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Department of Psychology seminars

We host experts in different areas of psychology, including academics and practitioners from around the world. View our upcoming seminars on this page.

Upcoming seminars - February to March

Details about our scheduled seminars in February and March.


19 February 2025

  • Speaker: Dr Anna Price, University of Exeter
  • Title: Improving access to healthcare for young people (aged 16-25) with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Mapping services and co-developing a digital health intervention to improve access for this underserved group

Dr Anna Price will present her research mapping health service provision for young people aged 16-25 with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as they transition into adulthood. She will share qualitative data from interviews conducted as a part of the NIHR-funded study 'Managing ADHD in Primary Care (MAP)', and outline her ongoing NIHR and UKRI-funded programme of work, co-developing digital applications to help young people with ADHD access treatment and manage their health. This research sits within Exeter’s Science of ADHD and Neurodevelopment collaboration (SAND).

Patients, carer, and public involvement: This research is driven by patient and public involvement and stems directly from requests made by people with lived experience and healthcare professionals. Experts by experience, clinicians, and service providers are working with us to co-develop innovative digital solutions to support young people with ADHD, optimised for use in NHS settings.

26 February 2025

  • Speaker: Dr Annayah Prosser, University of Bath
  • Title: Talking about climate action: The Importance of Qualitative Methods for Studying Sustainability

Sustainable and pro-environmental behaviour are fundamentally social actions, that require a deep understanding of social interactional dynamics (Kurz & Prosser, 2021). In this talk, Dr Annayah Prosser argues that any approach to studying sustainability is incomplete without contributions from qualitative methodologies. Using examples from a remotely-moderated focus group design (Prosser, Heung, et al., 2023), she will discuss how environmental practices are negotiated and navigated through group discussion. In one study, we explored this in an intragroup context, to examine how vegetarians, vegans and flexitarians negotiate their dietary identities in group talk. In a second study, we examined this in an intergroup context, exploring how and why vegetarians and vegans downplay the moral motivations behind their dietary practice when in discussion with meat-eaters (Fordonnell et al., 2024). Finally, Dr Prosser will consider the value of conducting research on social behaviour in the field, drawing on her work exploring the value of secular mass-gatherings for promoting social change (Prosser, O’Neill, et al., 2023). Overall, this talk discusses the valuable contribution of qualitative and discursive methods to studying pro-environmental behaviour.

5 March 2025

  • Speaker: Dr Sophie Russell, University of Surrey
  • Title: The Dynamic Interplay of Emotions and Perspectives in Apologies

Apologies have been shown to have numerous positive consequences, such as impacting levels of forgiveness and experienced emotions. Prior literature suggests emotional apologies (e.g., when emotions are expressed in an apology) should be more effective than neutral apologies, but this effect has not been quantified. We first reviewed prior research (k = 124 studies) to uncover which types of emotional apologies have been studied, extracting data on demographic characteristics, the specific emotions manipulated and measured, the context of wrongdoing, and the perspective of outcomes (i.e., victims, perpetrators, and bystanders). From this wider literature search, we then conducted a meta-analysis (k = 22 studies) on the effect of emotional apologies compared to no emotion expression or neutral states on levels of forgiveness. We found that expressing emotions can generally facilitate higher levels of forgiveness. However, it was evident that it is necessary to expand and improve how emotions are measured and manipulated in future research, as well as the importance of studying multiple perspectives and contexts. Finally, this research identified that there has been a lack of research on empathy, anger, and social change in the context of apologies. As a result, we have conducted experimental studies which tested the impact of expressing empathy for victims or guilt for past actions or no emotion expression. Initial analysis has revealed that expressing empathy often triggers more forgiveness than expressing guilt or no emotion, but emotional apologies do not always impact willingness to engage in collective action. Cumulatively, this research suggests it is important to further examine this dynamic interplay between emotions and perspectives in apologies, particularly in contexts where wrongdoing is often overlooked and doesn’t result in societal change.


Upcoming seminars - April onwards

Details about our scheduled seminars from April onwards.


30 April 2025

  • Speaker: Professor Tim Smith, University of the Arts London
  • Title: Human-Computer Interaction: Relationship between media and minds

26 March 2025

  • Speaker: Dr Tamsin Newlove-Delgado, University of Exeter
  • Title: Children and Adolescent Mental Health: Public Health Aspects

2 April 2025

23 April 2025

Many wicked problems - such as social, health, and economic inequalities, alongside the push for sustainable and net-zero cities - are unfolding in urban environments. However, many interventions are implemented without fully understanding their cascading consequences. Do they reduce or exacerbate existing inequalities?

Recent perspectives view cities and social systems as being shaped by individual decisions and networks of information, money, and social ties. This makes individuals central to the simulation of urban dynamics. Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) provides a powerful framework to simulate these interactions, capturing how individual behaviors aggregate into broader societal patterns.

This talk will introduce ABM, illustrating its utility through real-world examples. It will also explore the key challenges and opportunities associated with using ABM to inform urban policy and decision-making.

21 May 2025

  • Speaker: Dr Charles Ogunbode, University of Nottingham
  • Title: Sustainability: people's beliefs, feelings and actions regarding environmental issues

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