Dr Fay Smith
Contact information
Fay Smith
BSc PhD
Research Officer
Fay joined the UK Medical Careers Research Group (UKMCRG) in September 2011. Fay has a degree in Psychology (BSc) and a PhD. She first did research in the field of travel behaviour analysis, then worked as an educational researcher. Before joining Oxford University she was employed as a Lecturer in Research Methods at Newcastle University where she was the Director of the Doctorate in Education, and taught statistics. During that time she developed an interest in observing classroom behaviour and analysing classroom talk.
Her research focuses on statistical analyses in the context of medical doctors’ careers. Topics include: working as a doctor when acutely ill, working as a doctor when chronically ill or disabled, views of senior UK doctors about working in medicine, factors influencing junior doctors’ choices of future specialty, the reasons why doctors choose or reject careers in general practice; a comparison of doctors who choose general practice early or later in their careers; and choice and rejection of psychiatry as a career.