Professor Tushna Vandrevala

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Tushna Vandrevala
About
Teaching and learning
Research

About

Professor Tushna Vandrevala is a Chartered Health Psychologist with research expertise in health inequalities. Tushna has gained national recognition for her research in health inequalities, health promotion, risk perception, health communication and behavioural change for underserved and hard-to-reach communities (ethnically diverse groups, migrant) and those at lifespan transitions (such as pregnant women, older people). Her work considers how health communication and health promotion can be tailored to understand and mitigate risk and reduce health inequalities. Tushna's work has informed how risk should be communicated to diverse groups, to enhance self-efficacy, and motivate individuals to practice health protecting behaviours and addresses how to mitigate group influences of stigma, alienation and mistrust at group and systems level. 

Professor Vandrevala has a long-standing interest and expertise in inclusivity, equality, diversity and inclusion, and expertise in co-design and participatory research, developing and evaluating outreach interventions with real world relevance. She has received funding from National Institute of Health and Social Care Research (NIHR), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Wellcome Trust and Dunhill Medical Trust.

Professor Vandrevala is co-Chair of the Cross Government Social and Behavioural Science in Emergencies Working Group since 2023 and member of the Home Office Science Advisory Council (HOSAC) since 2022 and regularly advices the government on issues relating to social and behavioural science. public health, health inequalities and wider issues relating to migration. She has served on various national bodies, such as Honorary Secretary to the British Society of Gerontology (2018-21), and a participant of the Independent Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (SPI-B). 

Academic responsibilities

Professor of Health Psychology

Qualifications

  • BA (Psychology), University of Mumbai, India.
  • MSc Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, UK
  • PhD in Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, UK.
  • Chartered membership (CPsychol) British Psychological Society, Division of Health Psychology

Teaching and learning

Research