Helen studied for a BA in English Literature and an MA in Medieval Studies at the University of Bristol. Her research interests centre on queens and aristocratic women of the Tudor period, particularly their lives at court and their involvement in politics, and female education in the sixteenth century. Helen began a PhD at CELL in September 2010 examining the contradiction between our accepted understanding of English aristocratic women's lives and their actual activities at the mid-Tudor courts, focusing particularly on Elisabeth Parr, Marchioness of Northampton.