Professor Daniel Frings

I am passionate about exploring how our sense of self and the social categories we place ourselves in change the way we think and behave. I have a special interest in how these processes work within the realm of addiction and have published a number of leading papers in this area.
I also have research interests in the fields of mental health and psychophysiology- these areas often overlap with my addiction work.
My work has been supported from a wide range of funders including the Economic and Social Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the European Regional Development Fund and Cancer Research UK. I have been lucky enough to have worked on publications of all shapes and sizes, including academic journal articles, various book chapters, a popular press psychology book, a concise overview of social psychology aimed at students and a comprehensive handbook on alcohol use.
Alongside my basic and applied research I also have a strong commercial focus and am often involved in the design and evaluation of commercial mental health supporting products such as apps, online platforms and service provision. My work in this area includes both consultation and leading projects (ranging from small pilots to fully fledged randomised controlled trials).
I deeply believe in the value of making research accessible to as wide an audience as possible and regularly take part in public engagement events, have discussed my work on national television and write the popular psychology blog psychologyitbetter.com.

In 2022 I qualifed as a counsellor/psychothreapist and now work with clients in private practice.