University of Hertfordshire

Dr. Mohamed Altawil

m.altawil@herts.ac.uk

I received a grant from the Ford Foundation to do my research in Clinical Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in October 2004. I have been very pleased to have had the opportunity to use the excellent facilities at this university, particularly in the School of Psychology. This school has an innovative scientific approach to research studies and provides good support for individual student and staff members.

My PhD research was mainly focused on Palestinian children. It was entitled: “The effects of chronic traumatic experiences on Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip”. This study contributed to the understanding of the various ways in which children responded to traumatic experiences and indicated the range of approaches that could be used to alleviate trauma and also strengthen resiliency. Intervention methods focused on both prevention and treatment. Lessons from this study could help children in other countries experiencing similar situations.

In September 2008, I was awarded his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Hertfordshire (UK) in September 2008. This study led me to publish several articles in the international journals and books. It also enabled me to establish Palestine Trauma Centre for Victims‟ Welfare – PTC(Gaza). PTC provides psychological, social and specialized medical services for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who have suffered and continue to suffer from the occupation and blockade imposed by the occupation. www.ptcgaza.com

In January 2010, I also with support from Mr David Harrold and other supporters in the UK established Palestine Trauma Centre (UK). PTC(UK) was set up in England in 2010 to enhance the professional work done by the mental health team at PTC(Gaza). It aims to build a network of specialist trainers in trauma therapies and provide emergency aid techniques for Gaza‟s mental health workers. www.ptcuk.org

I published my personal story “Journey through Thorns” in 2009 in The International Journal of Evacuee and War Child Studies. Also, it was translated into English, Spanish and Italian and published by International Institutions. Journey through Thorns is the story of my early life in Gaza and the road I took through education to help the people of that region.
Over the past three years, I have become as trainer in Focusing with adults and Focusing with children and families through The Focusing Institute (USA).

Currently, I work as a Research Fellow at the School of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire. I am the co-ordinator of the Intervention Research project, which is about adapting/developing a Family Therapy Approach to the treatment of traumatized children and their families after the war in Gaza. Also, I work a Free lancer as clinical Psychologist and I am still acting as a volunteer director for PTC-Gaza and PTC(UK).

Dr. Lucy Annett

l.e.annett@herts.ac.uk

My research interests include the role of dopamine and the striatum in normal motor function and motivation and strategies for brain repair in animal models of Parkinson's disease. My current research is funded by a grant from the Parkinson's Disease Society, UK. The aim of the research is to explore the possibility that physical activity may reduce the loss of dopamine neurons following a toxic insult. Behavioural tasks, exposure to an enriched environment and drugs are used to manipulate activity levels in rats following stereotaxic administration of the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine.

Dr. Sue Anthony

s.h.1.anthony@herts.ac.uk

In broad terms, I am interested in research questions in the area of conceptual knowledge ( semantic memory) in relation to
a) normal adults
b) schizophrenia
c) social categorisation
My focus in (a) and (b) is the role played by knowledge other than strict 'feature 'information. For example, knowledge of of the everyday situations in which objects/items are encountered. This is closley linked to my interest in thematic similarity i.e., the perception of similarity that arises from items being linked through co-occurence in situations/events. Adults form categories on this basis and may use this type of similarity when reasoning ( e.g. when engaging in analogical reasoning). Identification of the types of tasks that may be influenced by this form of similarity is required . Additionally, I am interested in the role of sensory-motor information in tasks that traditionally focus on 'semantic' knowledge.= and this has led to engagement with the 'new paradigm' of distributed Cognition.
Social categorisation is a new area of interest and my initial perspective is to question the usefulness of considering social categories in the same way that we consider object categories with the associated implications for terminology and methodology.

Dr. Joe Chilcot

j.chilcot@herts.ac.uk

1. Illness perceptions and psychological distress in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients
2. Treatments for depression among Haemodialysis patients
3. Self-affirmation and health behaviour
4. Self-compassion and psychological well-being
5. Treatment adherence in Haemophilia patients (in collaboration with the Haemophilia society and Dr Nick Troop, UH)

Dr. Stephen Cowley

s.j.cowley@herts.ac.uk

My research energy goes into promoting a 'distributed' view of Language and Cognition. In this role, I co-ordinate the Distributed Language Group or DLG, an international community who explore issues arising at the interface of language, mind and society.

