My PhD, also supervised by Rob Jenkins, examined systematic behavioural changes across socially derived time cycles—the calendar week and working day. I merged traditional laboratory experiments with large-scale secondary data analyses of health-related datasets, generating practical recommendations for optimising National Health Service appointment systems. This applied research trajectory led to an ESRC-funded placement at The Scottish Government in 2011 and continues to shape my work today.
Following my doctorate, I joined Lancaster University as a post-doctoral researcher on a government grant investigating team performance, continuing to merge controlled experiments with real-world observation. During this period, I became interested in wearable and mobile technologies as sources of digital trace data that could provide novel insights into behaviour. In 2013, I accepted an early career lectureship at the University of Lincoln, which provided opportunities to advance this work substantially. With colleagues, I developed new methods to quantify technology use and emotion through mobile devices, and explored how wearable technology might transform healthcare delivery.
In 2015, I was appointed 50th Anniversary Lecturer in Computational Social Science at Lancaster University, rejoining a growing team in the Social Processes research group, which I led from 2017-2019. The group developed research with forensic and health-related applications, bringing together academics using diverse methodologies in experimental and applied settings. Our work informed policy through research reports to companies and governments, including contributions to the 2019 Commons Science and Technology Committee report on the Impact of Social Media and Screen-Use on Young People's Health. During this period, I wrote my first book, 'Smartphones within Psychological Science' (Cambridge University Press).
I joined the School of Management at the University of Bath in 2020 as an Associate Professor in Information Systems. I contributed to CREST's continuation and to the development of REPHRAIN, the National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online. That year, our interdisciplinary research on missed healthcare appointments received the Research Paper of the Year award from the Royal College of General Practitioners.
My involvement in open science collaborations led to appointment by the Vice-Chancellor to the Academic Ethics and Integrity Committee in 2021, advising on procedures and guidelines for academic ethical issues. I also led a Beacon (2021-2025), developing multi-disciplinary research capacity to address grand challenges. In December 2021, I received the Dean's Award for Research Communication and Translation and joined the Editorial Board at Technology, Mind, and Behavior.
Balancing the benefits and risks of digital trace data remained central to my work. Through collaborations with government and industry partners throughout the research cycle, we generated applied impact: in 2022, our research informed NICE recommendations on supporting vulnerable patients to access health and social care. In September, I was appointed Chair of the Social Sciences Research Ethics sub-committee. I also curated and presented a six-part podcast series exploring how School of Management research addresses major societal issues. In October, I was granted a personal chair in Behavioural Science.
In 2023, doctoral and post-doctoral researchers I supervised presented papers on smartphone privacy and digital fashion at the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. I received the University of Bath's Doctoral Recognition Award and the Dean's Award for Research Communication and Translation in June. Around this time, the UK Government launched the Video Games Research Framework—a best-practice tool for video games research that I helped shape over the previous two years. In August, I was appointed to the UKRI Interdisciplinary Assessment College, which took a new approach to funding interdisciplinary research.
In October 2023, an EPSRC-funded Digital Health Hub launched, led by the University of Bristol, to promote knowledge sharing across healthcare, academia, and business and drive innovation in digital health. I also appeared in the Stanford-Elsevier list identifying the top 2% of researchers globally for the third consecutive year, based on standardised citation data, h-index, and bibliometric indicators.
In 2024, I led a team investigating computational reproducibility in a leading psychology journal, continuing meta-scientific work that has influenced editorial policies at major journals, including Psychological Science. Beyond academia, our research featured in the Chief Medical Officers' report for Scotland 2024, continuing to inform how GP practices manage missed appointments and improve patient attendance. My lab developed a research culture document (ROSE) articulating our core values, which later informed Bath's Research Culture Action Plan addressing priorities including Collegiality, Career Development, Recognition, Research Design, Open Research, and Research Ethics & Integrity.
In 2025, doctoral and post-doctoral researchers completed several meta-science papers, including work on optimising participant attendance in group research and the DECIDE Framework for describing ethical choices in digital behavioural data explorations. Our research on patient-centred interventions to reduce missed appointments received highly commended recognition from the Royal College of General Practitioners. I was appointed to the ESRC Assessor College and joined the Policy Advisory Group for a Wellcome-funded project on 'Digital Determinants of Health', expanding my contributions to research funding evaluation and digital health policy.
My current research continues to examine how digital technologies shape behaviour, health, and well-being, with an emphasis on translating insights into policy and practice. Through collaborations across healthcare, government, and industry, I aim to ensure that digital behavioural science generates tangible social benefit while addressing emerging challenges in privacy, harm reduction, and research ethics.