Esther K. Papies, PhD, lab director
Esther studied Social Sciences at University College Utrecht, The Netherlands, where she received a Bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in 2002. She completed her MSc in Social Psychology in 2003, and received her PhD in 2008 at Utrecht University, working with Prof. Wolfgang Stroebe and Prof. Henk Aarts. She received the Best Dissertation Award of the Dutch Association of Social Psychological Researchers, the Early Career Award (Jaspars Award) of the European Association for Social Psychology, and a VENI-grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.
Esther worked as an Assistant and then as an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Utrecht University, before joining the University of Glasgow as a Senior Lecturer in September 2015. She was promoted to Reader in 2021. Esther’s work is funded by an ESRC-grant on “The Psychology of Sugary Drinks” and an ESRC-grant on creating desire for plant-based foods. Her research has been published in, for example, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Appetite, and the International Journal of Obesity. She serves on the editorial boards of Social Cognition, Appetite, and Social Psychology. She is Associate Editor at Global Environmental Psychology, and a member of the Young Academy of Scotland.
Esther is a member of the Complexity Programme in the Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in the School of Health and Wellbeing. She is also associated with the School of Psychology and Neuroscience, where she teaches the Psychology of Climate Change.
Contact Esther at Esther.Papies -at – glasgow.ac.uk.
Stephanie Farrar, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Stephanie graduated from the University of Stirling with a BSc in Psychology and MSc in Health Psychology in 2011 and 2012 respectively. She completed her PhD at City, University of London (2020) which examined the effect of priming and mindfulness on food choice and decision making. She is now working in collaboration with the Better Buying Lab on an ESRC-funded project examining how consumption and reward simulations can be used to increase desire for plant-based foods.
Tess Davis, Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Tess completed her Bachelors MA in Philosophy and Psychology in 2017, and more recently her MSc in Social Psychology in 2019, at the University of Edinburgh. Both her undergraduate dissertation and masters thesis explored the link between meat-eating and masculinity. For her ESRC-funded PhD in collaboration with the Better Buying Lab at the World Resources Institute, Tess studied how people cognitively represent and socially communicate about meat-based and plant-based foods. She defended her thesis in March 2023 and is now working as a Research Assistant on an ESRC-funded project examining how consumption and reward simulations can be used to increase desire for plant-based foods.
If you have questions, contact Tess via email t.davis.3 – at – research.gla.ac.uk.
Amy Rodger, PhD Student
Amy completed both her BSc in Psychology (2019) and her MSc in Research Methods of Psychological Science (2020) at the University of Glasgow. Her undergraduate dissertation studied the impact of eustress on wellbeing. Her MSc was funded as part of her ESRC-funded PhD, in collaboration with Danone, France. The focus of this research is to better understand the motivational processes that drive daily water drinking behaviour and use these insights to inform water intake interventions.
If you have any questions for Amy you can contact her via email 2125525R@student.gla.ac.uk
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Lara Wehbe, PhD student
Lara earned her Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at the American University of Beirut (2005) and has extensive teaching experience. She recently completed her Master’s degree in Psychological Science Conversion Program with Distinction at the University of Glasgow (2019). Her research tackled the aspects of implicit bias in gender inequality from a social-cognitive perspective. She previously worked as an intern in our lab, assisting our research on water consumption. In October 2020, and she started her PhD in our lab on a fully funded scholarship from the College of Science and Engineering, examining the psychological processes involved in the transition to plant-based diets.
Aleksandra Wruk, PhD student
Aleks graduated from BSc in Interactive Media Design at Edinburgh Napier University and her undergraduate research explored the role of motivation and trust in the use of blended (online/offline) systems. Following her graduation, she worked in Tech industry as an experience researcher. Currently, Aleks is working towards her PHD funded by UKRI council that is collaboration between Social AI CDT and Healthy cognition lab. Her research is focused on understanding how belief and expectation, in the context of placebo effect, can be used to improve the efficacy of mobile apps for mental health.
Maddie Sinclair, PhD student
Maddie is completing a college-funded PhD project in the Healthy Cognition Lab in a collaboration with Prof. Emilie Combet, Human Nutrition, University of Glasgow. After working as a Research Assistant at the University of York (FixOurFood), she is now researching the role of dietary guidelines in the transition to plant-based diets.
Sophie Duncan, MSc by Research student
Sophie graduated in the summer of 2022 with an MA in Psychology at the University of Glasgow. As of October 2022, she is completing an MSc (by research) in the Healthy Cognition Lab at the University of Glasgow. Her research explores the role of individuals with high socio-economic status within climate change mitigation.
If you have any questions, contact Sophie at2381768d@student.gla.ac.uk.
Student members
Yi Sun, MSc Dissertation Student
Li Tan, MSc Dissertation Student
Lara Silberhorn, Psychology Honours Dissertation Project Student
Interns
None at the moment.
Visitors
None at the moment.
Opportunities
If you are interested in doing a PhD on the psychology of climate change or health behaviour in our lab, please get in touch!
Lab alumni
Betul Tatar, PhD student
Maria Almudena Claassen, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Assistant; now at Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin
Elodie Gauthier, MSc, Research Technician
Xiaoting Ma, MSc Dissertation Student
Marleen Lomann, MSc Dissertation Student
Karis Caton, Psychology Honours Dissertation Project Student
Libby Harkins, Psychology Honours Dissertation Project Student
Rebeka Pazmanyova, Psychology Honours Dissertation Project Student
Alberto Romano, Psychology Honours Dissertation Project Student
Dorottya Rusz, PhD, postdoctoral research assistant
Niklas Johannes, PhD, Radboud University – postgraduate research visitor and postdoctoral research assistant
Fridtjof Petersen, visiting undergraduate Psychology student from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Teya Daneva, Carnegie Vacation Scholar, UofG Neuroscience
Gintare Semyte, Carnegie Vacation Scholar, UofG Psychology
Madeleine Stork, MSc dissertation student
Natalia Ciranova, MSc dissertation student
Xiaojing Li, MSc dissertation student
Holly Miller, Psychology Honours Dissertation Project Student
Lina-Lotta Kauhanen, Psychology Honours Dissertation Project Student
Pavla Baarova, Psychology Honours Dissertation Project Student
Maisy Best, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Assistant (now Senior Researcher in the Equality and Poverty Analysis Unit of the Scottish Government)
Anna Tavoulari, MSc Dissertation Student
Lucy Grant, Psychology Honours Dissertation Project Student
Katerina Manoli, Psychology Honours Dissertation Project Student
Christopher Henshaw, Psychology Honours Dissertation Project Student
Johanna Werner, BSc, visiting researcher from Dresden University, Germany
Mike Keesman, PhD student
Katharina Lindner, PhD student
Caroline Jordan, lab intern
Ani Lazarova, summer intern, Wellcome Biomedical Vacation Scholarship
Kasia Mojescik, summer intern, Glasgow Science Centre Scholarship
Iris Versluis, MSc, PhD student
