PhD Clinical and Health Psychology
The PhD Clinical and Health Psychology programme provides the opportunity to do a substantial piece of research in an area linked to clinical and health psychology and to develop excellent research skills in the process
| Name | PhD Clinical and Health Psychology |
| Start Date | September and January |
| Mode of Study | 3 years full-time, 6 years part-time |
| Programme Director | Ingrid Obsuth |
| Contact | PGRdirector.clinpsych@ed.ac.uk |
Please check the postgraduate Degree Finder to see the specific entry requirements, start date and application deadlines.
The PhD programme offers the possibility to work with and be supervised by a range of clinical academics across many areas of psychology, who have international reputations and outstanding publications in their areas of expertise. Our programme is undertaken over three years full-time or six years part-time.
In the first year, students typically choose a number of optional taught postgraduate courses from within the School of Health in Social Science, or other Schools within the University, as appropriate to their research programme, and as agreed with their supervisor. Subsequent years of the PhD programme primarily focus on the completion and analysis of the main research, which can then be written up and completed by the end of the third year.
| Aigli Raouna | Transition to Parenthood and Bipolar Disorder |
| Alexandros Kapatais | Alexandros is currently studying university students' experience of the peak performance state, known as flow, with the aim of understanding and promoting the flow state within higher education, as a way to enhance student wellbeing, engagement and performance |
| Ally Pax Arcari Mair | Autism & Grief: a mixed-methods study on the perception of grief and loss experienced by autistic adults |
| Amber Ramos | Integrating cognitive, behavioral and veterinary healthcare using applied behavior analysis to improve health and welfare in captive marine mammals |
| Asaly Skrenes | Disclosure experiences of and resilience in male survivors of childhood sexual abuse |
| Asnea Tariq | An Experimental Investigation on Mindfulness and Compassionate Mind Training to Reduce the effects of Early Maladaptive Schemas |
| Catarina Gaglianone | The Impact of Soothing Images on Prospective Visual Imagery and Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression |
| Cristian Alcaino Maldonado | Bipolar Disorder early detection in adolescents |
| Dennis Relojo-Howell | Digital mental health intervention |
| Emy Nimbley | Socio-cognitive processing in autism and anorexia nervosa |
| Ercan Ozdemir | The relationship between childhood trauma and psychosis: Testing the Mentalization Model of Psychosis |
| Hamdullah Tunc | Values and valued living and their relationships with mental health and well-being in adolescents |
| Hongen Ma | Exploring the Role of Psychological Flexibility on Relationship Functioning Among Couples Affected by Prostate Cancer |
| Imogen Peebles | Friendships and peer relationships in inpatient eating disorders treatment |
| Islay Barne | Using experience sampling methodology to understand experiential avoidance in clinical and non-clinical samples |
| Kate Leventhal | Socially Transformative Resilience: Exploration of a new construct among marginalised adolescents |
| Kathryn Higdon | The development of a school-based psychological intervention for role-confusion and disorganized attachment in adolescent young carers |
| Koraima Sotomayor Enriquez | The role of mentalization and emotional regulation in interpersonal factors in young people |
| Katie Baynham | A mixed-methods investigation into the role of companion animals in the experiences of early adolescents with symptoms of anxiety and depression |
| Lilli Clark | Psychosomatic experiences in eating disorder development |
| Lisa Golds | The impact of maternal smartphone use on mother-infant interaction |
| MacKenzie Roberston | Maladaptive eating and body image |
| Mathilde Lotteau | Creation of a standardized assessment tool for fitness to plead in Scotland |
| Michelle Carroll | Disordered eating and body image concerns amongst fitness professionals |
| Peilin Lin | Horticultural therapy and its acceptability and feasibility among the Chinese elderly population in a community (non-clinical) setting |
| Rabia Afzal | Cross-Cultural differences in humor use, altruistic acts and mental health among young adults |
| Raahat Manrai | Understanding the interpersonal effects of complex trauma in adolescents |
| Rhys Maredudd Davies | Athlete and Retired-athlete mental health |
| Rina De Luna | Farm Animal Welfare and Human Behaviour Change |
| Roberto Maluenda Gatica | Therapist mentalization capacity, therapeutic process and outcome within an evidence based-treatment for psychosis |
| Rowena Piers | Co-developing and evaluating a digital mental health intervention for young people |
| Rea Michalopoulou | Child and Adolescent Understanding of COVID-19 and Virtual Reality (VR) |
| Samar Alzeer | Transgenerational Trauma in Arab Refugees: Approaching a Constructivist Grounded Theory to Explore Intra-Familial Trauma in Cross-Culture-Developmental Context |
