As this is a collegiate and collaborative conference, attendees will be sharing their dissertations or research findings in the form of posters or presentations.
Keynote speaker: Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh
Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh is an environmental psychologist, specialising in perceptions and behaviour in relation to climate change, energy and transport. She is Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST).
Her research projects have included studies of energy efficiency behaviours, waste reduction and carrier bag reuse, perceptions of smart technologies and electric vehicles, low-carbon lifestyles, and responses to climate change.
Our careers panel session will feature representatives from different real-world psychology sectors, who will be able to talk about their roles and answer your questions.
Dr Amy Burrell has been researching in crime and policing for over 20 years. Much of her research has had a policing focus with topics including robbery, sexual offences, night-time economy violence, and spiking. She holds a BSc in Applied Psychology (Durham University), MSc in Forensic Behavioural Science (University of Liverpool), and PhD in Forensic Psychology (University of Leicester). She is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham.
Marco Cheng (educational psychology)
Dr Marco Cheng is a Senior Educational Psychologist in the London Borough of Havering. Trained at UCL after completing his first psychology degree at the University of Bath, he has worked with children, young people and families across a range of educational settings and local authority advisory services. His professional interests focus on autism, neurodiversity, community-based support, and inclusive practice in schools.
Matt Furness (occupational Psychology)
Matt Furness specialises in occupational psychology and behavioural science. Since studying at the University of Bath a decade ago, he’s played a part in developing people, leaders and culture in dozens of organisations worldwide, including Primark, EY, and Hollywood Bowl. Today, he’s the Founder of Click, a specialist learning and development consultancy.
Professor Abbie Jordan (health psychology)
Professor Abbie Jordan is a Chartered Health Psychologist who works with children and young people living with pain. She runs the Pain Stories Lab, which explores real-life experiences of pain and wellbeing using creative, young-person-friendly qualitative methods to help improve care, education, and understanding for families and professionals.
Dr Ali Khatibi (research and teaching)
Dr Ali Khatibi is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Bath, specialising in pain neuroscience, cognitive biases, and neuroimaging. His work focuses on translating mechanistic insights into clinical applications, particularly in chronic pain and neuromodulation, combining interdisciplinary methods including AI, experimental psychology, and brain–spinal cord imaging.
Rachel Mayer (counselling and psychotherapy)
Rachel Mayer set up Acorns Counselling, a private counselling practice, in 2024, delivering counselling for individuals and couples. She studied medicine at the University of Nottingham and worked in hospital medicine for three years, before returning to Nottingham to study MSc Applied Biomolecular Technology and progressing to work as a microbiology consultant and Head of Department at the Royal United Hospital in Bath. She left that role to pursue counselling and psychotherapy, setting up Acorns Counselling.
Getting to the conference
This conference will take place on our University of Bath campus in 10 West, which is the dedicated home of the University of Bath's Department of Psychology.
Our campus is located on the outskirts of the city of Bath. It has excellent transport links and is a short 10 to 15-minute bus journey from the city centre, which is home to Bath Spa train station.
If you arrive via coach, the drop-off point will be outside 10 West. If you arrive by public transport, you'll be dropped off at Arrivals Square, which is a short 5-minute walk across our campus.
