Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen University Graduations: Budding forensic psychologist inspired by former Peterhead prison guard

Emily McGee from Aberdeen University. Picture by Chris Sumner.
Emily McGee from Aberdeen University. Picture by Chris Sumner.

A chance encounter with a former prison guard inspired one Peterhead woman to pursue her dream career.

Emily McGee picked up her psychology degree from Aberdeen University today, and is now planning continue her education by specialising in forensics.

But if it hadn’t been for a chat with former Peterhead prison guard Jackie Stuart, her future may be unfolding in a completely different way.

Mr Stuart was infamously held hostage on the roof of the prison during the 1987 riots. The prison warden, who had been stabbed, was rescued by the SAS five days later.

He returned to work, and has since written a book – and shared his stories with visitors to the Peterhead Prison Museum.

Miss McGee, who is originally from the Blue Toon, admits that it was through his stories that she realised the importance of understanding psychology.

The 21-year-old said: “It made me very interested, especially in forensics. That’s what I want to go into.”

After going to summer school at Aberdeen University in 2018, she decided to enroll in September to study an undergrad in psychology.

Would have struggled without help of staff

While Miss McGee thoroughly enjoyed the course, she said she would have really struggled during Covid were it not for help from tutors and staff.

Being dyslexic, the graduate said the support she received during her studies “could not be faulted”.

She added: “I enjoyed it but it was not the same as speaking to people face to face. You’d be worried that you weren’t doing stuff right when it was online and it was just you in your room.”

“It was difficult but it was the staff that made it easy during the transition from in person to online. Anytime that I had a question, they were there to answer them.

“If it wasn’t for them, I would have struggled a lot.”

‘I still don’t believe it’s real’

During her time at university, Miss McGee met a great group of friends through sharing her flat in first year.

Now a tight group of 13, she added: “You hear all these stories about people going to a flat and never getting on. I’m really lucky with the people I ended up with.”

Miss McGee is looking for work experience before pursing a postgraduate in forensics and said she was excited to be celebrating her graduation with family later today with a “glass of wine”.

She said: “I can’t believe it’s happening, I still don’t believe it’s real. I don’t feel old enough to graduate.”

  • Check if your loved ones and friends are graduating this week with our interactive tool

Conversation