In empirical terms, one major area of work is in 'distributed health interaction' and, at Hertfordshire, we focus on close examination of what happens during simulations of health emergencies. In this, I collaborate with Guillaume Alinier. We are interested in using simulations in developing 'experience-based facilitiation'. In coding how people integrate language with action, I build on work in infant development that I undertook at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. From this, I moved into the study of what children value in human-robot interactions. In so doing, I have worked with Hiroshi Ishiguro (Osaka University) and Takayuki Kanda (ATR, Kyoto) as well as Tony Belpaeme (University of Plymouth).

My important work is theoretical. Using the tradition of studying cognition in the wild (not in the laboratory), I conceptualise language (or languaging) as something that we do. Far from being code-like system that is used by isolated individuals, language is a distributed or non-local phenomenon. It is part of our ecology and depends on natural capacities for dialogue. Human cognition can thus be traced to a history of co-ordinating with people and the world by using results that exploit various time-scales. Action is neural, situated, embodied and rooted in a community's tradtions. Language is part of being a person in the world: it is dyanmical first, symbolic second. Together with others in the DLG, we are exploring this in relation to a number of fields: human agency, health, how technology (and written signs) influence learning and -excitingly -in terms of how our ecology. These questions centre on rethinking cognition and, inseparably, communication. Accordingly, I have developed interests based on the experimental study of thinking, puzzling, and settling on what to do (both alone and together).

Dr. John Done

d.j.done@herts.ac.uk

Cognition in delusions / psychosis.
Funnctional neuroimaging during decision making.
Epidemiology of Schizophrenia.

Dr. Marie-Anne Durand

m.durand@herts.ac.uk

My research interests lie predominantly in Health Psychology, Health Service Research, Behavioural Medicine, Health Communication and Shared Decision Making. I am particularly interested in the development of interventions intended to improve medical decision making, to reduce decisional-conflict and anixety, while improving well-being and quality of care. I have also developed an interest and expertise in using decision making theories, behavioural theories and social cognition models to design decision tools and behavioural interventions.

Prof. Ben Fletcher

b.fletcher@herts.ac.uk

I am an HPC registered Occupational Psychologist, and HPC registered Health Psychologist, as well as a Chartered Scientist and Academician of Academy of Social Sciences.

I do research in FIT Science and in Do Something Different. FIT Science (see other webpages in Psychology Research and www.corporatefitscience.com) is a framework for personal and organisational development. Do Something Different (DSD) is a powerful behaviour change technique that has been applied in many different settings (see, e.g. www.fairsteaddsd.com and westwaltondsd.com).

I have published a large volume of books and journal articles, a few examples being:

