Laura Brown

Overview

I am a Lecturer in Psychology in the Division of Psychology and Mental Health. My research interests centre on characterising the patterns of psychological experience and functioning that are associated with ageing, and in developing interventions to help improve health and wellbeing in later life. I also teach on the BSc undergraduate Psychologyand MSc in Clinical and Health Psychology and MSc Health Psychologyprogrammes, and supervise PhD and Clinical Psychology Doctorate students.

I am also the Year 2 tutor for the BSc Psychology degree.

Biography

I completed a BSc (hons) degree in Psychology at the University of Nottingham in 2002, and then went on to do a PhD in Psychology at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London. In 2006 I took up a postdoctoral position in the Geriatric Medicine Unit at the University of Edinburgh. Here I worked with Professor Alasdair MacLullich on a series of projects related to delirium (acute confusion) in older adults, including the development of a new electronic device for measuring attentional deficits in this population (The ''Edinburgh Delirium Test Box''). I then worked with Dr Arlene Astell at the University of St Andrews on a ''New Dynamics of Ageing'' project focused on using digital technology to develop methods for assessing health, wellbeing, and lifestyle factors in older people (the ''NANA'': Novel Assessment of Nutrition and Ageing'' project). As part of this role, I developed methods for assessing ''momentary'' cognitive function in older adults in oder to allow patterns of cognitive function to be tracked over ''micro-longitudinal'' timescales. After this, I worked on the ''LiveWell'' project in the Institute for Ageing and Health at Newcastle University to support the development of interventions to enhance health and wellbeing in retired populations.

I took up my first lectureship position in the Department of Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2011, and then moved to my current post at the University of Manchester in October 2013.