Staff profile

I am social/health/personality psychologist interested in the factors that create risk or resilience for health and well-being. I have a particular interest in the how self-regulation (how we manage and direct our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours to reach our goals) can impact health and well-being and the factors and qualities that contour people’s capacities to self-regulate. 

I joined Durham University as a Professor in Social and Health Psychology in May 2022, and was previously a Professor at the University of Sheffield. Prior to arriving in the UK in 2015, I was a Canada Research Chair and the Co-ordinator of the multidisciplinary Psychological Health and Well-being Research cluster at Bishop’s University (2010-2015).

I am passionate about communicating the results of psychological science with the public so that research is accessible and impactful beyond academia. To this end, I regularly engage with the public, media, and journalists about research on health and well-being. You can read some of the articles that I have written for The Conversation here.

• Adjustment to chronic health conditions
• Counterfactual thinking
• Emotion regulation
• Health behaviours
• Loneliness and meaningful relationships
• Personality and health-related outcomes
• Positive psychology, esp. self-compassion and gratitude
• Time perspective and temporal thinking