Olivia was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. She graduated with a 1st class MSc degree in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry in 2022 from the University of Glasgow. As part of her degree, she undertook an industrial placement in the DMPK Bioanalysis group at GSK and a final year research project with Professor Dave Adams on controlling the self-assembly of low molecular weight gels. Olivia remained at the University of Glasgow where she obtained a PhD under the supervision of Professor Andrew Sutherland in 2026. Her research was focussed on the synthesis of novel fluorescent amino acid analogues of phenylalanine and tyrosine to be used as intrinsic peptidic probes. Following a short role as a postdoctoral researcher in the Sutherland group, Olivia left Scotland to join the McGouran research group where she is currently working on radical probes targeting deubiquitinating enzymes. Outside of the lab, Olivia enjoys hill walking, crafting and board games.