FLETCHER, B. (C). & STEAD, B. (Inner) FITness & The FIT Corporation, 2000, International Thomson Press: London ISBN 1-86152-644-X
FLETCHER, B (C), PENMAN, D., & PINE, K. J. The No Diet Diet: Do Something Different. Orion: London, 2006, ISBN 0-75287-400-4
This book has also been published in 23 languages (e.g. Chinese, French, Spanish, Latvian, Portuguese, Japanese, Icelandic, Danish, Italian, Swedish, German, Finnish, Indonesian, Hebrew, Brazilian, Dutch, Russian, Estonian)
FLETCHER, B (C), PINE, K. J. & PENMAN, D.,, The No Diet Diet: Do Something Different. Orion: London, 2007, 2nd and updated edition. ISBN 978-0-75288-864-4
FLETCHER, B. (C) & PINE, K. J. The Do Something Different Journal, 2009, b-Flex publishing, ISBN 978-1-907371-00-4
KIRK, E., HOWLETT, N., PINE, K. L. & FLETCHER B. (C) To Sign or not to Sign? The Impact of Encouraging Infants to Gesture on Infant Language and Maternal Mind-Mindedness. Under revision for Child Development
PINE, K. J., KNOTT, T., & FLETCHER B. (C). (2010) Teaching concept-salient gestures to children leads to learning gains, Enfance, volume 2010, issue 03, pp. 355-368.
PINE, K. J. & FLETCHER, B. (C) Sheconomics: Women’s Spending Behavior is Menstrual-Cycle Sensitive. Personality & Individual Differences, 2010, 50, 74–78.
FLETCHER, B. (C) & PAGE, N FIT Science for weight loss – a controlled study of the benefits of enhancing behavioural flexibility European Journal of Nutroceuticals & Functional Foods, 2008, 19 (5), 20-23
FLETCHER, B (C), HANSON, J. PINE, K. J & PAGE, N. FIT- Do Something Different: A new psychological intervention tool for facilitating weight loss, Swiss Journal of Psychology, in press, 2011
PINE, K. J., GURNEY, D. J. & FLETCHER, B. (C), The Semantic-specificity hypothesis: the exent do a speaker’s gestures depend upon an observant partner? Journal of Non-Verbal Behaviour, 2010, 34, 169-178; (89).
UPRICHARD, S., FLETCHER, B. (C), KUPSHIK, G & PINE K. J. Dynamic assessment of learning ability improves outcome prediction following acquired brain injury. Brain Injury, 2009, 23(4), 278-290.
PINE, K. J. & FLETCHER, B. (C) How robust is the preschoolers tendency to detect discrete physical objects, Educational Psychology, 2009, 29 (7), 801-813.
FLETCHER, B. (C), PINE, K. J., WOODBRIDGE, Z., & NASH, A. How visual images of chocolate affect guilt and craving of female dieters. Appetite, 2007, 48, 211-218.
FLETCHER, B. (C), PINE, K. J. & PAGE, N A new behavioural intervention for tackling obesity: Do Something Different? European Journal of Nutroceuticals & Functional Foods, 18, 5, 8-10, Special Issue on Obesity
THIEMANN G, FLETCHER B., (C), LEDENT C, MOLLEMAN A, HASENOHRL RU. The genetic versus pharmacological invalidation of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor results in differential effects on ‘non-associative’ memory and forebrain monoamine concentrations in mice. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 2007, 88, 416-423
FLETCHER, B. (C), KUPSHIK, G. A., UPRICHARD, S., SHAH, S., & NASH, A. Diagnostic biases in eating disorders – a reconceptualisation of clinical need through Rasch Analysis. European Journal of Eating Disorders. 2008, 16, 191–198.
E. A. JENNER , B. (C) FLETCHER, P. WATSON, F. JONES, L. MILLAR, G.M. SCOTT Discrepancy between self-reported and observed hand hygeiene behaviour in healthcare professional. Journal of Hospital Infection, 2006, 63, 418-422.
FLETCHER, B (C) & PINE, K. J “Read my hands not my lips”: Untrained observers’ ability to interpret children’s hand gestures. Semiotica, 2006, 158, 1/471-85

Dr. Christeen George

c.george@herts.ac.uk

Currently I am interested in all aspects of the psychological contract - its formation, its content, its state (positive or negative), its breach/violation, whether all workers have a psychological contract and non-work aspects of psychological contracts.

Dr. George Georgiou

g.j.georgiou@herts.ac.uk

My main research interests are:

1. Problem solving & decision making - in particular incubation effects, insight, creativity, unconscious processing

2. Self control, thought suppression, behavioural rebound effects, restraint - lab based and naturalistic studies that investigate the mechanisms that underlie types of self control. In particular, the paradoxical behavioural effects often found after thought suppression

3. Perceptual causality and intentionality - in particular an information processing approach to causal perception and the cognitive and perceptual factors that influence the speed and type of response to causal events

Dr. Bruce Hajilou

b.b.hajilou@herts.ac.uk

The aims of my research are to determine the nature of semantic memory deficits in Dementia of the Alzheimer's Disease,and whether such deficits may be attributable to problems in high-level visuoperceptual ability.

Ms. Angela Holland

a.holland@herts.ac.uk

I am interested in the area of selection and assessment, specifically how organisations can be helped in choosing the best person for a job. Training costs for new recruits are high. My research aims to specify best practice in selecting the right candidate to begin with, to save organisations both time and money. Aside from Occupational Psychology, I have an interest in Health Psychology in the area of body image. I am interested in how the media impacts body image dissatisfaction, and how problems in body image progress to the onset of eating disorders.

Dr. Paul Jenkinson

p.jenkinson@herts.ac.uk

My main research interests are in the areas of cognitive neuropsychology / neuroscience, motor awareness and disorders of the bodily self. I am particularly interested in higher order cognitive impairments regarding the body, and delusional beliefs relating to movement or the body in brain-injured individuals. I have conducted research into self-awareness of action; primarily investigating stroke patients with anosognosia for hemiplegia (i.e. unawareness of paralysis).

