Nicky Clayton

Nicola Clayton FRS FSB FAPS C Psychol is the Professor of Comparative Cognition in the Department of Psychology and a Fellow of Clare College. In addition to her research and teaching, she is a dancer, specialising in tango and salsa, and Scientist in Residence at Rambert, a contemporary dance company.

My motto is ‘enthusiastic serendipity’. There are lots of opportunities that come our way and the trick is to be sufficiently aware to see them.

Serendipity can put you in the right place at the right time, but you also need enthusiasm to take advantage of a situation. If you’re constantly running yourself ragged and feeling very overwhelmed, the opportunities could knock you in the face and you still might not notice them. It’s about putting yourself in the right frame of mind to be able to look, listen and be receptive. And sometimes that means taking risks.

A good example of this was when I joined the creative team at the Rambert Dance Company to work on a new piece in honour of Charles Darwin’s 200th anniversary. It all came from a chance remark at a New Year’s party, which led to me being introduced to Mark Baldwin, their Artistic Director, and we’ve been collaborating ever since. It’s fascinating work that combines my twin loves of dance and science and it came about by pure happenstance; but I still had to be open to it. Similarly, I went out on a limb in doing an unusual lecture at the Royal Institution on mental time travel with my tango partner, Clive Wilkins, who is an artist and writer. Working together we were able to bring elements of dance, magic, art, writing and science into our presentation. In both instances I could have avoided the risk of doing something different but I didn’t: after all, what’s the worst that can happen? Divergence, creativity and innovation are all exciting places for me.

“My favourite tango moves are the ones where I feel I’m flying and that carries through to my intellectual life.”

Movement is really what I’m all about. My favourite tango moves are the ones where I feel I’m flying and that carries through to my intellectual life. I’ve always been fascinated with birds, with how they move and how they perceive the world. I feel as if I am quite birdlike and I definitely have wings; just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean I haven’t got them! Movement and birds are the two things that unite everything I do. I don’t separate or compartmentalise my dance life from my academic life; I’m not a university professor one day and a tango dancer the next. It’s about taking very disparate disciplines and interweaving them in a way that allows you to see things in new or unexpected ways.

I’ve always tried to think a bit differently and not follow a regular model. It got me into a lot of trouble when I was younger. As a postdoc I didn’t dress conventionally and I remember going for junior research fellowship interviews in my high heels and little mini-skirt. At that stage of my career I felt that I wasn’t taken seriously and was seen as a little blonde lass from Blackpool who looked more like a dancer than a scientist. It meant the some people dismissed me and it was only when I wore a more conventional outfit that I got a position.

Back then I found it quite hard to find female role models, although I think that’s much easier now. When I was an undergraduate, there simply didn’t seem to be that many female professors. I struggled with how to get the right balance between being a very girly girl – because that’s what I am – whilst also being seen as seriously committed to my work. When I observed most of the high-ranking women at the University, the way they looked and the way they came across just wasn’t me. Looks aren’t important in themselves, except as a manifestation of your personality and I wanted to be true to myself.

“I also got to do the splits on the red carpet at the Royal Society when I was awarded my FRS!”

I felt liberated when I became a Fellow of the Royal Society. I’m not any more sensible than I was twenty years ago, but now I’ve got a stamp of approval and with it comes a lot of freedom. I also got to do the splits on the red carpet at the Royal Society when I was awarded my FRS! It was an honour and it mattered enormously to me but it’s dangerous to go swanning around thinking that I’m important and I don’t mean any of this in an arrogant way. The real value of an FRS is it demonstrates that I meet the highest external standards and therefore people trust me when I want to try out something unconventional. It’s a fast track to being able to explore more divergent ideas.

What’s success? I want to be able to play. This sounds trivial but it isn’t meant to be. It’s a privilege and pleasure to be able to play with ideas and it’s about freedom not status. If I am a role model in any way, I hope it’s in showing that people can be successful by being themselves and there isn’t just one way to do things. I don’t like to be prescriptive and I certainly wouldn’t want anyone to think that they need to dress like me or be like me. I want to encourage them to try and tailor-make their lives so that they spend their time doing the things they really enjoy.