We are one of the largest international centres of researchers, educators and practitioners working in the field of health psychology.
We aim to:
- Conduct world-leading health psychology research,
- Deliver high quality training, building future generations of psychologists and equipping health professionals to work in psychologically-informed ways,
- Make a difference to communities and society,
- Create a healthy, diverse and equitable working environment, within which staff can be ambitious and flourish.
The centre is jointly led by Professor Sarah Peters and Dr Fiona Ulph.
To get in touch – healthpsychology@manchester.ac.uk.
Our research
We seek to understand the experiences and psychological processes of preventing, identifying and managing health problems.
Our research crosses the lifespan; from perinatal care, newborn screening and child development, through adolescence and adulthood, to older adults and end-of-life care.
We work collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams in a wide range of community and healthcare settings. We investigate factors that impact access to, and quality of, interactions with health professionals from diverse populations. We discover ways to equip clinicians to work more psychologically.
Our team contributes to multiple workstreams of the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, including Rare Conditions, Hearing Health, Mental Health, Cancer Prevention, and Musculoskeletal Diseases.
Methodological expertise
Qualitative data and analysis
We lead on innovations in qualitative methods, such as nesting qualitative approaches within clinical trials and using qualitative methods to work with non-verbal populations and young children.
Our staff have developed new analysis approaches, such as Template Analysis.
We lead on the behaviour science and qualitative methods work of the NIHR Greater Manchester Research Design Service.
Synthesising evidence
We are expert in conducting and developing new methods in systematic reviews.
Innovative approaches include crowd-resourced rapid review techniques. We led on the rapid review for the British Psychological Society’s response to COVID-19 pandemic.
Our members created a search strategy tool, SPIDER.
Trial design and intervention development
We develop and investigate complex interventions.
We lead on methods to understand the impact of taking part in research, for example on effects of measurement on behavioural and affective outcomes
Questionnaire and survey design
We have developed multiple tools and measures to investigate psychological phenomenon such as quality of life and to assess the impact of interventions.
Our teaching
We teach psychology, behaviour sciences and research methods at all levels, in healthcare and educational settings across the UK and worldwide.
Psychology Training
At the University of Manchester, we design and deliver psychology teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Courses include:
- BSc Psychology
- BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology
- Masters psychology programmes, including our BPS-accredited Stage 1 MSc in Health Psychology
Other training
We are home to the Manchester Health Psychology Practice Skills Group – providing professional training and support for practising health psychologists and Stage 2 trainees.
We teach behavioural & social science and communication skills to trainee health professionals, such as doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists and midwives.
We translate behaviour science to create tailored training for health professions working within the NHS, and globally in low and middle-income countries.
We provide training in research methodologies for novice and advanced researchers.
Want to find out more about training opportunities for yourself or your workforce? Contact us healthpsychology@manchester.ac.uk.
Interested in becoming a health psychologist? Find out more about a career in health psychology.
Our team
Meet the researchers and educators working in the Centre.
Directors
Sarah Peters
Professor of Health Psychology
Sarah studies healthcare communication, particularly within challenging contexts, such as medically unexplained symptoms, health behaviour change, and mental health problems. A key aspect of her research is equipping health professionals to communicate more effectively with patients, relatives and colleagues.
Find our more about Sarah’s work here
Fiona Ulph
Reader in Qualitative Methods
Fiona’s research focuses on children’s roles in health care, professional-parent-child communication; and advances in genetics and screening. She is a senior qualitative advisor for the UK NIHR North West Research Design Service.
