Psychology, Health and Wellbeing Research Group

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

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

Research Group Lead: Dr Nicola Payne
Email:  N.Payne@mdx.ac.uk
Phone: 020 8411 5467

Group members

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Camille Alexis-Garsee

Dr Camille Alexis-Garsee

Associate Professor of Health Psychology

Katie Anderson

Dr Katie Anderson

Senior 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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Dr Neelam Ghuman

Associate Lecturer

Nicola Payne

Dr Nicola Payne

Associate Professor in Psychology

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Dr Ruth Spence

Senior Research Fellow Psychology

Lin Yu

Dr Lin Yu

Senior Lecturer in Psychology

Dr Letitia Slabu
Senior Lecturer in Psychology

Dr Karen Ciclitira
Associate Professor in Psychology

Current research students

  • Mary Atito
  • Melissa Cliffe
  • Andrew Grimmer
  • Sameeha Monaff
  • Alan McPherson
  • Amna Shehzad
  • Nicola Swales
  • Andrew Waller

Research areas

  • Living with and managing chronic conditions e.g. pain, Sickle Cell Disease, Long COVID
  • Understanding/changing health related behaviours e.g. exercise, smoking, alcohol, drug use
  • Reproductive health and women’s health e.g. fertility, birth trauma, menopause
  • Mental health, trauma, and the experience and practice of psychotherapy
  • Couple relationships, parenthood, and attachment
  • Positive wellbeing and Music Therapy
  • 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
  • London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
  • Sempre
  • Fertility Network UK
  • Fertility Alliance
  • UK Respiratory Foundation
  • Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology
  • European Society for Adult Development
  • 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.