Professor Julia Allan

Professor in Psychology

Psychology 3B97, Cottrell Building, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA

Professor Julia Allan

Contact details

About me

Having completed a PhD (2001-2004) investigating the effects of cognitive inhibition on visual motion perception, I moved into applied psychology, taking up a postdoc position with Prof Derek Johnston (2004-2006) looking at the psychophysiological correlates of stress and activity limitations after illness / injury. I was awarded a Chief Scientist's Office research training fellowship in 2006 to develop a programme of research applying cognitive psychology to the public health context (2006-2011).

I secured a lectureship at the University of Aberdeen in 2012 and was promoted to senior lecturer in 2014, where I was Deputy Lead of the Health Psychology Group and Programme Director of the MSc Health Psychology. I joined the University of Stirling in Sep 2023 as Professor of Psychology.

She is a past chair of the British Psychological Society's Division of Health Psychology Scotland and a current member of the Executive Committee of the European Health Psychology Society.

My research focuses on the cognitive determinants and consequences of health relevant behaviours/ processes such as eating, treatment adherence and stress. My work examines how behaviour is controlled (e.g. how people stick to diets; how people self manage health conditions over time); how behaviour can be modified or supported by changing environmental cues (e.g. how consumers can be prompted to make healthier choices; how self management can be supported remotely using apps); and health professional health and decision making (e.g. how cognitive bias impacts GPs treatment decisions; how stress and fatigue impacts job satisfaction in nursing; temporal patterns in nurses eating and activity behaviours).

Research programmes

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