We are the Addiction research group and are based in the Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool.

Professor Matt Field (research group leader): I'm a Professor of Psychology at the University of Liverpool. I studied at the Universities of Swansea and Sussex, and then worked as a postdoc at the University of Southampton before moving to Liverpool in 2004. My primary interests are the cognitive and motivational processes that underlie heavy drinking and other types of substance use. For example, I am interested in the roles of attentional bias, and  impulse control in the development of  problem drinking, and their influence on  alcohol consumption in the laboratory. My research has been funded by the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, Economic and Social Research Council and Alcohol Research UK. Follow @field_matt on twitter

Dr Abi Rose: I have been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Liverpool since 2010. I obtained my PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Sussex in 2006, and then worked as a postdoc at St George’s Medical School, UCL, before taking an appointment as Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, KCL. My research interests are focused around the psychopharmacological basis of addiction and specifically identifying pathways into and out of hazardous drinking. My laboratory-based research investigates the processes involved in drinking, including the interaction between environmental and intoxication effects, while my clinical research focuses on developing more effective psychosocial treatments and pharmacotherapies. For example, I am interested in the priming effects of alcohol, the learning mechanisms underlying drinking behaviour, and the pharmacological basis of alcohol dependence. My research has been funded by the Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, and Alcohol Research UK. Follow @abirose9 on twitter.

Dr Paul Christiansen: I have been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Liverpool since 2013. I obtained my PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Liverpool in 2012, and taught extensively while doing my PhD. My research interests are focused around self control over drinking. For example I have recently investigated the influence of self control depletion on drinking in the laboratory. I have also conducted research into the acute and anticipated  effects of alcohol on automatic and executive cognitive processes and how these processes relate to the alcohol priming effect.  I am also interested in the development of personalised stimuli for use in the assessment of attentional bias. My research has been funded by Alcohol Research UK. Follow @ChristiansenLiv on twitter. 

Dr Charlotte Hardman: I have been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Liverpool since 2013. I studied at the University of Leeds (BSc) and Bangor University (PhD) and then worked as a postdoc at the University of Bristol. My research examines the psychological and biological control of appetite, food intake and addictive behaviours. For example, I am interested in affective and non-affective determinants of food reward (“liking” and “wanting”) and the influence of cognitive factors, such as attention, memory and expectations, on the amount of food that people consume. I am also interested in the extent to which over-eating can be thought of as an addictive behaviour. My research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Welsh Assembly Government. Follow @CharlotteHardm3 on twitter. 

Dr Eric Robinson: I am a tenure-track research fellow and have worked at the University of Liverpool since 2013. I am interested mainly in social context and alcohol use – why is it often the case that people around us will influence how much we drink and why does this happen? I am also keen on examining how beliefs we hold about ourselves and others can shape alcohol and drinking behaviour.

I also do work examining eating behaviour and obesity, which can be found here – http://www.liv.ac.uk/psychology-health-and-society/staff/eric-robinson/. Follow @eric_robinson_ on twitter. 

Dr Andrew Jones (Post-doc): I studied for both my undergraduate degree in psychology and my PhD at the University of Liverpool before starting my post-doc in December 2012. My primary interest is the relationship between impulsivity and alcohol-use. My work involves examining ‘state’ fluctuations in (dis)inhibition, and whether they can influence alcohol-seeking (see here and here). I am also interested in general processes that underlie motivated behaviours, such as attention. Follow @ajj_1988 on twitter.  

Elly McGrath (Research assistant): I have completed a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Manchester. I have previously worked as a Research Assistant on an NIHR funded project investigating a CBT intervention for Bipolar Disorder and co-morbid anxiety and a project running an online intervention with the Royal Liverpool University Hospital for patients experiencing difficulties managing their emotions in relation to cancer. I am currently working on the Medical Research Council grant on state disinhibition and heavy drinking, and my interests are in cognitive processes and cultural influences concerning alcohol use and non-specific effects of addiction treatment

Natasha Clarke (First year PhD student): I studied for both my undergraduate and Master’s degree at the University of Liverpool. My interest is in methods and approaches that can be used to reduce the harm associated with excessive drinking and my current research focuses on the effectiveness of brief interventions in reducing unit consumption in young adults. My research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and Alcohol Research UK. Follow @tash_c135 on twitter. 

Jay Joseph Duckworth (First year PhD student): I am studying psychopharmacology at the University of Liverpool. In particular I’m attempting to find out whether work with non-human animals into sign-tracking and goal-tracking behaviours can be extrapolated to humans, using both cognitive and behavioural measures to accomplish this. I’m also interested in the wider scope of psychopathology. Follow @JayDuckworth on twitter. 

Lisa Di Lemma (First year PhD Student): I am investigating “Overcoming  disinhibition and retraining automatic tendencies in heavy drinkers and tobacco smokers”. I studied Psychology in Rome and moved to London in 2011 for my Masters in Research Methods and Psychology in London City University. In 2012-2013 I worked as a Research Assistant in the University of Liverpool, investigating the role of Motivational Ambivalence in predicting relapse in alcohol dependent patients. My research interests are currently focused on cognitive and motivational process in heavy drinkers and smokers. In particular I am interested on: Disinhibition, Implicit Motivational Tendencies and Motivational Ambivalence. Follow @DiL_Lisa on twitter. 

Inge Kersbergen (First year PhD student): I have completed a Bachelor in Psychology and Research Master in Behavioural Science at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. I’m mainly interested in automatic processes that guide behaviour. My PhD is funded by the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies (UKCTAS) and will look into cognitive processing of advertisement and warning labels on alcohol and tobacco products and their effect on behaviour.

Paweł Jędras (Second year PhD student): I hold a Master’s degree in psychology of addictive behaviours and Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Liverpool. During my Bachelor’s project I analysed the role of planned behaviour and impulsivity in predicted and actual alcohol consumption, especially emphasising potential applications of cusp catastrophe in modelling of heavy episodic drinking, whereas my Master’s thesis was about the effects of thought suppression on alcohol approach bias after priming of positive or negative alcohol-related information. Although my current research is mainly focused on the effects of reward and punishment anticipation on the attentional bias in the visual processing of motivationally salient stimuli, I am also interested in various issues related to addiction including historical and cultural aspects of drugs and drug policy.

Helen Ruddock (First year PhD student): My main areas of interest include appetite, obesity and addiction. Currently, my research focuses on the behavioural and cognitive manifestations of ‘food addiction’.  Prior to starting my PhD, I completed a BSc in Psychology at the University of Plymouth, and an MSc in Neuropsychology at the University of Bristol. During my MSc, I conducted research into the role of loss aversion on food portion-size selection. Follow @helzbelz1984 on twitter.