Ming Wan, BSc MSc PhD CPsychol FHEA

Dr

Personal profile

Overview

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

Biography

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.

Research interests

  • 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

Qualifications

  • 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

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

  • 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 

Methodological knowledge

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.

Social responsibility

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.

 

My collaborations

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).

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
  • SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

  • Global inequalities
  • Autism@Manchester

Keywords

  • Developmental psychology
  • Child wellbeing
  • Cultural psychology
  • Clinical psychology
  • Parental mental health
  • Autism

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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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