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.
Read about Sarah’s work in Research Explorer.
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.
Read about Fiona’s work in Research Explorer.
Academic staff
Professor Chris Armitage, Behaviour change intervention and theory
Professor Belinda Borrelli, Digital behaviour change interventions, Smoking
Professor Audrey Bowen, Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, Stroke
Professor Peter Bower, Primary care, Long term conditions, Mental health
Professor Lucie Byrne-Davis, Health Professional Education, Workforce
Professor Dawn Edge, Mental Health and Inclusivity
Professor David French, Prevention, screening, behaviour change
Professor Joanne Hart, Health Professional Education, Communication
Professor Sarah Peters, Clinical communication, qualitative methods
Professor Chris Todd, Nursing, older adults
Dr Sarah Cotterill, Biostatistics, public health, health behaviours
Dr Fiona Ulph, Rare diseases, Genomics, Children, Qualitative Methods
Dr Joanna Brooks, Chronic health, Palliative care, Qualitative methods
Dr Laura Brown, Psychological functioning in later life
Dr Tracy Epton, Behaviour change, Systematic reviews, Inclusive research
Dr Rachael Powell, Psychological preparedness for medical procedures
Dr Debbie Smith, Pregnancy and women’s health
Dr Susan Speer, Conversation analysis, clinical communication
Dr Kiera Bartlett, Digital health, Self-management, Smoking
Dr Nia Coupe, Behaviour change, Public health, Healthcare workforce
Dr Graeme Donald, Nursing, mindfulness, long term conditions
Dr Daniela Ghio, Pain, long term conditions, Children and young people
Dr Anna Hood, Pain, Children and young people, Anti-racism in research
Dr Georgios Kitsaras, Behavioural Science in dentistry
Dr Jacqueline Lavallee, Behaviour Science in medical education
Dr Penny Lewis, Patient safety, Pharmacy
Dr Stephanie Lyons, Breastfeeding, Qualitative methods
Dr Lucy O’Malley, Oral health, Evidence synthesis
Dr Christine Rowland, Quality of life and palliative care
Dr Sarah Shepherd, Communication skills in medical education
Emeritus Professor Gunn Grande, Cancer, Palliative care, Nursing
Emeritus Professor Suzanne Skevington, Quality of life
Emeritus Professor Alison Wearden, Fatigue, Relatives and Partners
Dr Lis Cordingley, Inflammatory conditions, Health Professional Education
Dr Kimberly Dienes, Stress, COVID-19
Research staff
Dr Jack Benton, ISSF Pump Priming Fellow
Dr Madeline Benton, Honorary Research Associate
Joanna Beaumont, Research Assistant
Dr Kelly Birtwell, Research Fellow
Dr Eleanor Bull, Honorary Senior Lecturer (Teaching)
Dr Sudeh Cheraghi-sohi, Research Fellow
Dr Sinha De Silva, Research Associate
Dr Robyn Dowlen, Research and Teaching Associate
Dr Joanna Goldthorpe, Honorary Research Fellow
Dr Rebecca Goulding, Research Associate
Rhiannon Hawkes, Research Associate
Rachel Hawkins
Dr Sarah Hindmarch, Research Associate
Lucy Hulme, Graduate teaching assistant
Dr Arbaz Kapadi, Research Associate
Dr Chris Keyworth, Honorary Research Fellow
Dr Kathy Leadbitter, Research Fellow
Dr Jessica Leather, Research Associate
Dr Rebecca Lee, Research Fellow
Dr Hannah Long, Research Associate
Dr Michael Loughran, Research Associate
Rabiya Majeed, Research Associate
Lauren Martin, Graduate teaching assistant
Dr Lorna McWilliams, Research Fellow
Chloe Musa, Research Assistant
Dr Pauline Nelson, Research Fellow
Dr Emma Patchwood, Research Fellow
Dr Katherine Perryman, Research Fellow
Grant Punnett, Research assistant, Christie NHS Trust
Amber Ruigrok
Dr Sara Simao, Research Associate
Dr Lauren Templeman, Research Development Manager
Amy Waghorne, Research Assistant
Doctoral researchers
Abigail Fletcher
Email: abigail.fletcher@student.manchester.ac.uk
Alexandra Gillyon
Email: alexandra.gillyon@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Beth Callander
Email: beth.callander@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Bethany Harcourt
Email: bethany.harcourt@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Charlotte Sharp
Email: charlotte.sharp@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Dalil Alshammari
Email: dalil.alshammari@manchester.ac.uk
Danielle Mountain
Email: danielle.mountain@manchester.ac.uk
Dominic Gately
Email: dominic.gately@manchester.ac.uk
Emma Hooper
Email: emma.hooper-3@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Faye Johnson
Email: faye.johnson-2@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Fozia Hayat
Email: fozia.hayat-2@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Gamze Kaplan
Email: gamze.kaplan@manchester.ac.uk
Gill Lever
Email: gill.lever@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Hannah Foote
Email: hannah.foote@manchester.ac.uk
Hannah Talbot
Email: hannah.talbot-3@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Helen Morley
Email: helen.morley@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Jack Hamer
Email: jack.hamer@manchester.ac.uk
Jennifer Peterson
Email: jennifer.peterson@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Jessica Leather
Email: jessica.leather@manchester.ac.uk
Karabo Sibasa
Email: karabo.sibasa@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Kerry Hozhabrafkan
Email: kerry.hozhabrafkan@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Lauren Lucas
Email: lauren.lucas-3@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Lauren Martin
Email: lauren.martin@manchester.ac.uk
Lucy Hulme
Email: lucy.hulme@manchester.ac.uk
Mariangels Ferrer-Duch
Email: mariangels.ferrerduch@manchester.ac.uk
Mitanshi Dhanwani
Email: mitanshi.dhanwani@manchester.ac.uk
Natalie Carr
Email: natalie.carr@manchester.ac.uk
Philip Greene
Email: Philip.Greene@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Qianyu He
Email: qianyu.he@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Qinyi Zhong
Email: qinyi.zhong-2@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Rhiannon Hawkes
Email: rhiannon.hawkes@manchester.ac.uk
Rina Rahmatika Husni
Email: rinarahmatika.husni@manchester.ac.uk
Safiyya Mank
Email: safiyya.mank@manchester.ac.uk
Sarah Muirhead
Email: sarah.muirhead@manchester.ac.uk
Sarah Plant
Email: sarah.plant@manchester.ac.uk
Sophie Griffiths
Email: sophie.griffiths@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Stephanie Mace
Email: stephanie.mace@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Sanaa Hyder
Email: sanaa.hyder@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Tarnjit Sehmbi
Email: tarnjit.sidhu@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Victoria Woof
Email: victoria.woof@manchester.ac.uk
Zoyah Sheikh
Email: zoyah.sheikh@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
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