Dr. Elizabeth Kirk

e.kirk@herts.ac.uk

Member of Research Group: Development and Language.

I am a developmental psychologist and my research interests include mother-infant interaction and the role that hand gestures play in communication and learning. My key areas of research are described below:

-Mother Baby Communication
I am interested in how the quality and quantity of interaction between mothers and their infants can be enhanced, especially in families where infants are at risk of language delay. In partnership with Hertfordshire Country Council and East and North Hertfordshire NHS Speech and Language Therapy Service, I have developed and am continuing to evaluate an intervention aimed at improving the interaction between mothers and their preverbal infants.

- Does Wanting the Best Create More Stress?
Today, more than ever, there is an abundance of products marketed at parents to "improve" their babies, give them a "head start" or "accelerate" their learning. I am interested in this rise of the commercialised babyhood and the impact that this has on parents' perceptions of themselves and their children.

Together with Karen Pine and Neil Howlett, we have explored the relationship between baby sign and parental stress (Howlett, Kirk, Pine, 2010).

-Baby Sign
My PhD evaluated Baby Sign and explored the impact that encouraging mothers to use gestures with their infants for everyday objects and concepts (e.g. More, drink, food) had on their infants' language development. I found no support for previous claims that encouraging gesturing with infants accelerates linguistic development. However microgenetic analysis of the interactions between gesturing and non-gesturing mothers and infants revealed an impact on maternal mind-mindedness. Gesturing mothers were more responsive to their infants’ nonverbal cues and encouraged more independent action by their infant.

- Gestures and Specific Language Impairment (SLI).
I am interested in how gestures can support the language abilities of children with SLI. In collaboration with Karen Pine and Nuala Ryder, I have explored the benefit of accompanying speech with gestures to improve the pragmatic comprehension of children with SLI.

- International Infant Sign Research.
I am representing the UK in an international collaboration of leading researchers in countries including the United States, Chile, Germany, and the Czech Republic, to conduct a cross-cultural comparison of infant signing.

-Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
One in a hundred babies are born with a life-long disability because their mother drank alcohol during pregnancy (Sampson et al. 1997). Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) is an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank during pregnancy. I am working with the charity NOFAS-UK on a project that plans to calculate the cost of FASD to the UK.

Please email me if you are interested to learn more about any of my research.

I am open to supervising PhDs.

Dr. Rebecca Knight

r.knight4@herts.ac.uk

I am interested in looking at how we represent the space around us and how we use this representation to navigate. In order to investigate spatial learning and memory I have used behavioural paradigms, electrophysiology and functional MRI. I am currently modelling navigation based decision-making in humans during a virtual reality task.

Prof. Lia Kvavilashvili

l.kvavilashvili@herts.ac.uk

My research interests mainly centre around cognitive, developmental and neuropsychological aspects of everyday memory phenomena such as prospective memory (i.e., remembering one's future intentions), autobiographical memory (including flashbulb memories), involuntary remembering or mind-popping, absent-mindedness and planning. I am also interested in methodological and theoretical issues of everyday memory research as well as cognitive psychology in general.

Prof. Keith Laws

k.laws@herts.ac.uk

Professor Laws is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in international journals, many book chapters and abstracts and recently a book entitled ‘Category-Specificity: Evidence for Modularity of Mind’. Additionally, his research on cognitive function in schizophrenia has received wide recognition and several awards. Several areas of Prof Laws research (e.g. the impact of ecstasy on memory, the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in severe mental disorder and sex differences in multitasking) have generated significant public, professional and press interest. His work has been reproetd widely in the national and international media (including Sunday Telegraph, Independent, Times, Guardian, Sun, Mirror, Reuters, Radio 4 Today programme, Radio 5, Radio 1).

Most recently, he has been working on research projects examining neurocognition in disorders that relate to OCD, including body dysmorphic disorder, obsessive compulsive personality disorder and OCD symptoms in people with schizophrenia.

Professor Laws will consider applicants for PhDs wishing to study neurocognition in people with Obsessive-Compuslive related disorders; schizophrenia and schizotypy (especially frontal lobe/executive function); executive function in healthy individuals; and sex differences in multitasking.

Dr. Peter Lovatt

p.j.lovatt@herts.ac.uk

My research interests are in two broad fields.

