 Langley obtained an MA in physiology, cell biology, and zoology at the University of Cambridge, then earned her PhD in neurochemistry, also from Cambridge.She took up a position as a research fellow at the University of Nottingham, specialising in neurochemistry using human cell cultures.Langley was trained as an animal researcher but after reading Peter Singer's Animal Liberation she became a vegan and an animal rights activist, and campaigned professionally against animal experiments.