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University of Exeter
Professor of Social Psychology and Head of Department (Co-Chair of the Organising Committee)
Professor Joanne Smith is a social psychologist who focuses on the role of group memberships and social norms in shaping individual behaviour, with applications to health and pro-environmental behaviours. Her work examines how shared identities can be harnessed to promote healthier lifestyles and more sustainable actions, as well as how social psychological insights can inform the design of effective interventions.
University of Exeter
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Co-Chair of the Organising Committee)
Dr Emily Hughes is a social psychologist whose research examines how social identity, group norms, and behaviour interact and reinforce one another, with a particular focus on health behaviour. Her work aims to understand the processes through which these associations among emerge and can be altered to inform the design of effective behaviour change interventions.
University of Bristol
Lecturer in Social Sciences
Dr Shokraneh Moghadam is a chartered psychologist, and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her interests and expertise are in health psychology, including the design, development and evaluation of behaviour change interventions for health. Dr Moghadam is particularly interested in working with healthcare professionals and lived experience representatives from diverse backgrounds to inform patient-centred, evidence-based interventions, including the development and delivery of group-based interventions for health.
The Open University
Lecturer in Social & Environmental Psychology
Dr Stacey Heath is a social and environmental psychologist whose interdisciplinary research explores how communities respond to climate-related change. Focusing on the psychosocial dimensions of climate adaptation, her work examines how group identities, place attachment, and social dynamics shape community resilience, wellbeing, and equitable adaptation. Drawing on theories such as the Social Identity Approach and Place Attachment, Dr Heath uses participatory, mixed-methods research to inform policy and practice with evidence-based insights that support sustainable and socially just climate responses.
University of Exeter
Lecturer in Social & Political Psychology
Dr Mete Sefa Uysal is a social and political psychologist with expertise in collective action, social movements, group processes, crowd psychology and leadership. He is the editor-in-chief at the Global Environmental Psychology journal.
University of Exeter
PhD Researcher
Sunisa Satitanekchai is a PhD researcher working at the intersection of social psychology and economics, examining how goal setting shapes money-saving behaviours and how social identity among women can support sustained financial empowerment. Her work aims to create sustainable real-world impact, drawing on her extensive background in NGO work on financial literacy with vulnerable populations.
University of Plymouth
Professor of Psychology (Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee)
Professor Mark Tarrant’s work focuses on the development and evaluation of group-based behaviour change interventions for improving health. Drawing on the social identity approach to health, a key objective of his work is to support and actively manage the formation of social identities that can motivate change behaviour amongst patient groups.
University of Plymouth
Research Fellow (Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee)
Dr Laura Hollands’ research aims to improve the design, delivery and evaluation of group-based treatment groups for health, informed by the social identity approach to health. Laura is interested in using mixed methods to understand how group-based treatments work, combining a range of quantitative and qualitative methods to understand the mechanisms and contexts that influence group outcomes.
University of Exeter
Lecturer in Social & Developmental Psychology
Dr Matthew Nielson investigates how gender identity and norms evolve across adolescence and young adulthood – including how individuals feel pressure to conform, how they resist such pressures, and how identity is shaped by age, gender, and ethnicity.
University of Plymouth
PhD Researcher
The focus of Anastasia Searle’s PhD is on social identity and behaviour change in the context of people living with obesity treated with weight management medications. More broadly, she is interested in qualitative methodologies and extending the social identity model of behaviour change.
University of Exeter
PhD Researcher
Mia Alexander is a PhD student exploring the role of group memberships in weight loss maintenance for people living with obesity. Her project is shaped by the Social Identity Approach to Health. Mia is also keenly interested in participatory research and creative methods for research dissemination.
