My research is centred very broadly around the psychological side of migration. Using a mixed-methods approach, the majority of my research investigates well-being of ethnic and religious minority groups, particularly refugees. I like to explore these topics from a multidisciplinary and policy-focused perspective, for example by investigating how refugee resettlement policies and support programmes can optimise opportunities and well-being of refugees. I am currently leading an ESRC-funded research project where we explore the link between the use of digital technologies, social relationships, and well-being among unaccompanied refugee children in the UK. A report of the pilot study, funded by eNurture, can be found here. I have conducted research projects in the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, and Chile. I am the founder and lead of the Inclusive Digital Societies Research Excellence Group here at the University of Brighton. 

I supervise PhD students on a variety of topics that focus on the psychological side of migration. I welcome proposals from students who want to investigate well-being or mental health of migrants, refugees, or international students. Within that topic, I am particularly interested in the role of social relationships and/or the role of digital technology in wellbeing and mental health. I also accept projects looking into British people's attitudes towards migration: i.e., what are predictors of negative and positive attitudes and behaviours towards migration, and what can we do to improve these attitudes and/or support for migrants?

Examples of PhD projects under my supervision:

• Investigating resilience of international students from a social policy perspective (Isaac Thornton).
• Exploring the role of digital and print resources in English language and literacy acquisition in relation to wellbeing of refugee children (Liliane Broschart).
• Exploring engagement with green and blue spaces among minority ethnic communities in rural Ireland (Órla Bredin).
• Investigating the construction of healing interactive art from the perspective of embodied cognition (Qinyu Duan).
• The impact of digitalisation on public and third sector services supporting people for whom English is an additional language (Sidney Lupupa Mushinge).

In 2006 I was awarded a BSc in Psychology, and in 2008 I obtained an MRes, both with first class honours from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. In 2008 I became a researcher at Royal Holloway University of London, where I worked with on an ESRC-funded project looking into acculturation attitudes of majority members.

In 2009, I received a Graduate Teaching Award (GTA) to do my PhD in Psychology at the University of Sussex under supervision of Professor Rupert Brown. My PhD thesis was awarded with the Outstanding Dissertation Award of the International Academy for Intercultural Research in 2013. 

From 2013 until 2018, I worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex on an ESRC-funded interdisciplinary research project on refugee resettlement.

I joined the University of Brighton as a Lecturer in Psychology in February 2018.