| Sarah Jamieson | Kinship Care: What makes a kinship care placement successful? |
| Sian Bedford | A dynamic systems perspective on co-regulatory behavior among adolescents with anorexia nervosa and their parents |
| Siennamarisa Brown | Pro-Eating disorder online communities |
| Suzanne Lawrie | RSPCA Studentship |
| Xinmeng Wang | Disordered Eating and Body Image of Chinese University Students in the UK |
| Yingna Li | The roles of intolerance of uncertainty and psychological flexibility in distress and quality of life for men living with prostate cancer |
| Yixuan Li | My research revolves around mental health in children and adolescents, with a special focus on cyberbullying victimisation and their mental health outcomes |
Why choose this programme?
The PhD programme allows you to conduct an independent research project that makes a significant contribution to your chosen field of study and to further develop your research skills. We provide expertise in a variety of research methods including qualitative and quantitative approaches.
A vibrant and inclusive research environment
The University of Edinburgh is a world-leader in research and innovation and an international centre of academic excellence. Students on this programme will become part of an active and diverse research community in the School of Health in Social Science and will have access to the wide-range of learning environments and outstanding resources that the University has to offer. Our postgraduate researchers work in close proximity to each other, enabling them to pool their expertise and knowledge to tackle complex challenges and push the boundaries of discovery. Students will be encouraged to engage with a wide range of seminars, talks, and events, and often have the opportunity to present their own research at national and international conferences. Our student-led postgraduate research blog provides a snapshot of the activities and events our PGR students organise and are involved in.
The expertise of our academics in Clinical and Health Psychology cover the whole of the lifespan, focusing on childhood to adult and older adult mental health and emotional wellbeing as well as the psychological impact of chronic physical ill health. Our research involves national and international collaborations, with many projects involving NHS partnerships.
Supervisor Specialties:
| Child and adolescent mental health, children's health concepts, human-animal interaction (animal-assisted interventions, pet effects on health, psychological risk and protective factors for childhood animal cruelty). All of these areas are active and generating publications, but my focus for funding applications is likely to be on human-animal interactions for the next 12 months. | Jo Williams |
| Understanding how core social and cognitive processes link to mental health outcomes in neurodivergent groups | Karri Gillespie-Smith |
| Impact of animals/attachment to animals on mental health, including companion animals, and animal assisted interventions. Carrying out work on pets and perinatal mental health. | Roxanne Hawkins |
| My main research fields are developmental trauma, attachment and interpersonal processes and care-experienced children and young people (CECYP). | Emily Taylor |
| I am interested in children and adults' self-regulation, including executive function skills. I currently focus on mindfulness-based interventions and mindfulness induction experiments. I typically conduct experiments and meta-analyses. | Zsofia Garai-Takacs |
| My research interests are currently developing along a couple of main strands: family communication and how this impacts adolescent mental health, with a specific interest in attachment, EE, and adolescent self-harm/suicidality/risk taking. Along with the psychological characteristics of mental health professionals, particularly in their capacity for mentalising. | Jamie Kennedy-Turner |
| Body image and eating disorders, early intervention approaches. | Helen Sharpe |
| I'm interested in mechanisms in both the development and maintenance of psychological distress and in the process of change in psychological therapies. My current research focuses on predictors of treatment engagement and outcome in psychological therapy for depression, with a particular interest in the therapeutic relationship and using linguistic markers to quantify patient-therapist interactions. Linking to this research, I am currently planning a project focusing on treatment engagement and outcomes in computerised CBT, as well as a small case series project evaluating a novel dyadic intervention for mothers and children. Another ongoing project focuses specifically on the training and development of therapists, with a focus on therapist mentalizing capacity as a mediator of therapist confidence and wellbeing. | Tim Bird |
| My specific interests are in perinatal mental health and infant mental health. I also generally interested in child, adolescent mental health & families. In terms of methodologies i'm interested in qualitative approaches. | Charlene Plunkett |
