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Leadership Team | Central Research, Training & Consultancy team | Senior Research Fellows | Research Fellows | PhD Students | Research Assistants | Professional Staff | CBC Associates
Leadership team
Professor Susan Michie, Director of the CBC, Professor of Health Psychology and co-Director of Behavioural Research UK
A world leader in behavioural science, her research focuses on understanding behaviour change theoretically, developing methods for designing effective interventions and translating evidence into practice and policy. Professor Michie developed the Behaviour Change Wheel framework and leads the Human Behaviour Change Project and has several policy responsibilities, including co-Director of NIHR’s Behavioural Science Policy Research Unit and chairing a Food Standards Agency scientific committee.Publications / Email: s.michie@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Fabiana Lorencatto, Co-Director of CBC and Associate Professor
Dr Lorencatto has extensive experience in applying behavioural science theories and frameworks to design behaviour change interventions aimed at changing the behaviours of healthcare professionals to improve clinical practice. Dr Lorencatto is the behavioural science lead on a number of multidisciplinary, international projects related to topics such as maternal health, infection prevention control, antimicrobial resistance, diabetes and transfusion medicine.Publications / Email: f.lorecatto@ucl.ac.uk
Central research, training & consultancy team
Dr Sadie Boniface, Principal Research Fellow and the Research Lead
Sadie’s role is to oversee and lead day-to-day conduct of CBC research projects, initiating and developing research collaborations, and promoting publication and dissemination of CBC research. Sadie has 15 years’ experience in public health and applied health research in academia and civil society. Before the CBC, Sadie oversaw the delivery of the Institute of Alcohol Studies’s research strategy as their Head of Research. Sadie's expertise on alcohol use and harm meant she developed skills in communicating research to non-academic audiences, and her current research interests are in applying behavioural science to improve research culture.Publications / Email: s.boniface@ucl.ac.uk
Professor Leslie Gutman, Professor of Applied Developmental and Health Psychology and Programme Director of the MSc Behaviour Change
Professor Gutman’s research interests include developmental transitions in adolescence and young adulthood, the study of risk and resilience, mental health and wellbeing, aspirations and attainment and school-based interventions. Professor Gutman is Senior Research Associate for the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) and Associate Editor of the Journal of Adolescence.Publications / Email: l.gutman@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Danielle D’Lima, Associate Professor and Teaching Lead / Co-Director for the MSc Behaviour Change
Danielle's role includes designing and delivering teaching and training in Behaviour Change, as well as overseeing research projects on Implementation Science. She has an evolving interest in capacity building in Behaviour Change Science and Implementation Science as well as the application of these to the education setting. Danielle has a PhD from Imperial College London on the influence of feedback on professional behaviour change in healthcare. She has been involved in research projects on patient safety in the mental health setting, the use of routinely collected information for quality improvement in the NHS, and process evaluation methodology.Publications / Email: d.d'lima@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Lucy Porter, Lecturer (Teaching) and the Bespoke Training and Consultancy Lead
Dr Porter has extensive experience in applying behavioural science theories and frameworks to develop health behaviour change interventions in academic and policy settings. She previously worked as a Principal Behavioural & Social Scientist at Public Health England and the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities where she worked on topics including diet and obesity, sexual and reproductive health, and alcohol harms reduction. Her research interests include designing behaviour change interventions to support children's healthy eating, and exploring the acceptability and implementation of behaviourally-informed public health policy.Publications / Email: lucy.porter@ucl.ac.uk
Senior Research Fellows
Dr Jo Davan Wetton, Senior Research Fellow (0.8 FTE)
Jo's work focuses on improving national capability in behavioural research, as part of Behavioural Research UK (BR-UK). As a behavioural scientist, Jo specialises in pro-environmental action and the use of systems thinking. Before joining BR-UK, Jo was awarded an ESRC Policy Fellowship to deliver research on behavioural science and net zero for Defra. She previously led behavioural science input to the international project, Complex Urban Systems for Sustainability and Health (CUSSH). Jo has worked with organisations including Welsh Government, BEIS, WRAP, Policy Connect and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology.Publications / Email: jo.davanwetton@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Kitty Saunders, Senior Policy Fellow
Kitty works on Behavioural Research-UK and is also seconded to the Government Office for Science. Kitty has a BSc in Experimental Psychology from the University of Bristol, an MSc in Forensic Mental Health Research from KCL, and a mixed methods PhD in Psychiatric Epidemiology from KCL. On the completion of her PhD in 2021, she joined the Policy Research Unit for Mental Health as a postdoctoral Research Associate. Kitty co-led the Women’s Mental Health module for final year BSc Psychology students at KCL in 2021/2022 and 2022/2023. Science communication, including dissemination of research, is one of Kitty’s passions. She has presented her research internationally, and is a keen podcaster, having produced a podcast on women’s mental health and on coercive control.Publications / Email: kitty.saunders@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Angel Chater, Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Policy Research Unit in Behavioural Science (0.1 FTE)
