Research Interests
I offer PhD projects on addiction (with a particular focus on alcohol) and mental health research utilising psychological approaches to prevention, assessment and intervention. These can utilise quantitative (have expertise in psychometrics for questionnaire development/validation) or mixed methods.
Public outreach & key achievements
Received personal awards from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA) for doctoral and post-doctoral research
Rewarding Research Excellence Award winner and Visiting Research Fellow appointment, University of York
Founding member of the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) committee Department of Health Sciences, University of York which is now a University-wide network Involvement@York.
Grant reviewer for all major UK research funders including the Medical Research Council (MRC), the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and Cross-border Healthcare Intervention Trials in Ireland Network (CHITIN). Article reviewer for leading academic journals including Addiction, Drug and Alcohol Dependence and International Journal of Drug Policy
Panel member – SSA PhD Studentship scheme
Trustee – Addiction and the Family International Network (AFINet)
Invited member of the Alcohol and Families Alliance, a joint initiative from Alcohol Change UK and Adfam, which acts as a resource for influencing policy on alcohol and families
Conference organiser for SSA PhD symposia and AFINet 1st International Conference
Expert consensus member for International Network on Brief Interventions for Alcohol and Other Drugs (INEBRIA) on outcome reporting in trials
Expert adviser on alcohol screening for World Health Organisation (WHO) alcohol brief intervention training manual for primary care http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/351294/Alcohol-training-manual-final-edit-LSJB-290917-new-cover.pdf
Addiction and the family social support assessment measure I developed is used in a research/practice capacity in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Italy, USA, Canada, Australia, Iran, India and China
Research students
| PhD area | Assessing alcohol-related problems in young people |
| Name | Andrew Dyer |
| Years of study | 2019-2022 |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| PhD area | Charting and understanding the health and social care experiences of those with long-term alcohol dependence |
| Name | Zoe Campbell |
| Years of study | 2019-2022 |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| PhD area | Behavioural Activation for the treatment of young people with depression |
| Name | Lucy Tindall (part-time) |
| Years of study | 2015-2021 |
| Country | England |
| DClin area | Post-Incarceration Syndrome: Does it exist amongst a population of released prisoners in the UK and Ireland? |
| Name | Donna Redmond |
| Years of study | 2018-2021 |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| DClin area | Healthcare staff’s perceptions of deliberate self-harm in the prison setting: A quantitative survey |
| Name | Grace Kelly |
| Years of study | 2018-2021 |
| Country | Republic of Ireland |
| DClin area | Post-Trauma Adaptational Styles and Post-Traumatic Growth in Northern Ireland |
| Name | Merdeth Hawe (part-time) |
| Years of study | 2018-2022 |
| Country | Republic of Ireland |