| I am interested in intervention for a range of mental health difficulties, particularly in children and adolescents including the role of parents, carers and key adults. I am curious about what works for whom and the different factors that influence treatment access, delivery, engagement and outcome. | Gemma Brown |
| The development of adaptive and maladaptive personality traits with a focus on psychopathic traits more specifically. | Melina Kyranides |
| Suzanne and the Scottish Government Funded Fetal Alcohol Advisory Support and Training Team can offer PhD supervision in all aspects of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders specifically or as part of broader neurodevelopmental studies. | Suzanne O'Rourke |
| Parenting, child and adolescent health/pediatric psychology, safety/injury prevention, post injury care and recovery, intervention development and evaluation, complexity/ds methods. | Jess Hafetz |
| Child and adolescent mental health, children's health concepts, human-animal interaction (animal-assisted interventions, pet effects on health, psychological risk and protective factors for childhood animal cruelty). All of these areas are active and generating publications, but my focus for funding applications is likely to be on human-animal interactions for the next 12 months. | Jo Williams |
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I specialise in autism and intellectual disabilities but to some extent also have interests in other neurodevelopmental disorders. I investigate health needs and inequalities, mortality, suicidality, physical and mental comorbidities, risk behaviours, health in homeless populations. I mostly do epidemiological and public health research, using big data, data linkage and secondary data analysis approaches. I'm currently working on a project exploring suicide deaths and attempts in autistic adults and am also developing a research proposal looking to investigate prevalence, incidence and health risks due to early-onset dementia in autistic people. Both projects include big data and data linkage. |
Ewelina Rydzewska-Fazekas |
| Understanding and preventing animal cruelty, including interventions and prevention. Also have a broad interest in HE student and staff wellbeing. Have carried out projects on nature and wellbeing and still very much interested in this. | Roxanne Hawkins |
| Body image and disordered eating, primarily as it relates to consuming media including social media. Online offending and viewing child sexual abuse images. Future plans to look at media and partner violence. | Emily Newman |
| Intimate partner abuse support and intervention for those who have perpetrated and those who have experienced abuse , substance use, innovative psychological interventions, risk assessment, technology enabled interventions. | Liz Gilchrist |
| The development of adaptive and maladaptive personality traits with a focus on psychopathic traits more specifically. | Melina Kyranides |
| Attachment and psychopathology in adults; trauma informed approaches; childhood emotional abuse. | Karen Goodall |
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Palliative Care and Cancer. We currently have active projects: 1. My grief, my way - a web based resource for people needing help with bereavement support 2. Working on a stage two NIHR grant proposal (due 14.09) for a large RCT of RESTORE - an ACT based wellbeing intervention for staff in palliative care 3. Developing ACT for men with Prostate Cancer Projects we may develop in future - does adding ACT skills help to improve rates and experience of advanced care planning in palliative care |
David Gillanders |
| I am interested in developing, evaluating and implementing psychological interventions to improve and optimise mental wellbeing amongst people impacted by terminal illness (including patients, their families and carers, staff and those bereaved). | Anne Finucane |
| Parenting, child and adolescent health/pediatric psychology, safety/injury prevention, post injury care and recovery, intervention development and evaluation, complexity/ds methods. | Jess Hafetz |
| I specialise in autism and intellectual disabilities but to some extent also have interests in other neurodevelopmental disorders. I investigate health needs and inequalities, mortality, suicidality, physical and mental comorbidities, risk behaviours, health in homeless populations. I mostly do epidemiological and public health research, using big data, data linkage and secondary data analysis approaches. | Ewelina Rydzewska-Fazekas |
| Determinants and measurement of wellbeing (subjective, eudaimonic, psychological) and quality of life. Non-clinical interventions to enhance wellbeing, including nature connectedness, social prescribing, and creative activities. Development of robust evaluation frameworks (generally involving logic models / theory of change) for complex interventions. Student wellbeing and effectiveness of support. Increasingly using PPI / participatory action research and interested in continuing this, particularly co-production of research. | Caroline Brett |
