Motivation and Health Behaviour Change

I am interested in factors that optimise human motivation and promote performance, morality, psychological well-being and health-conducive behaviours. Specific areas of interest are physical activity promotion in different community settings (e.g., schools) and clinical settings (e.g., cardiac rehabilitation), self-regulation of weight management goals (diet and physical activity goals), weight stigma, coaching, teaching and parental communication styles, and psychology of sport with emphasis on applications of contemporary theories of motivation. Other topics are possible, as long as they are within my areas of research. Interested students are invited to email me (with a copy of their CV) and discuss their research ideas.

Ideally, the candidates will have a masters degree in health/exercise/social psychology, public health, sport and exercise sciences, however, students with an excellent first degree in one of these areas will also be considered. The successful candidates will be members of the Health Psychology & Behavioural Medicine research group.

University

The successful candidate will be based in the School of Psychology and Speech Pathology at Curtin University (http://healthsciences.curtin.edu.au/teaching/psych_home.cfm). Psychology at Curtin was ranked 4 our of 5 in the most recent Excellent in Research for Australia (ERA) exercise (corresponding to ‘Above World Ranking’) and the QS World University Rankings® by Subject list the School of Psychology and Speech Pathology in the world top 150. We have recently opened the extensive new Psychology Experimental Research Laboratories at Curtin (PERL-C), a world-class research facility located directly adjacent to our office space. Curtin University is ranked in the Top 50 Under 50, a ranking of the world’s top 50 universities established within the last 50 years, based on the highest performing young institutions in the QS World University Rankings®:
http://www.topuniversities.com/top-50-under-50/2013#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search=
The successful candidate will be aligned with one of the School’s research groups, which represent the key areas of research in the School (http://healthsciences.curtin.edu.au/teaching/psych_research.cfm).

Location

The university is located in Perth, Western Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth), rated the 9th most liveable city in the world (https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/18692034/perth-in-top-ten-most-liveable-cities/.

Candidates wishing to find more information about studying for a PhD at Curtin University may wish to watch the following video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B20-7RNCzo&feature=youtu.be