well-being research

positive, personality, and motivational psychology 

The individual-level line of research focuses on the intersection of personality, motivation, and well-being. We study how people cultivate happiness, meaning, and psychological richness in everyday life. This line of research investigates the processes and structures that support well-being, where we explore how people balance consistency and change, stability and exploration, in ways that support well-being. We also investigate personality-driven processes for selecting, pursuing, and enjoying activities by testing theoretical premises from positive psychology models (e.g., Basic Psychological Needs, Positive Activity Model, Broaden-and-Build). Here, we're interested in how people can facilitate an upward spiral of well-being benefits to inform activity-based positive psychological interventions. Using longitudinal surveys, experience-sampling, and mixed-methods designs, this work develops process-oriented models of well-being that bridge hedonic, eudaimonic, and psychologically rich perspectives. A central goal is to understand well-being as a dynamic and adaptive system—one that balances stability with change and supports growth across diverse contexts.

public mental health & data science

Our public mental health research examines how mental health and well-being are shaped by the places and communities in which people live. We are particularly interested in why mental health differs across populations and places, including how socioeconomic conditions, environments, services, and community resources may contribute to these differences.

A growing part of this work uses data science to bring together information that is usually studied separately. We work with large longitudinal surveys, routinely collected administrative health data, and small-area geographic data, and develop reproducible approaches for linking these different sources. This includes our work building UK-wide community data infrastructure that captures features such as deprivation, green space, transport, cultural and community resources, and service accessibility.

We use these data to study population mental health across people, places, and time. Current work includes examining geographic inequalities in mental health and well-being, understanding how communities differ in both mental health burden and the resources that may protect against it, and linking community context with patterns of mental health service use and escalation to crisis.

This work sits alongside our research on mental health promotion, including evidence synthesis, participatory research, and the development and evaluation of community approaches to prevention. Across both strands, the aim is to produce evidence that is useful beyond academia, particularly for understanding where prevention may be most needed and how communities and public services might better support mental health.

happiness meta-science

This stream of research investigates how knowledge about well-being is produced, represented, and improved. It examines the structure, inclusivity, and methodological evolution of well-being science to strengthen its transparency, credibility, and global reach. Our meta-science work focuses on three interlinked themes:

1. Mapping the Field – Using bibliometric and network analysis to chart how ideas, theories, and collaborations develop across time, revealing intellectual patterns, blind spots, and opportunities for integration.

2. Equity and Representation in Research – Conducting large-scale audits of who is studied (and who is not) in well-being research, identifying demographic, cultural, and geographic gaps that limit the generalizability of the evidence base.

3. Scientific Practice and Methodological Reform – Tracking the adoption of open science, reproducibility, and analytic innovation across two decades of well-being research, situating the field within psychology’s broader credibility movement.

Together, these studies provide a reflective lens on the science of well-being itself—linking conceptual progress with transparency, inclusion, and methodological rigour to build a more cumulative and representative discipline.