1. The Psychology of Dance. I am interested in how we communicate through dance. This involves understanding how we express ourselves when we are dancing and also how people read us, or are affected by us, when we dance. I collect data in several ways for this project. For example, in controlled laboratory studies, in places where people dance and also through internet surveys, so that I can get a picture of people's dancing, and attitudes to dance, in a wide range of settings. One of my recent surveys was completed by over 13,000 respondents. Some of my recent work in this area has been covered a great deal in the media. It has been covered by the serious press (e.g. The Sunday Telegraph) and radio (Radio 4 Today programme). The appeal of my work also extends to light hearted television coverage (e.g. The Graham Norton Show - you can see the clip on YouTube).

2. The Psychology of Improvisation and Role-play. I am particularly interested in the cognitive basis of improvisation and role. I became interested in this area because I read a lot of work by non-academic practitioners who claimed that after people had engaged in improvisation activities their cognitive processes seemed sharper. For example, they wrote that people reported seeing colours as being brighter and their thoughts were more lucid. As a cognitive psychologist I wanted to test these claims under experimental conditions.

My early research suggests that improvisation does indeed wake up the senses and so I am currently following this up with a series of experimental projects.

I am also interested in how improvisation techniques can be used in large lectures to help people learn traditional academic content more effectively. This work is supported by a grant awarded to me and Dr Sue Anthony.

Dr. Barbara Mason

b.l.Mason@herts.ac.uk

I am currently working on a validation study of a clinical assessment instrument. The aim is to develop a culturally competent screening tool for use with clients from ethnic minority populations.

Dr. Shelley McKeown

s.mckeown2@herts.ac.uk

I am a social psychologist and am particularly interested in the areas of research relating to understanding and improving integroup relations such as:

Prejudice development and reduction
Theories of intergroup relations
Peace-building
The micro-ecology of segregation
Intergroup contact
Implicit and explicit intergroup attitudes
Time perspective and intergroup relations

Dr. Avril Nash

a.s.nash@herts.ac.uk

Children are exposed to an enormous amount of television advertising every year and there are conflicting views as to their comprehension of its intentions and to how much impact it has. My studies examine how children’s understanding and representations of the real world impact on their view of television and advertising and equally how television and advertising affect children’s understanding and respresentations, i.e. their interaction.

My research to date has focused on television advertising and how children respond to its persuasive messages. Studies have addressed both child-directed advertising (toy advertising at Christmas and brand awareness) and the incidental effects of non child-directed advertising. The latter has specifically investigated whether exposure to alcohol advertising in childhood influences children’s beliefs about alcohol and subsequent predicted behaviour in adolescence. This included a number of cross-sectional studies with children under 10 and a three year longitudinal study that followed a group of children from the age of nine years old. This doctoral project was part funded by Ofcom and supervised by Professor Karen Pine (University of Hertfordshire) and Professor David Messer (The Open University). The results of these investigations informed policy change on alcohol advertising and youth appeal.

Dr. Pieter Nel

p.w.nel@herts.ac.uk

I have been the principal supervisor for 22 successfully completed Doctor of Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy)theses. All of these used a qualitative methodology (IPA, narrative analysis, grounded theory, conversational analysis). I have also successfully supervised a PhD at UHerts and 12 Masters in Systemic Psychotherapy dissertations whilst working at Birkbeck College, University of London.

I have been involved in two research projects that have received grant funding. I was the principal investigator for a grant developing a family therapy approach to the treatment of traumatised Palestinian children and their families in Gaza, and contributed to the qualitative analysis of data on a project investigating supportive care and end-of-life planning for people with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD).

I regularly present my work at conferences, both national and international.

Dr. Mike Page

m.2.page@herts.ac.uk

My research comprises a couple of different strands.

The first strand involves the experimental study of human memory, in particular memory for sequences, alongside the development of connectionist models of this faculty. This work is based around Page & Norris (1998) primacy model of immediate serial recall, and a more recent update of that model that extends it to the Hebb effect and other long-term sequence-learning phenomena. The current focus of this work is a collaboration with Dr Arnaud Szmalec in UC Louvain, and Prof Wouter Duyck in Gent. Much of this work is being carried out as part of a PhD by Lousia Bogaerts in Gent. We are examining the detailed relationship between the Hebb effect (Hebb, 1961) and the acquisition of phonological word-forms, as well as exploring the extent to which dyslexia can be seen as a problem of serial-order learning.

