Emily's plan to use scholarship to fund BSL lessons before work placement with Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

Emily Underwood a BSc (Hons) Animal Behaviour and Welfare (Clinical) student was awarded a Richard Matson Scholarship in February which she hopes to use to take British Sign Language (BSL) classes ahead of her placement with Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

She said: “I have wanted to work with animals from a young age, however I was never sure on what I wanted to do until about three years ago when I started researching dog behaviour and training. I became very interested in police dog handling and how the dogs are trained.

“I will start working with Hearing Dogs for Deaf People in September for my placement year. I am really looking forward to it as I want a career training working dogs. I find it very fascinating seeing them develop and change someone’s life. Without working dogs, so many jobs would never be completed. For example, police dogs undertake tasks to detect items or scents that humans are unable to.

“I have only been able to complete a few BSL sessions so far due to the recent pandemic. At first, I was anxious about it, however it does make sense when you think about it; for example, W is your fingers interlinked and I’m really enjoying them.”

Looking back on her time at Harper so far, she said: “Coming to Harper is the best decision I’ve ever made. I enjoy every aspect of my course, especially the tutorials because you’re able to better understand information from lectures. My family and friends say my confidence has developed so much, which I never really noticed.”