Behaviour change and wellbeing

The health benefits of participation in exercise and physical activity are well established, yet inactivity levels are rising globally.

Our network members are conducting world-leading research to advance the understanding of regulation processes that underpin behaviour change and wellbeing. It is working together to develop new behaviour modification strategies and interventions to help healthy adults, children and youth, and patients adopt and maintain physically active lifestyles and manage their weight. The network works closely with policy makers, practitioners, industry, patients and the public to translate their work into real-world settings. 

Examples of focus areas:

• Physical activity promotion and adherence
• Appetite control and weight management  
• Behaviour change interventions
• Environment, culture, and policy
• Quality of life and mental health

Researchers conducting behaviour change and well-being research:

• Dr Jennifer Airlie (Bradford Institute for Health Research) - Sedentary Behaviour, Stroke Rehabilitation, Physical Activity in Care Homes, Improving and Psychological Health and Social Well-being, Ageing
• Dr Freya Bailes (School of Music) - Music psychology; Musical imagery; Music and memory; Music and wellbeing
• Dr Kristine Beaulieu (School of Psychology) - Appetite control; Energy balance; Physical activity; Diet & nutrition; Obesity; Weight loss interventions
• Dr Rebecca Beeken (School of Medicine)- Behavioural science; Complex interventions; Cancer prevention and control; Health behaviours; Physical activity; Eating behaviours; Obesity; Weight management
• Professor John Blundell (School of Psychology) - Human Appetite Control, Physical Activity, Energy Balance and Obesity. Evaluation of anti-obesity agents, Functional foods for satiety and the interaction between biology and the social world
• Dr Laura Britten (School of Biomedical Sciences) - Physical Activity; Interventions; Dance; Wellbeing; Behaviour Change; Spinal Cord Injury; Upper Limb; Rehabilitation
• Dr Shaunna Burke (School of Biomedical Sciences) - Physical activity; Psychosocial oncology; Quality of life; Qualitative research
• Professor Karen Burland Clark (School of Music) - Musical identities; Music and wellbeing; Audience research; Musical development; Musicians' career transitions; musicians' employability
• Professor Philip Conaghan (School of Medicine) - Osteoarthritis; Rheumatoid arthritis; Psoriatic arthritis; Arthritis clinical trials; Arthritis therapeutics; Outcome measurement; Imaging
• Professor Mark Conner (School of Psychology) - Attitudes; Affective attitudes; Health behaviour; Question-behaviour effect; Attitudinal ambivalence; Theory of planned behaviour
• Dr Alison Divine (Faculty of Biological Sciences) - Physical activity and exercise; Implicit attitudes; The intention behaviour gap; habits; Self-efficacy; Motivation; Imagery
• Dr Campbell Edinborough (School of Performance and Cultural Industries) - Writing for performance; Performance aesthetics; Contemporary performance practice; Spectatorship; Performer training; Movement and somatic practice
• Professor Graham Finlayson (School of Psychology) - Appetite; Energy Balance; Food choice; Food reward; Obesity; Psychobiology
• Professor Anne Forster (School of Medicine) - Stroke; Stroke Rehabilitation; Ageing; Rehabilitation
• Dr Alinka Greasley (School of Music) - Music listening behaviour; Musical preferences; Music perception with hearing aids; Musicians' hearing and hearing protection; Musicians' health and well-being; Electronic dance music culture
• Dr Adam Grice (School of Medicine) - Physical activity in primary care; systematic literature reviews
• Dr Mark Hopkins (School of Food Science and Nutrition)- Appetite control; Energy intake; Energy expenditure; Body composition; Weight loss; Obesity; Exercise; Diet; individual variability 
• Dr Sarah Kingsbury (School of Medicine) - Osteoarthritis; Musculoskeletal disease; Orthopaedics; Clinical trials; Interventions; Care pathways; Pharmacoepidemiology; Health services
• Dr Nik Lomax (School of Geography) - Demography; Population projection; Microsimulation; Internal migration; Consumer demand modelling
• Ai Lyn Tan (School of Biomedical Sciences) - Early inflammatory arthritis; Rheumatoid arthritis; Osteoarthritis; Psoriatic arthritis; Muscle; Imaging; MRI; Ultrasound
• Dr Sarah Mackie (School of Medicine) - Giant cell arteritis; Polymyalgia rheumatic
• Dr Camilla Nykjaer (School of Biomedical Sciences) - Nutrition; Obesity; Technology to support weight loss; Maternal Dietary Patterns
• Dr Kate Pangbourne (Institute for Transport Studies) - Transport governance; Transport policy; Sustainable travel behaviour; Persuasive technology; Transport geography; Smart cities and mobility