The second strand is much more applied. With my PhD student Nadine Page (no relation), we have been looking at factors affecting pro-environmental behaviour change. A number of practical projects have emerged: EASIER, an ERDF-sponsored project in which we offered advice to SMEs in the Eastern region on cutting their carbon emissions in a cost effective manner; in the Cube Project, we designed and built a compact, energy-neutral home in which one person could live a comfortable modern existence with a minimum impact on the environment (see www.cubeproject.org.uk).

I also have interests in theoretical approaches in cognitive psychology, including relatively strong views on the usefulness of fMRI scanning to cognitive theorizing, and the advantages of localist over fully distributed connectionst models.

Prof. Karen Pine

k.j.pine@herts.ac.uk

My academic research interests focus around children's verbal and non-verbal knowledge and how this impacts upon their speech and cognitive development. In recent years my work has looked at children's gestures as non-verbal indicators of emerging knowledge and the role they play in facilitating cognitive change. To see more about this go to http://www.psy.herts.ac.uk/res/child_gest/child_gest.html

An ESRC funded project looking at this topic ran until April 2004 with Nicola Lufkin as Research Assistant. A further ESRC funded project looked at the role of gestures in both cognitive and linguistic processing and ran from October 2004 to 2006. Liz Kirk was research assistant on this project. Liz is now carrying out a doctoral project with me evaluating the use of babysign. This is the first randomly controlled longitudinal evaluation of the effects of gesturing to young infants.
Our gesture work in the School has also extended to investigating the function of gesture in adult communication and cognition. With the help of a British Psychological Society grant in 2007 we looked at the effect of gesture congruency on language. Another PhD student, Daniel Gurney, is researching the subtle ways in which gesture can skew memory for an event.
With further grants from the British Academy, the Nuffield Foundation and the ESRC we have also been looking at young children's spontaneous gesture use, particularly the role of deictic and iconic gestures in language acquisition and the linguistic and non-linguistic benefits of gesturing with infants.

Also, I am interested in the application of psychological theory to children's understanding of television advertising and have been involved in projects (part funded by the Independent Television Commission) to look into the effects of alcohol advertising on children. Dr. Avril Nash and I have also conducted research into pre-school children's brand awareness, commissioned by Channel 4.

I am also involved in research that has looked at the impact of behavioural flexibility on a range of health outcomes and use of the Do Something Different behaviour change technique (via www.rilkesroom.com) I am also carrying out research into women's emotional relationship with money (see www.sheconomics.com) and behavioural economics.

Dr. Nuala Ryder

n.ryder@herts.ac.uk

My research has focused on investigating the developmental course and nature of language interaction in typically developing children, children with specific language impairment (SLI), children on the autistic spectrum and children with hearing impairment. I am particularly interested in exploring the relationship between mentalising, language and aspects of cognitive functioning, such as everyday memory, in atypical development. More recent work has focused on mental state understanding of children with cochlear implants and also everyday memory in children with autism.

My research has largely focussed on the relationship between impairment and social communication/understanding and language. Projects have included investigating the suitability of language assessments in SLI, the role of gesture, social and pragmatic language development in children with SLI and autism, everyday memory in children with autism and I am recently in collaboration with Finnish colleagues looking at mentalising in the narratives of children with cochlear implants.

My interest extend to aphasia, embodied language and pragmatic understanding (idioms etc)in adults.

Dr. Stefanie Schmeer

s.schmeer@herts.ac.uk

The effects of social context on judgement and decision making processes, in particular the effects of accountability on information search and information evaluation in decision-making. Learning of minority group stereotypes. Stereotype suppression. Applications of multiattribute utility theory.

Mr. Jörg Schulz

j.schulz@herts.ac.uk

My expertise lies in the area of applied statistics, in particular statistical modelling of longitudinal data involving cohort studies. Statistical techniques I am using include structural equation modelling (LISREL) and random regression modelling (HLM). I am involved as a statistical consultant in a number of research projects and collaborate on joint publications in various areas. Ongoing research topics include:

(1) longitudinal analysis of early risk factors and personality features
(e.g. difficult temperament) and their predictive relation with
hyperactivity and conduct problems in childhood

(2) a longitudinal analysis to investigate poor cognitive performance in
childhood as an early precursor of later schizophrenia. Of particular
interest is the analysis of individual trajectories in cognitive
performance over time.

(3) the association between biological immaturity at birth, brain growth and
later cognitive performance.