Find our more about Fiona’s work here
Academic staff
Professor Chris Armitage, Professor of Health Psychology
Professor Belinda Borrelli, Professor of Health Psychology
Professor Audrey Bowen, Professor of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation
Professor Lucie Byrne-Davis, Professor of Health Psychology
Professor Dawn Edge, Professor of Mental Health and Inclusivity
Professor David French, Professor of Health Psychology
Professor Joanne Hart, Professor of Health Professional Education
Professor Sarah Peters, Professor of Health Psychology
Professor Chris Todd, Professor of Primary Care & Community Health
Dr Sarah Cotterill, Reader in Biostatistics
Dr Fiona Ulph, Reader in Qualitative Methods
Dr Joanna Brooks, Senior Lecturer
Dr Laura Brown, Senior Lecturer in Psychology
Dr Tracy Epton, Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology
Dr Rachael Powell, Senior Lecturer
Dr Debbie Smith, Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology
Dr Susan Speer, Senior Lecturer
Dr Kiera Bartlett, Lecturer
Dr Nia Coupe, Lecturer
Dr Daniela Ghio, Lecturer in Psychology
Dr Anna Hood, Lecturer in Psychology
Dr Stephanie Lyons, Lecturer in Health Psychology
Dr Jacqueline Lavallee, Lecturer in Communication Skills
Dr Christine Rowland, Lecturer
Dr Sarah Shepherd, Lecturer
Professor Suzanne Skevington, Emeritus Professor of Health Psychology
Professor Alison Wearden, Emeritus Professor of Health Psychology
Dr Lis Cordingley, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology
Dr Kimberly Dienes, Honorary Lecturer in Clinical and Health Psychology
Research staff
Dr Jack Benton, ISSF Pump Priming Fellow
Dr Madeline Benton, Research Associate
Dr Joanna Goldthorpe, Honorary Research Fellow
Dr Rebecca Goulding, Research Associate
Rhiannon Hawkes, Research Associate
Dr Arbaz Kapadi, Research Associate
Dr Chris Keyworth, Honorary Research Fellow
Dr Jessica Leather, Research Associate
Dr Rebecca Lee, Research Fellow
Dr Michael Loughran, Research Associate
Dr Lorna McWilliams, Research Fellow
Dr Chloe Musa, Research Associate
Dr Sara Simao, Research Associate
Doctoral researchers
Beth Callender
Chantelle Ecob
Claire Reid
Dalil Alshammari
Danielle Mountain
Faye Johnson
Francesca Lomas
Hannah Long
Hannah Talbot
Jack Hammer
Karabo Sibasa
Kerry Hozhabrafkan
Lauren Floyd
Lauren Lucas
Lucy Hulme
Maha Alsubhi
Natalie Carr
Olivia Sonola-Jones
Rina Rahmatika Husni
Robert Nirsimloo
Safiyya Mark
Sanaa Hyder
Sarah L Muirhead
Sarah Plant
Stephanie Mace
Tarnjit Sehmbi
Vanessa Macintyre
Vicky Woof
Interested in joining our thriving community of PhD and Professional Doctorate Trainees? Find out about opportunities here
Current projects
Our research is supported by external funding, including grants from NIHR, MRC, ESRC, and Versus Arthritis.
We have strong collaborations with many NHS Trusts, Health Education England and government organisations such as Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, and UK Health Security Agency. We also work with a wide range of charitable, educational, and other third sector organisations nationally and globally.
See below for examples of some current projects:
CHAMP
The Versus Arthritis-funded CHAMP study investigates how healthcare professionals assess and communicate pain in paediatric and adolescent rheumatology settings. We are developing and testing a new intervention to improve these conversations.
The Polar Bear Study
The Polar Bear Study is an NIHR-funded collaboration of psychologists and dental practitioners. It aims to:
- Help dental practitioners have more useful conversations with families about making tooth-kind behaviours.
- Develop a dental workforce that are trained to use behavioural science confidently in their practice to help patients develop good oral health habits.
- Reduce the number of children in the UK needing to have teeth extracted under general anaesthetic
RARE/D
Funded by the ESRC, RARE aims to stimulate and capture public conversation related to one of the biggest changes in how we think about health: what does it mean to have a rare condition and how may we all become ‘RARE’ when genomics becomes part of mainstream healthcare?
We are focusing on the psychological, ethical and economic debates, and in turn how social science is helping to shape future healthcare.
The main thread of RARE is a series of publicly accessible conversations (initially a podcast), which explores the concept of RARE, its current impact, and how we can alter that impact.
To learn more and listen to the podcasts, please visit the project website.
Quality of Life Study
This project explores what quality of life is like during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides many resources to help you to improve your quality of life.
Outputs include resources for optimising physical and psychological health, social relationships, environment and spiritual, religious and personal beliefs.
Social responsibility
We are a key contributor to The University of Manchester’s social responsibility agenda. We work to ensure our research and teaching activities make a difference to communities and society.
Examples of current initiatives:
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Research Unit
The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Research Unit is a collaboration between Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Manchester.
Led by Professor Dawn Edge, it promotes and conducts innovative research to improve the health of minoritised groups and people with protected characteristics.
Psychology Education and Wellbeing in Schools (PEWS)
This award winning project introduces Year 6 pupils to psychology and life at The University of Manchester. It is run by Dr Debbie Smith and Dr Elizabeth McManus
The Change Exchange
This project is a collaboration of health psychology professionals who aim to understand, drive and evaluate behaviour change within health partnerships between high and middle or low-income countries.
It is run by Professor Lucie Byrne-Davis, Professor Jo Hart and Dr Eleanor Bull.
Contact us
If you would like to know more about our work, please get in touch.
Email: healthpsychology@manchester.ac.uk
Twitter: @ManHealthPsych
