and cognitive neuroscience, in the city she was born in. She previously held two successive Royal Society fellowships at University College London.

Where does this timeline of Sarah-Jayne Blakemore's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

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Sources

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, English Wikipedia biography.
University of Oxford and University College London records for her 1996 degree and 2000 doctorate.
Royal Society fellowship records for 2004 to 2013.