• Dr Nick Preston (School of Medicine) - Rehabilitation; Cerebral palsy; Developmental Coordination disorder; Movement disorders; Development of new outcome measures; Rasch model; Physiotherapy
• Dr Andrew Prestwich (School of Psychology) - Health behaviour change; Attitudes; Social influence; Motivation; Health psychology
• Dr Maria Horne (School of Healthcare) - Health promotion; Behaviour change; Community & public health; Research; Mixed methodology; Qualitative research; Exercise & physical activity; Older adults; Ethnicity; Sexuality & intimacy.
• Dr Liam Hill (School of Psychology) - Child Development; Cognitive and Motor Development; Academic Attainment; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Fundamental Movement skills; Physical activity in learning
• Dr Louise Hall (School of Medicine) - Health psychology; Wellbeing; Burnout; Medication adherence; Behaviour change; Physical activity
• Dr Fiona Bannon (School of Performance and Cultural Industries) - Ethics, Aesthetics and Education; Dance, collaboration and co-creation.
• Professor Amanda Farrin (School of Medicine) - Clinical Trials; Statistics; Complex Interventions; Stroke; Older People; Mental health; Primary Care; Audit & Feedback; Cancer; Palliative Care 
• Dr Catherine Gibbons (School of Psychology) - Physical activity; Appetite control; Energy balance; Gut peptides; Obesity; Weight loss interventions; Anti-obesity Pharmaceutical products; Tracking technologies
• Rebecca Hawkins (School of Medicine) - Qualitative methodology and methods; Ethnography; Process evaluation; Frailty; ageing; Long-term conditions; Stroke; Care homes; Caring; Social isolation and loneliness.
• Dr Ian Kellar (School of Psychology) - Intervention development; Evidence synthesis; Behaviour change theory; Co-production; Intervention optimisation; Quantitative and Qualitative process evaluation; Self-management; Treatment adherence
• Dr George Rodosthenous (School of Performance and Cultural Industries) - The body in performance; Devised pieces with live musical soundscape(s) as interdisciplinary process: the interfaces between music, movement and text
• Zejun Yao (School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies) - Public participation and time-based art; Mise-en- scène’ in art research and teaching; Speed-endurance running and collaborative arts; data visualisation and interactive mapping
• Dani Abulhawa (School of Performance and Cultural Industries) - Applied, site-based and socially-engaged performance; Community and person-centred facilitation; Physical culture of skateboarding; Play & spatial politics in Palestine
• Fiona Kennedy (School of Medicine)- Psychosocial oncology; Quality of life; Cancer patients; Symptom reporting; Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs); Psychological wellbeing
• Ilaria Pina (School of Biomedical Sciences) - Physical Activity, Healthy Ageing, Movement Behaviours, Health Inequalities, Rehabilitation
• Leanne Shearsmith (School of Medicine) - Psychology; Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs); Quality of life; Cancer; Dementia; RCTs; Applied health research; Qualitative research methods
• Dr Gemma Traviss-Turner (School of Medicine) - Behaviour change-  Disordered eating; Physical activity; Wellbeing; Life events; RCTs; Systematic reviews
• Dr Oliver Price (Faculty of Biological Sciences) - Airways disease; Exertional dyspnoea; Pulmonary function testing; Bronchial provocation; Cardiopulmonary exercise testing; Rehabilitation strategies
• Dr Rahena Mossabir (Bradford Institute for Health Research) - Reducing sedentary behaviour; Stroke rehabilitation; Mental health; Management of long-term conditions; dementia care; Qualitative methods
• Laura Bailey (AU Primary Care) - Physical activity and severe mental illness; Systematic reviews; Focus groups; Interviews
• Fran Pontin (School of Geography) - The built environment; Levels of Physical activity and sedentary behaviour; Smartphone data collection
• Professor Mark Mon-Williams (School of Psychology) - Improving the health and education of people living in Bradford; Longitudinal cohort studies
• Professor Mark Conner (School of Psychology) - Attitudes; Affective attitudes; Health behaviour; Question-behaviour effect; Attitudinal ambivalence; Theory of planned behaviour
• Professor Louise Dye (School of Psychology) - Nutrition and Cognitive Function across the lifespan; Systematic reviews of food and food components on cognition; Stress; Breakfast & cognition/academic outcomes; Digestive function; Wellbeing
• Ilaria Pina (School of Biomedical Sciences) - Physical Activity, Healthy Ageing, Movement Behaviours, Health Inequalities, Rehabilitation
• Professor Eva Heinen (Institute for Transport Studies) - Travel behaviour; Active travel; Behavioural change; Cycling; Walking; Social psychology; Attitudes; Land use and transport; Transport planning