Psychology

Profile

Background

I graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 1997 with a first class honours degree in Psychology. I then spent ten years in the Psychology department at Portsmouth University working both as a lecturer in various subjects and as a researcher on a range of projects in developmental, forensic, health, and social psychology. In 2003 I was granted a full-time PhD bursary from the Economic Social Research Council (ESRC), and was awarded my PhD in 2006. Supervised by Professor Aldert Vrij (Director of Studies) my thesis comprises six research studies that examine the inter-relationship between attitudes, beliefs and behaviour, entitled: 'The basis and nature of attitudes toward animal use: A psychological approach'.  From 2007-2008 I was awarded an ESRC postdoctoral Research Fellowship for a project entitled 'Human rights versus animal wrongs? It all depends....: Explaining disparate attitudes toward animals and how they are used'. I am now a Senior Social Psychologist for the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory but remain affiliated with the Centre for the Study of Emotion at the University of Portsmouth.

Recent Publications

More recent publications

Invited talks

•  2008    'The basis and nature of attitudes toward animal use: A psychological approach'. Wellcome Trust summer school on biomedical ethics, University of Warwick, UK.   
• 2007     'The basis and nature of attitudes toward animal use: A psychological approach'. Animals and Society Institute Summer Fellowship Program, North Carolina State University, USA.
• 2005     'Examining attitudes toward how animals are used: A multi-method approach'. Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK.

Invited interviews

            2008    Radio interview for 'Thinking Allowed', BBC Radio 4.
            2008    Television interview for 'Kill it, Cook it, Eat it', BBC3.