Psychology, Health and Wellbeing Research Group

The group consists of health, clinical and social psychologists who make use of a wide variety of methodological approaches to address questions concerned with understanding how biological, psychological, behavioural and social factors influence aspects of physical and mental health and illness.

We also have a Health Psychology Lab which sits within this research group. It focuses on active collaborative projects and takes a biopsychosocial approach to understanding health and illness.

We are keen to have Research Assistants, MSc and/or PhD students working with us in the group lab so if you're interested in this opportunity, please get in touch with the research group lead Dr Nicola Payne.

Contact

Staff Profile: Dr Nicola Payne
Email:  N.Payne@mdx.ac.uk
Phone: 020 8411 5467

Course leaders

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Camille Alexis-Garsee

Dr Camille Alexis-Garsee

Associate Professor of Health Psychology

Katie Anderson

Dr Katie Anderson

Lecturer in Psychology

Deborah Bailey-Rodriguez

Dr Deborah Bailey-Rodriguez

Senior Lecturer in Psychology

Mandeep Dhami

Prof Mandeep Dhami

Professor in Psychology

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Miss Neelam Ghuman

Associate Lecturer

Nicola Payne

Dr Nicola Payne

Associate Professor in Psychology

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Dr Ruth Spence

Senior Research Fellow Psychology

Recent and present research students

  • Christina Constantinou
  • Kristina van Dam
  • Chineme Onyigbuo
  • Neelam Ghuman
  • Isabella Uruttia
  • Nikki Swales
  • Andrew Grimmer
  • Lindsay de Wal
  • Andrew Waller

Research areas

  • Living with and managing chronic conditions e.g. pain, Sickle Cell Disease, Long COVID, diabetes
  • Understanding/changing health related behaviours e.g. exercise, eating, smoking, drug use
  • Reproductive health and women’s health e.g. fertility, menopause
  • Mental health and the experience and practice of psychotherapy
  • Couple relationships, parenthood and attachment
  • Positive wellbeing and Authenticity
  • Work-life balance, work stress, and flexible/remote working
  • Judgment and decision-making, risk perception/risk taking, and uncertainty communication

Methods

  • Randomised Controlled trials
  • Practice-based evaluations
  • Qualitative and visual methods
  • Pluralism in qualitative research
  • Quantitative surveys

Examples of funders

  • ESRC
  • NIHR
  • Greenwich Leisure Limited
  • Sempre
  • Fertility Network UK
  • UK Respiratory Foundation
  • Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology
  • King’s Fund
  • British Academy

Get involved

Research student applications and placements

Students wishing to undertake a PhD or those wanting to gain research assistant experience within any of our research teams should contact the staff directly (contact details available on individual staff profiles) or via Dr Nicola Payne.

Participating in research

If you would like to participate in any of our ongoing studies, please contact the research teams directly (contact details available on individual staff profiles) or via Dr Nicola Payne.