Angel’s research, teaching, training, and practice focus on the interplay between health psychology and public health. Centering on optimising health and wellbeing through behaviour change interventions, Angel has co-authored over 180 peer-reviewed publications and secured over £10 million in research income, extending pragmatic science in areas such as physical activity and sedentary behaviour interventions and the application of the Behavior Change Wheel in real-world practice. Following the successful funding award to extend work with the Policy Research Unit (PRU) in Behavioural and Social Sciences, Angel has transitioned from Co-Director of the CBC to Co-Director of the PRU, where she will lead the UCL team in working with government bodies and policy partners.Publications / Email: a.chater@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Vivi Antonopoulou, Senior Research Fellow
Dr. Vivi Antonopoulou is a Senior Research Fellow at the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Behavioural and Social Sciences (PRU BaSS), based at the Centre for Behaviour Change. She is also the academic co-lead for the NIHR Patient, Public Involvement, and Engagement (PPIE) strategy group in the PRU BaSS. Vivi works across a wide range of academic disciplines and collaborates with national and international research teams, including teams in Germany, France, Canada, the US, and Australia. Her research is cross-cutting, with a primary focus on using behaviour change theory and models to design and evaluate interventions, particularly those aimed at improving healthcare professionals’ practice for service quality and patient safety. Her interests also include research translation and ways to bridge the evidence-policy gap. The Guide for effective communication between researchers and policymakers that Vivi co-developed with CBC colleagues has been downloaded more than 9,000 times. Vivi's work experience includes systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials (RCTs), surveys, behavioural systems mapping, and qualitative interviews involving diverse patient groups, vulnerable populations, and health and social care professionals. She currently supervises students across BSc, MSc, and PhD programmes, and is available to supervise projects that use quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method methodologies, as well as evidence synthesis approaches. Vivi serves on the UCL Academic Board and is a mentor in the PALS mentoring scheme (URSM), supporting underrepresented students within the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences. Vivi is also a Chartered Psychologist and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (CPsychol AFBPsS).Publications / Email: v.antonopoulou@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Alison McKinlay, Senior Research Fellow
Dr Alison McKinlay is a Senior Research Fellow. She has served on the UCL Academic Board and is an LGBT committee member at the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences. Her research interests include public health policy, intervention evaluation, health stigma and social inequality. Dr McKinlay's research has been published in leading journals on Health Psychology, Psychiatry, Public Health and Social Sciences. She has been awarded research funding to pursue investigations into stigma, mental health support and social prescribing interventions. Most recently, her research has explored widening the acceptability of public health interventions, healthcare professional behaviours, preventative health checks, and integrated health and social care in the UK. She is the current research lead on the NIHR funded Optimising Integrating Integrated Care Services (OptICS) project. In addition, Dr McKinlay is passionate about collaborative, participatory approaches in research and is the academic co-lead of an NIHR Patient, Public Involvement and Engagement strategy group. She provides support and mentorship to students studying towards their MSc, PhD and other higher education programmes. Dr McKinlay is available to supervise projects incorporating qualitative research methods and/or literature review and evidence synthesis approaches.Publications / Email: a.mckinlay@ucl.ac.uk
Research Fellows
Dr Ayse Ustaoglu Allison, Research Fellow
Dr Allison is a Research Fellow in Behavioural Science at CBC and UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub. Ayşe's research focuses on applying principles, methods and frameworks from the social and behavioural sciences to understand and change behaviours concerning health and sustainability. Ayşe is an interdisciplinary, mixed-methods researcher and has a wide range of research interests including circular economy, just transitions and 'commoning'. Her research to date has primarily focused on waste management with a focus on food and plastic waste. She has also conducted research into the adoption of clean cooking technologies, social life cycle assessment methodology and gardening promotion. Most recently, Ayşe has been applying behavioural science to optimise the system for the sustainable provision of nappies, incontinence pads and period products.Publications / Email: ayse.allison.18@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Emma Francis, Research Fellow
Dr Francis has a BSc in Psychology from Queen’s University Belfast, and an MSc in Psychiatric Research from King’s College London. Emma completed her PhD in Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics at UCL in 2024. Following her PhD, she worked as a consultant for a charitable organisation, and was the UCL Doctoral Disability Lead. In her role at the CBC, she is working on project that uses behavioural science to improve research culture.Publications / Email: emma.r.francis@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Paulina Schenk, Research Fellow
Dr Schenk has been working as a Research Fellow at CBC since 2022. Her research experience has been around developing and applying theories and frameworks to synthesise knowledge about behaviour change and mental health interventions.Paulina completed her PhD in Health Psychology at UCL in 2022, developing an ontology of mechanisms of action in behaviour change interventions. Since then, she has worked on developing ontologies as part of the Human Behaviour Change Project and supporting projects around behaviour change in healthcare as part of the NIHR Policy Research Unit. Her current work focuses primarily on developing an ontology of mental health as part of the Galenos Project.
