Yardley studied psychology for her
BSc at the
University of Southampton, and during her undergraduate days formed links with the local community which resulted in her decision to stay in the area to progress her further training. A desire to help people led her to the field of audiology, and she was awarded an
MRC studentship to pursue an
MSc in the then-emerging field of audiological science, again at the
University of Southampton. After completing her
MSc in 1986, she worked as an audiologist at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research and then at the
Royal South Hants Hospital. Fitting hearing aids and carrying out hearing tests over a period of 18 months gave her valuable first-hand experience of practising as a healthcare professional. Lucy then took up an appointment as a research demonstrator in the Department of Psychology at the
University of Southampton, which gave her the opportunity to begin a
PhD at the interface of audiology and psychology. Her research involved looking at psycho-physiological aspects of vestibular function and dysfunction. During her studies she also lectured at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, but subsequently was invited to take up a non-clinical research position in the MRC Human Movement and Balance Unit at the
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London (now part of the
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) where she completed her
PhD and embarked on her career as an academic psychologist, specialising in psychological aspects of vestibular (dys)function. Her first academic post was a lectureship at
UCL – still commuting from her home in Southampton. She then became a senior lecturer in
Psychology as Applied to Medicine at
UCL, before returning to the
University of Southampton as a reader and then professor of health psychology). She also held a professorship at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care and Health Sciences,
University of Oxford. Lucy now divides her time between her position at the
University of Southampton and as professor of health psychology in the School of Psychological Science at the
University of Bristol). == Research and career ==