Applied Psychology Research Group (APRG)

overview

The APRG focuses on producing high quality psychological research that extends beyond the laboratory addressing real world challenges at local, regional and national levels.  APRG directly targets several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals; with a particular emphasis on Reducing Inequalities and Good Health and Wellbeing. To achieve this, APRG members are committed to building external collaborations and partnerships to facilitate the production of impactful, applied research.  In addition, APRG academics often undertake a multidisciplinary approach, implementing Open Science principles, in the production of their applied research.  As a large and diverse research group, APRG has a wide variety of expertise across different themes, covering behaviour and cognition in both cyberspace and terrestrial domains.  The APRG demonstrates expertise in the following domains: Inclusive Learning, Health and Wellbeing, Cognition and Neuropsychology, and Interpersonal Psychology.

Key project summaries

• Dr Greig Inglis’ research looks at how social relationships and economic inequalities shape health and well-being outcomes. This includes research on how experiences of stigma and discrimination contribute to socioeconomic health inequalities.
• Dr Carrie Ballantyne’s research focuses on linking core social and cognitive processes to health and wellbeing outcomes in neurodiverse groups (i.e. autism, intellectual disabilities, neurodevelopmental disorders). This includes inequalities in education, the criminal justice system and access to services, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Dr Danielle Kelly’s research is focused on developing interventions to reduce cyber-deviance and online harm. Some of this research focuses on raising public awareness of cyberstalking and cyberflashing behaviour. Drs Kelly and Graham Scott are also developing interventions to reduce gender-based online harm using the development of felt-understanding between online communities.
• Dr Joanne Ingram and Dr Greg Maciejewski are examining the inferences humans make during reading. Using online and lab experiments they are considering how the context a word is presented in can affect our understanding of it. This work has implications for how vague language is understood across different populations, such as older adults and neurodiverse, and languages. 

Postgraduate Research

Postgraduate researchers are core members of the Applied Psychology Research Group, and central to achieving our specified targets.  There is a vibrant and dynamic PGR research community within the APRG, with PGRs engaging and contributing to all group events and activities.  The group has extensive supervision experience and expertise in a vast array of research themes and methodologies and greatly welcome prospective PGR students.  Below, we have highlighted some examples of the range of PGR work currently being undertaken at UWS:

Harriet MacLachlainn’s research focuses on student well-being and the impact of the school environment, gaining insights from the lived experiences of current students in Scotland. Collaborating with students through creative co-production methods to generate ideas about what a school that supports student well-being might look and feel like.

Beata Cielsuk’s research focuses on improving interventions, policy, and access to treatment for the hidden population of drug users, especially older women. The project will establish the current drug use trends, and the barriers to treatment, and aim to develop a pilot intervention with the intention of enhancing addiction treatment quality and uptake in Scotland.