Email: paulina.schenk.13@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Elise Crayton, Research Fellow
Dr Crayton is a Research Fellow at CBC. She is also the Faculty of Brain Sciences Disability Equity Lead. Elise’s research has focused on the use of evidence synthesis and application of behavioural science methods to design, deliver and evaluate behaviour change interventions. Elise has carried out research across multiple healthcare settings within the NHS, engaging with patient, general public and healthcare professional populations. Her research to date has focused upon anxiety and social support for elderly stroke survivors, medication adherence in stroke survivors and pregnant women, quality improvement of the two-week wait cancer referral pathway and safe stewardship of antimicrobials. Elise has been involved in exploring and assessing healthcare professionals use of protective behaviours during health pandemics such as the COVID-19 outbreak and understanding barriers and enablers to vaccine uptake. Most recently, Elise has been applying behavioural science to help support Equality, Diversity and inclusion Initiatives in the hope of increasing inclusive practices for staff and students at universities.Publications / Email: e.crayton@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Amanda Moore, Research Fellow
Dr Moore is a Research Fellow at CBC. Amanda is a Public Health Nutritionist with a particular interest in diabetes and women’s health. Her research focuses on the development of complex interventions, particularly to help address health inequities faced by people from minority ethnic groups. She primarily uses qualitative, participatory methods and follows a design-led approach to co-design. She is currently working on the UPTURN study, a 5-year NIHR programme grant to co-design an intervention to support engagement with Pulmonary Rehabilitation and is supporting the co-design and behaviour change work package with people of Bangladeshi, Black African and Caribbean heritage.Publications / Email: amanda.p.moore@ucl.ac.uk
PhD Students
Gemma Spickernell, Doctoral Student
Gemma completed a MA in Psychological Research at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa before moving to London to pursue a career in research. She has several years of experience working in consultancy, using tools and methods from the behavioural sciences to optimise healthcare behaviours. Her research interests include optimising health and wellbeing through applied behavioural science to understand and intervene with factors that influence behaviours that impact on health, illness and the health care system. In 2023, Gemma started a PhD within the Centre for Behaviour Change on promoting physical activity in pregnancy.Email: gemma.spickernell.23@ucl.ac.uk
Zoe Upton, Doctoral Student
Zoe completed her BSc in Psychology at Durham University, before pursuing a Dual Master’s in Brain and Mind Sciences at UCL and Sorbonne University (Paris). She has a keen interest in interdisciplinary research, having previously contributed to research on the effects of climate change on human health. Specifically, she investigated the effects of heatwaves and indoor overheating on the symptoms and management of neurological conditions (i.e., seizures in patients with epilepsy). She is enthusiastic about the value and application of behavioural science to promote environmental sustainability and combat climate change. In 2024, Zoe started a PhD within the Centre for Behaviour Change on changing gardening practices to peat-free.Publications / Email: zoe.upton.21@ucl.ac.uk
Clare Nicholson, Doctoral Student
Clare is a clinical specialist occupational therapist (neuro-sciences) and works in the Functional Neurological Disorders (FND) Rehabilitation team at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London. Clare completed a master's in clinical research (MRes) at City University under the supervision of Dr Fabiana Lorencatto in 2017. Her research dissertation entitled ‘Reported barriers & enablers to providing community-based OT to patients with Functional Neurological Symptoms: An interview study with OTs in the UK’ was published in The British Journal of Occupational Therapy in 2021. Skills gained during the MRes also guided Clare’s work in leading the development of international OT consensus recommendations for FND (lead author, published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 2020). In September 2023, Clare completed an NIHR PCAF-Bridge pre-doctoral fellowship under the supervision for Dr Lorencatto and went on to secure NIHR funding for a Doctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (DCAF) which she commenced in October 2024. Clare’s doctoral work which will be supervised by Dr Lorencatto seeks to co-develop with patients, carers and occupational therapists’ interventions to support engagement in community-based occupational therapy and self-management for people with FND.Email: clare.nicholson.24@ucl.ac.uk
Catherine Lawrence, Doctoral Student
Catherine is the Team Lead Physiotherapist in Critical Care at University College London Hospital and is spending one year as a CLAHRC HEE NCEL pre-doctoral fellow. Catherine has a keen interest in early rehabilitation on critical care and the management of patients who require prolonged critical care admission.
Catherine obtained a BSc (hons) degree in Physiotherapy at Brunel University in 2010. She then went on to complete a Master of Research Degree (MRes) in Clinical Research at City, University of London. Catherine’s MRes project was focused on exploring the relationship between patient motivation and adherence to rehabilitation in critical care. Catherine's PhD is exploring behavioural factors influencing patient participation in rehabilitation on critical care.
Email: catherine.lawrence@ucl.ac.uk
Research Assistants
Lisa Zhang, Research Assistant
Lisa is currently working on the Human Behaviour-Change Project, and in particular, the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology which specifies all key components of behaviour change intervention scenarios and their evaluations. Her research interests include intervention development and evaluation, and applying behaviour change principles to real-world issues such as environmental sustainability and public health. Lisa received a MSc in Behaviour Change from UCL in 2021.Publications / Email: lisa.zhang.20@ucl.ac.uk
Huner Erdinch, Research Assistant
Huner has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Glasgow. After working briefly as an assistant statistician civil servant, she completed her MSc in Behaviour Change at UCL. Currently at the CBC, she works on a project to improve research culture across the university using behaviour change.Email: hyuner.erdinch.23@ucl.ac.uk
Professional Staff
Karen Rumsey, Administrative Manager
Karen oversees the administrative functions of CBC, including finance and Human Resources activities, and ensures the smooth running of the centre.Email: karen.rumsey@ucl.ac.uk
Sophia Bowes (0.5 FTE), Teaching Administrator
Sophia oversees the administration for our MSc in Behaviour Change. Sophia has a strong background in higher education administration, which began with her tenure at Middlesex University. Her professional journey continued at the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, where she played a significant role in student services and actively contributed to community engagement initiatives through The National Citizen Service. These experiences allowed her to cultivate strong skills in both academic administration and community outreach.In addition to her practical experience, Sophia recently graduated from the University of Hertfordshire, earning a BA (Hons) in Business Administration. Sophia now plans to pursue a MSc in Business Psychology.
Email: sophia.bowes@ucl.ac.uk
Alice Pritchard (0.5 FTE), PA and Research Administrator to the CBC Leads
Email: alice.pritchard@ucl.ac.uk
Isabelle Olson, Training, Events and Communications Manager
Izzy is responsible for co-ordinating and promoting the CBC’s extensive training and events programme, as well as leading on promoting the work of the CBC through multiple communication channels.
Izzy’s interest in behaviour change stemmed from her BSc in Psychology. She then gained a wide range of experience across different industries and sectors, including working at several market research agencies as a qualititative researcher, at a clinical trials unit, and most recently as the Communications Manager for a large research funder in the charity sector. Email: i.olson@ucl.ac.uk
Milly Massoura (0.5 FTE), BR-UK Administrator, based at CBC
Milly provides administrative support across the Behavioural Research UK (BR-UK) project, a research consortium funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) via the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Before BR-UK, Milly was at the University of Kent working in Research and Innovation Services. Milly has a background in life sciences, completing her BSc (hons) in Medical Biochemistry and PhD in molecular pharmacology at the University of Birmingham. Following this she worked at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) as a business support officer. Milly has a wide range of experience in providing support to researchers at all levels in a variety of disciplines.Email: m.massoura@ucl.ac.uk
CBC Associates
CBC Associates are colleagues within and beyond UCL who actively participate in our consultancy, research, teaching and training, and in representing CBC on external bodies. View our list of associates below.
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