Despite studying Physics, Chemistry, and the compulsory Maths at High School, I ended up in a Arts degree at University, and from there majored in Studies in Religion and History and continued on to do postgraduate research degrees in Religion. But along the way I became employed in IT and since completing my PhD have been teaching myself Python (among other things). However all these years in the Humanities have resulted in a particular way of approaching learning, one that is not entirely helpful to learning programming. In addition to this, there is also how I can make my new skills relevant to all those years of research and study?

This talk is going to be about my own journey from a STEM high school student, to a humanities researcher, and then to IT, and what I have learnt along the way. It is also about why (I think) teaching children about computers and programming is incredibly important. And also, what I am doing, and planning to do with my new found Python skills in relation to my PhD and potential further research.