Dr Rachel Povey (Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology) reports on a successful conference held by Staffordshire University’s Centre for Health Psychology:
At the end of June, Staffordshire University’s 4th Health Psychology Conference took place in the Science Centre. This year the conference had grown to 50 delegates who included undergraduate and postgraduate students, graduates, and external partners. The conference had a real buzz about it and as well as the usual oral paper presentations, this year’s programme included posters and workshops for the first time. The conference organization for this year had also changed, with a group of health psychology trainees collaborating with me in the planning and running of the conference (Lisa Cowap, Nicola Stenberg and Harpreet Sohal).
The oral programme was kicked off by Adam Boughey, a 4th year trainee who presented a behaviour change intervention using yoga for smoking cessation. A number of thought-provoking papers followed, some of which focused on outcomes of research, others were more reflective discussions from trainees on the Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology. The conference finished with a fascinating keynote from Dr Daniel Masterson, a Health Psychologist and recent graduate of the Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology. Daniel presented his interesting and challenging work as a health psychologist working in the novel environment of urban planning.
Dr Daniel Masterson delivers his keynote talk on urban planning
Prizes were awarded to current PhD Student Sian Calvert for the best poster for her work investigating healthy eating behaviours and social norms in high schools, and to health psychology trainee Harpreet Sohal for the best oral paper. Overall, the conference was a great success, with lots of positive feedback including “one of the best conferences I have attended” and “it has inspired me to conduct further research”. A great day all round!
Staffordshire University – The Home of Health Psychology
Staffordshire University’s Centre for Health Psychology is a 
centre of excellence for teaching and research in Health Psychology, and is home to Staffordshire’s BPS Accredited Stage 1 MSc in Health Psychology and BPS Accredited Stage 2 Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology. The Centre for Health Psychology is part of the School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise, one of the leading research-active academic schools for Psychology and Sport degrees situated in the heart of England.
For further information about Health Psychology courses and research at Staffordshire University please visit the following webpages: