Speaker: Lucy Evans, PhD Student at University of Birmingham
What key challenges did you need help with before you started using Genio (formerly Glean)?
Lucy Evans: Hi, I'm Lucy. I am a PhD student in microbiology and infection at the University of Birmingham, and I also recently completed a masters and undergrad in biomedical science at the University of Sussex. I use Glean to support me with ADHD. I've had Glean for about 2 years and just before I got access to Glean, I actually got my ADHD diagnosis, so it's been really helpful with that, as well as autism and associated auditory processing issues and chronic fatigue syndrome.
How has Genio (formerly Glean) helped you with those challenges and impacted your learning experience?
Lucy Evans: So due to my audio processing issues, I found it difficult sometimes to understand what lecturers are saying, and having Glean and the transcripts feature has been really helpful in order to help me go back through my notes, particularly in a really content and specific subject such as microbiology that I study now. I still use it now. My ADHD means sometimes I sort of lapse in focus, and I use it now, in fact, to make notes during my meetings with my supervisor, so I can help to stay in the moment and work on problems that we're solving rather than having to think about making notes, which actually took up more of my mental capacity. Additionally, with chronic fatigue, if I can get to a lecture or if I can get a recording and put it into Glean, then I can have the notes, and that's been really, really, really vital for me.
Would you recommend Genio (formerly Glean) to other students?
Lucy Evans: I would wholeheartedly recommend Glean to other students, and I already have in my roles, supporting disabled students in a variety of capacities, mostly at Sussex. It had such a significant impact on me very quickly while I was studying it for my masters, be able to make notes and get transcripts of lectures. It felt like I spent the first few years of my degree, not really knowing how to make notes properly, and Glean really filled and served such a clear purpose for me. And it just clicked with my learning style as a neurodivergent disabled person, and I would definitely recommend it.
