Dr Rebecca Graber

About

I joined the University of Chichester as a Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology in 2024. My work centres on how peer relationships, especially friendships, can contribute to psychological resilience and wellbeing in the face of complex challenges. I am especially interested in the lived experience of how we can live healthier lives in a socially connected way, and understanding what that means to people in specific situations.

I am currently serving as the Chair of the University’s Research Ethics Committee and, as of January 2027, as co-Academic Lead of the Research in Practice programme of the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership. I recently co-edited a book, Community Psychology in Action: Striving towards Social Justice and Wellbeing in Challenging Times, published by Routledge.

Before coming to Chichester, I was a Principal Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Brighton, where, amongst other roles, I was Course Lead for the MA Community Psychology, conducted multiple research projects, was part of the British Psychological Society’s COVID Community Action & Resilience working group, and taught on community psychology, developmental psychology, friendship, psychology of wellbeing, and qualitative methods. Before this, I worked at the University of Sussex with Dr Richard de Visser and a multidisciplinary team on NIHR-funded projects exploring young people’s resilience to problematic alcohol use.

I obtained my PhD from the University of Leeds under the supervision of Professor Anna Madill and Professor Rhiannon Turner, exploring implications for the psychological resilience of best friendship among socioeconomically vulnerable young people. One of my papers was selected by The New Yorker magazine as one of the six most interesting psychology papers of the year (2015). As a New Yorker myself, I am still very proud of this! I have also worked with the NHS and in education research.

Research

My research aims to identify, understand, and promote the contributions of informal social relationships and practices, especially in relation to broad social risks such as alcohol and substance use, socioeconomic vulnerability and austerity, and discrimination based on LGBTQIA+ identity.

I have most recently co-led the interdisciplinary DanceMAGICC project (Dance and Movement for Aging and Intergenerational Movers through Improvisation, Creativity and Connection), bringing together studies of wellbeing, mindfulness and dance practice.

Selected previous projects include:

• Queer Peers and We the Marlborough: using creative methods to explore the lived experiences and imagined possibilities of peer support in Brighton & Hove and a queer community pub. (Co-lead, Funded by the University of Brighton Centre for Arts and Wellbeing).

• The Big Picture: using participatory photography and filmmaking to explore resistance and resilience to problematic substance use among young people in Assam, India. (Co-investigator, funded by ESRC/AHRC GCRF, in collaboration between University of Leeds, University of Brighton, MIND India, NIRMAAN Rehabilitation Institute and the Hope Foundation.)

• Collaboration with the Overseas Development Institute to draw lessons on psychological resilience for practitioners and researchers working in climate change and humanitarian disaster response.

Publications

• Hugh-Jones, S., Duara, R., Graber, R., Goswami, S., & Madill, A. (2024). What Protects At-Risk Young People in India From Using and Abusing Substances? A Photo-Led Study of Lived Experience. Journal of Adolescent Research, 0 (0). https://doi.org/10.1177/07435584241231376

• Fernandes-Jesus, R., Graber, R., Harris, C. & Wilson., S. (2023). Community Psychology. In G. Davey (Eds.), The Wiley Handbook of Applied Psychology (2nd ed.), John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

• Madill, A., Duara, R., Goswami, S., Graber, R., & Hugh-Jones, S. (2022) Pathways to recovery model of youth substance misuse in Assam, India. Health Expectations, 26(1), 318-328. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.13658

Teaching

I support teaching on the MSc Health Psychology and lead the following modules:

• CPSY609 Introduction to Health Psychology

• CPSY601 Mindfulness and Compassion-Focused Therapies

• PSYM05 Advanced Research Methods and Approaches

• FPSY603 Criminology in Professional Practice (cover)

PhD

I am interested in supervising students in any of the following areas:

• peer relationships, peer support and/or friendships
• resilience to complex risks
• social/community approaches to health and well-being

Projects might use creative visual methods, qualitative methods, non-experimental quantitative methods, or mixed/multiple methods.

I particularly welcome students who are curious about expanding mainstream psychology by, for example, taking a resilience-based approach; working with marginalised, underrepresented and/or vulnerable persons; taking an intercultural or international perspective; and/or working in a participatory manner.

Current PhD students:

• Paulina Bouzas Monroy (University of Chichester, South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership)

• Stewart Seymour (University of Chichester)

Completed PhD students:

• Isaac Thornton (University of Brighton, South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership)

Research Output