Who knew that i, of all people, could be an academic, and even do well at it?

Alex Russell never thought he'd be an academic. He failed a few subjects at uni until he found a topic that interested him: wine. That led to an opportunity for a PhD with a fantastic supervisor in Prof Bob Boakes, and the opportunity to teach statistics under another fantastic mentor, Dr Margaret Charles. While wine was an interesting and fun research topic, an opportunity in gambling came up, working with Prof Nerilee Hing, and gambling became the focus of his work. He's won a bunch of awards along the way and has been involved in a lot of great projects and papers, but he's never really shaken that "imposter syndrome" that so many of us feel, especially due to some harsh comments along the way. His favourite goal is to help others be the best they can be, through supervision and mentorship, and through his approach to teaching a topic that many people dread: statistics. He's also conducted research on a bunch of interesting topics, like how video games are becoming more like gambling, how people describe the way that wine smells, synaesthesia and who is most at risk of harm from gambling. What he hopes that you'll take away from his story is that even if you fail a few times along the way, sometimes it's just a matter of finding what you're passionate about. And while there will always be detractors out there, it's so much more fun and rewarding lifting people up.