(4) evaluation of a new assessment tool to identify children with pragmatic
language impairment

(5) autobiographic memories: what are their distinct characteristics and how
do involuntary autobiographic memories occur?

(6) the impact of executive functioning on attention in schizophrenic
patients.

Dr. Shivani Sharma

s.3.sharma@herts.ac.uk

Autism:
1. Bullying
2. Treatment of Anxiety Disorders
3. Parenting stress
4. Parent-child interactions
5. Personal Construct Psychology

Health:
1. Screening and diagnosis of depression in patients from ethnic minorities with End Stage Renal Disease
2. Ethnic variations in health knowledge and health behaviour
3. Developmental changes in children's theoretical and applied health knowledge

I am happy to hear from indivuals who are interested in carrying out a programme of research (MSc or PhD) in any of the above areas.

Dr. Mark Slaski

m.slaski@herts.ac.uk

My research interests are broadly in the area of human potential and performance, more specifically studies into the psychological constructs of stress, emotional intelligence, resilience and performance. I have written several papers on these topics and presented at a number of conferences including:

Occupational Psychology Conference
National Headteachers Conference
Public Sector Managers Conference
3rd World Congress on Stress
7th International Stress Management Conference

I am currently involved win the construction of a measure of individual resilience at work

Ms. Wendy Solomons

w.solomons@herts.ac.uk

My research interests focus on the interfaces between physical health, psychological wellbeing and social context. Previous research has included the impact of health information on eating behaviour; family patterns of eating; and (for my Masters research) the role of peer support for people living with cancer. My current research interests focus on critical qualitative approaches to understanding illness experience, particularly young people who live with chronic and contested illnesses. I am committed to approaches which value the contributions that young people can make to research and to social policy development. This is reflected in my Doctoral research, which explores narratives of young people living with chronic fatigue syndrome / myalgic encephalopyelitis (CFS/ME).

I have successfully supervised student research for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, in paediatric health (eg, young people living with diabetes, and those who have suffered serious burn injuries) and in the selection of clinical psychology trainees. I am currently supervising research exploring experiences of a diagnosis of epilepsy, and the construction of professional discourses of motherhood.

Dr. Nick Troop

n.a.troop@herts.ac.uk

My main areas of research interest are:

1. Aetiology of eating disorders: In particular the roles of stress and social processes such as shame and social rank. I have recently been awarded an MRC-ESRC Interdisciplinary grant to fund a PhD Studentship looking into the roles of affect systems and habit in problematic weight regulation.

2. Self-compassion: In particular, its effect on stress, symptoms and health behaviours. I am also interested in simple interventions to increase self-compassion (or self-soothing more generally) such as through music and expresive writing (see below).

3. Self-directed writing tasks: The self-regulation of emotion through writing and its effect on health (e.g. recent publications on self-compassion focused writing in hospice patients and the effect of writing about life goals on reducing self-criticism in students). I am also interested in song-writing as a form of expressive writing and its links with health and well-being.

Previous research has also included the evaluation of treatments for eating disorders, including the application of motivational models of health psychology and alternative methods for delivery.

Prof. David Winter

d.winter@herts.ac.uk

My principal research interests concern the clinical applications of personal construct psychology; and the process and outcome of psychological therapies. The former programme of research has included the development of personal construct models of particular disorders and clinical problems (including agoraphobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, deliberate self-harm, and homicide), and of associated therapeutic approaches for these disorders. The latter has included comparative studies of different forms of therapy, and of the extent to which the ‘personal styles’ of clients and therapists predict their treatment preferences and outcomes. Both programmes have included the refinement of repertory grid technique as a clinical instrument and a psychotherapy research measure.

Prof. Richard Wiseman

r.wiseman@herts.ac.uk

Deception: including the psychology of conjuring and behavioural correlates of lying.
Parapsychology: The skeptical examination of evidence supporting the alleged existence of, and belief in, paranormal phenomena.
Luck: The psychological examination of individuals who consider themselves exceptionally lucky and unlucky.
The public understanding of psychology.

Dr. Nick Wood

n.1.wood@herts.ac.uk

I am interested in research around children with disability - e.g. my Ph.D. was on the cognitive assessment of deaf children. Due to my clinical experiences within Child Development Services and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services as a consultant clinical psychologist, I have a broader research interest into neurodevelopmental difficulties, including children on the Autistic spectrum.