My research focuses on long term conditions including diabetes and more recently also HIV/AIDS, health behaviours and behaviour change. An issue cutting across these areas is the way people successfully adjust to changing circumstances (or not as it may be), frequently drawing on support from others, but also being exposed to discrimination and stigma. To understand these processes better, research frequently draws on the notion of resilience which has been studied at the biological, psychological and social level. 

I have a strong and long-standing interest in research methodology and psychometrics. My expertise is primarily in quantitative and experimental and trial methodology. 

I am happy to supervise projects within my range of expertise which includes health psychology and applied health, medical and health care research in the widest sense. Given my background I tend to focus on quantitative and experimental or interventionist methods. Increasingly i am involved in mixed methods projects with a strong qualitative method. In the past i have supervised projects in the field of diabetes and also forensic mental health. 

My current interests are very much about applying a relationship approach to e.g. long term conditions and the way people live with and adjust to long term conditions or other health challenges. Resilience and stigma in long term conditions is of interest to me, extending my current work on diabetes and HIV/AIDS. Exploring links around adjustment, stigma and the additional challenges due to social and health inequalities is a priority to me. Finally, development of interventions in these fields would be of considerable interest to me. 

I am a psychologist through and through, but frequently reaching across to other disciplines ranging from engineering (in my earlier research career), to design, and over the last decades into medicine, health sciences and also social medicine. My focus always has been on applied research, but ensuring to bring a theoretical perspective to my research.

l have studied at University of Konstanz, Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms University of Bonn, and University of Surrey. 

My teaching experience ranges from delivery of lectures to large audiences of many hundred students to small, intensive group tutoring. Irrespective it is a priority of mine to engage with the audience and whereever possible to interact with students, hear what students have to say, and also learn from their views and experiences, something which can be one of the most gratifying experiences of an academic. At the same time, I expect students to work hard, to read and read critically, think about applications and appreciate the multitude of viewpoints which can be brought to an issue. 

Much of my research and interests are applied rather than focsed on basic research. In line with this I am keen to convey research findings in an accessible way to end users. This is also fostered by my role in the NIHR Research Design Service which has high expectations with regards to plain English summaries of research findings. Likewise providing reports and slide sets, talks to end users and the public which recognise the fact that audiences frequently are neither experts nor do they have the time to become experts in areas where I am  a specialist, is important to me. These disseminatiion activities also frequently create opportunities for me to learn from these audiences, to learn about their priorities and this in turn will feed into my research activities.