| Impact of animals/attachment to animals on mental health, including companion animals, and animal assisted interventions. Carrying out work on pets and perinatal mental health. I also have a broad interest in HE student and staff wellbeing and have carried out projects on nature and wellbeing and still very much interested in this. | Roxanne Hawkins |
| Body image and disordered eating, primarily as it relates to consuming media including social media. Online offending and viewing child sexual abuse images. Future plans to look at media and partner violence. | Emily Newman |
| Sleep and circadian disorders across the lifespan- focus on young students and following stroke. | Maria Gardani |
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My main research areas are Nature Connection, Planetary Health, Values and Unexplained Symptoms. Our Nature Connection research includes projects aimed at enhancing wellbeing via engagement with nature. This may be via facilitation of present-moment awareness and/ or exercise, and sometimes ny enabling a less pressured means of enabling socialisation and development of interests. Some projects encourage engagement with wildlife, with a focus on birdlife due to the greater accessibility of birds across demographic groups in the UK. Planetary health projects currently mainly relate to the experience of eco-emotions such as eco-anxiety, eco-anger and eco-distress in relation to the climate and other ecological crises, both in Western societies and in nations and demographics at greater risk from these crises. Values related projects mostly relate to recognition and promotion of the importance of living consistently with one's values for mental health and wellbeing. We also have some projects relating to value-congruence, whereby wellbeing can be affected by the level of consistency between your own values and those of significant others, friends and your society. |
Paul Morris |
| The development of adaptive and maladaptive personality traits with a focus on psychopathic traits more specifically. | Meliana Kyranides |
| Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Palliative Care and Cancer. We currently have active projects: 1. My grief, my way - a web based resource for people needing help with bereavement support 2. Working on a stage two NIHR grant proposal (due 14.09) for a large RCT of RESTORE - an ACT based wellbeing intervention for staff in palliative care 3. Developing ACT for men with Prostate Cancer Projects we may develop in future - does adding ACT skills help to improve rates and experience of advanced care planning in palliative care. | David Gillanders |
| I am interested in the intersection of neurodiversity and mental health. I am specifically interested in people with learning disability and the mental health inequalities they and their families face, and the impact adverse life experiences have on mental health. I explore the application of mindfulness-based interventions and trauma-informed practice to carers in intellectual disability services. | Douglas McConachie |
| I am interested in developing, evaluating and implementing psychological interventions to improve and optimise mental wellbeing amongst people impacted by terminal illness (including patients, their families and carers, staff and those bereaved). | Anne Finucane |
| Child and adolescent mental health, children's health concepts, human-animal interaction (animal-assisted interventions, pet effects on health, psychological risk and protective factors for childhood animal cruelty). All of these areas are active and generating publications, but my focus for funding applications is likely to be on human-animal interactions for the next 12 months. | Jo Williams |
| Impact of obesity strategies and public health interventions on the development and maintenance of eating disorders, mainly taking a qualitative approach. | Fiona Duffy |
| Interegenerational mental health, focused on impact of parental/family adversity on offsprng outcomes, particularly in first 1000 days, but extending to lifespan. Intervention focus on prevention. Data linkage, observational cohorts, intervention evaluation. Also, understanding and evaluating complex Mental health conditions such as psychosis and personality disorder. Current projects include Generation Malawi and PROMISE Malawi (psychosis). Projects in development: using UNICEF surveys on determinants of mental health; expanding evaluation of the Mellow Parenting programme in Asia and Eastern Europe. | Angus MacBeth |
| My main research fields are developmental trauma, attachment and interpersonal processes and care-experienced children and young people (CECYP). My research and publications encompass trauma-informed practice in the third sector, most recently exploring cultural humility and competence in trauma-informed practice; kinship carer needs and experiences (ESRC-funded collaboration with Children 1st); interpersonal processes and development in CECYP; attachment process in residential care; rights-based approaches to care-experienced young people’s participation in research; and therapeutic approaches for care-experienced young people (advising on an NIHR-funded implementation trial of Trauma Focused-CBT for CECYP: ADaPT) and following exposure to interpersonal violence (Co-Investigator on Chilean Government funded RCT for CBT and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for adolescents: IGATI), in which I developed a novel IPT intervention for young people exposed to interpersonal violence, focused on developing their interpersonal skills and affect regulation. | Emily Taylor |
