My first degree was in Physics at Massey under Paul Callaghan. I did my PhD at Edinburgh University under David Willshaw, jointly in the Theoretical Physics group and the Centre for Cognitive Science. A series of post-doctoral research positions followed at Cambridge University (The Physiological Laboratory, with Horace Barlow), Otago (jointly Computer Science and Zoology), and Queensland (UQ, Engineering). A successful Marsden Fund grant enabled a return to Aotearoa. I then joined the Computer Science group at Victoria University of Wellington in 2000. I have had periods back in Cambridge (David MacKay's lab at the Cavendish), in Brazil (Bahia), Germany (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology) and Oxford.