My research interests centre around:

• Early social-emotional development and mental health
• Parent-child interactions
• Ethnic and cultural diversity
• Neurodiverse populations, especially those at elevated likelihood
• Parental mental health

My teaching includes:

• Unit Lead of Interventions to Improve Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Contribute teaching to several units on the BSc Psychology and MSc Clinical and Health Psychology programmes
• Research project supervision for the BSc, MSc and ClinPsyD programmes
• I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Academic responsibilities:

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Deputy Lead for the Division
• On School Academic Malpractice and Faculty Discipline Panels

After completing my BSc and MSc (distinction) in psychology, I secured a Faculty bursary to pursue a PhD in developmental psychology at the University of Manchester, which kickstarted my career in Manchester. In 2003, I took a research fellow position in the School of Medicine, University of Manchester. I studied children of mothers with severe mental disorder and depression in the Centre for Women's Mental Health (led by Prof Kathryn Abel). During this time, I became incredibly interested in mother-infant interactions and attachment and my research evolved into studying parent-child relationships in other at-risk or vulnerable groups, such as autism risk. In 2009, I took on a lectureship, contributing to the MBChB degree programme (Medicine). I was postgraduate trainer, supervised postgraduate research students, and became part of the Social Development Research Group (led by Prof Jonathan Green). In 2017, I segued into the Division of Psychology of Mental Health, School of Health Sciences. This involved new roles teaching psychology at undergraduate and postgraduate level. In 2020, PRIME-RU (Perinatal Mental Health and Parenting Research Unit) was founded (led by Dr Anja Wittkowski) in which I am a Co-Director. I continue to pursue my research interests within PRIME-RU and by working closely with other colleagues and collaborators.

• Parent-child interaction (father-child, mother-child)
• Early social and emotional development
• Cultural and cross-cultural mental health and development
• Attachment relationships through the lifespan
• Child and adult/maternal mental health
• Evaluation of early parenting or parent-mediated psychosocial interventions

• BSc (hons). Psychology. University of Lancaster 1994-1997
• MSc (distinction). Applied Psychology. University of Manchester. 1997-1999 (part-time)
• PhD Psychology. University of Manchester. 1999-2002

• British Psychological Society (BPS) member and chartered psychologist
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) since 2019
• Associate Editor of: Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice
• Associate Editor of: Infant Behavior and Development 
• Member of Autism@Manchester 

Manchester Assessment of Caregiver-Infant Interaction (MACI-Infant)

In 2008, I developed this global measure of parent-infant/toddler interaction that is now used in research internationally. It has been used in a range of populations and to evaluate early psychosocial interventions. I provide annual small-group training for researchers interested in this measure (see 'links' above).

Manchester Child Attachment Story Task

I, alongside Prof Jonathan Green, provide occasional trainings in a story stem (doll play) measure of child attachment representations developed by Jonathan Green (see 'links' above). I have provided training and consultation internationally, including in Europe, Australia and Japan.

I sometimes work with local community groups in Manchester with the aim of enhancing child and parental mental health through short guided activities, relating story and metaphor. I welcome enquiries from community projects and schools.

I work with several international teams, bringing a developmental perspective with a focus on parental mental health.

I am Co-Director of PRIME, the Perinatal Mental Health and Parenting Research Unit (led by Dr Anja Wittkowski).

I also work with:

• Global Mental Health Research group on culturally-adapted parenting programmes (led by Prof Nusrat Husain)
• Social Development Research Group on neurodevelopmental risk (led by Prof Jonathan Green)
• Centre for Women's Mental Health on children of parents with mental disorders (led by Prof Kathryn Abel).