| My research interests are currently developing along a couple of main strands: - family communication and how this impacts adolescent mental health, with a specific interest in attachment, EE, and adolescent self-harm/suicidality/risk taking. - the psychological characteristics of mental health professionals, particularly in their capacity for mentalising. | Jamie Kennedy-Turner |
| Sleep and circadian disorders across the lifespan- focus on young students and following stroke. | Maria Gardani |
| I am currently interested in developing research looking at the psychological support needs and experiences of older adults with autism. For example, the experience of being diagnosed later in life and accessing support; cognitive aging in this population; mental health older adult service staff knowledge and understanding of working with adults with autism. | Sue Turnbull |
| Body image and eating disorders, early intervention approaches. | Helen Sharpe |
| Applications of personalised medicine in psychological care for children and young people; especially in relation to CBT for youth anxiety/depression and family-based interventions. | Vilas Sawrikar |
| I'm interested in mechanisms in both the development and maintenance of psychological distress and in the process of change in psychological therapies. My current research focuses on predictors of treatment engagement and outcome in psychological therapy for depression, with a particular interest in the therapeutic relationship and using linguistic markers to quantify patient-therapist interactions. Linking to this research, I am currently planning a project focusing on treatment engagement and outcomes in computerised CBT, as well as a small case series project evaluating a novel dyadic intervention for mothers and children. Another ongoing project focuses specifically on the training and development of therapists, with a focus on therapist mentalizing capacity as a mediator of therapist confidence and wellbeing. | Tim Bird |
| Evaluation of psychological therapies and interventions, especially; Development of mentalising cultures; Using mentalizing and attachment theory to think about populations who are reluctant to engage with traditional service structures. | Helen Griffiths |
| I am interested in intervention for a range of mental health difficulties, particularly in children and adolescents including the role of parents, carers and key adults. I am curious about what works for whom and the different factors that influence treatment access, delivery, engagement and outcome. | Gemma Brown |
PhD by Distance
There is also an opportunity to undertake this programme through our PhD by Distance option. The PhD by Distance is available to suitably qualified applicants in the same areas as our on-campus programmes: Clinical and Health Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy, Health in Social Science and Nursing Studies.
The programme allows students who are unable to commit to basing themselves in Edinburgh full time to study for a PhD in a field of Health in Social Science from their home country or city - however this is not intended to be a fully online distance learning programme.
Students enrolled on this programme will be expected to come to Edinburgh at least once per year of study to meet with their supervisors. The length and timing of these visits are negotiable but students should expect to spend at least two weeks at the University of Edinburgh during each year of study.
Find out more about the PhD by Distance
The School of Health in Social Science offers several fully funded MScR and PhD studentships each year. A variety of scholarships are available, which vary from full scholarships covering tuition fees and a stipend to cover living expenses, to partial scholarships.
Find out more about our scholarships and funding opportunities
Beyond the programme
The research degrees within Clinical and Health Psychology are designed to help you develop your skills for a successful future in research, as an academic or in a related profession.
The PhD Clinical and Health Psychology is typically suitable for those who wish to pursue a career in academia or research, however, graduates from PhD programmes are also increasingly sought after in private, public and third sector organisations.
The PhD Clinical and Health Psychology is an academic/research based qualification. The training for it does not entail clinical work, or training in therapeutic interventions and therefore does not entitle graduates to work as a psychologist in any clinical or applied capacity. Applicants interested in an applied career should consider the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology.