Sheffield, England, United Kingdom
I'm Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Sheffield. I am currently serving as UK Society for Behavioural Medicine President (2025-2027). I love building capacity in behavioural science, co-production and systems thinking. Consequently, I've developed an extensive track record of leading intervention & service development / adaptation and process evaluation. My research has been funded by ESRC, Health Foundation, HTA, MRC, NHS England SBRI, NIHR, and the (ESRC) White Rose Consortium, and has generated over £33.4 million of external research funding. I have had continuous funding from NIHR for 10 years. I currently serve on the NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research and Postdoctoral Awards (Healthcare) panels. I served on the UKSBM executive committee from 2007-2011 and 2018-2021 committee. I have served on numerous national and international advisory, conference scientific and funding panels. I attained chartered status as a health psychologist in 2006. I've served on the editorial boards of the British Journal of Health Psychology and the Journal of Patient Preference & Adherence, and as an academic editor for PLOS ONE. If you made it this far, I'm open to new collaborations, but keen on explicit collaboration agreements. I love to support leaders to develop vision. If you are a research leader stuck over a wicked problem, I can help you. I draw on evidence synthesis, network mapping, and participatory systems approaches operationalised with co-production techniques. I make use of AI when I work with you to deliver sustainable strategies. You'll see my methods and my working because that will build your capacity. Get in touch to discuss how we could work together.
Ian has an interest in developing and evaluating interventions to promote health behaviour change. He employs behaviour change theory in evidence synthesis, co-design, and qualitative and quantitative approaches in the development of behaviour change interventions and evaluates their acceptability, implementation, and efficacy in feasibility and phase 2 randomised controlled trials. He is currently a co-investigator on 12 funded studies, of which 3 include trials in ODA-recipient countries. These funded studies include intervention development / evaluation for support for people with TB & co-morbid depression, improving communication for people with aphasia, physiotherapy rehabilitation, medication adherence, medicines optimisation, self-management of long-term conditions for people with severe mental illness, tobacco cessation/harm reduction, and tooth brushing.
Responsibilities include: • Collaborating with clinical colleagues at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust and the Yorkshire Quality and Safety Research Programme to develop a national centre for quality and safety research • Preparing grant applications as a principle investigator to develop quality and safety, health behaviour change and/or public health research, in collaboration with BIHR and NHS organisations • Promoting the translation of research knowledge into local and national policy through active partnership with clinical staff • Working with a multidisciplinary group of researchers and clinical staff in the Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust and the PCT to implement and evaluate innovative approaches to improving patient safety, health behaviour change and/or public health • Developing opportunities for student learning within an NHS environment (e.g. placements, joint modules etc.)
Visiting researcher on a study to quantify the effect of measurement and feedback on physical activity behaviour (The FAB Study: Feedback, Awareness and Behaviour in the Fenland Study).