Professor Claire Foster

Claire Foster is Professor of Psychosocial Oncology, Director of the Centre for Psychosocial Research in Cancer: CentRIC⁺ and Deputy Head of School Research and Enterprise in Health Sciences, University of Southampton.

Claire's research programme focuses on understanding the impact of cancer and its treatment on everyday lives and how equipped people feel to manage this; understanding the impact of a family history of cancer on people's lives; and developing and testing digital resources to support people affected by cancer to manage some of the consequences of treatment and make complex decisions about treatment or genetic testing. This is achieved through large prospective cohort studies, qualitative studies, development and testing of complex interventions, and evaluation of service transformation. We work with people affected by cancer as research partners as well as clinical, academic and policy leaders to support the design, conduct and dissemination of the research to maximise impact.

I am passionate about understanding how people are affected by cancer and its treatment, developing resources to support them to make difficult decisions and manage some of the problems cancer and its treatment can bring, and ensuring our research makes a real difference to people’s lives

Her research programme is funded by Cancer Research UK, Movember, National Institute for Health Research, Health Education England, NHS England, and Macmillan Cancer Support. Recently completed projects have been funded by Breast Cancer Now, NIHR Research for Patient Benefit, and Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.

Claire supervises a number of PhD and Masters students from Health Sciences, Psychology and Medicine.

Claire is a member of:

International Psychosocial Oncology Society International Scientific Committee for 2023 World Congress

Bowel Cancer UK Scientific Advisory Board 

Editorial Board Psycho-Oncology

Global Partnership on Self-Management in Cancer