Dr Ben Ainsworth

My research can be (roughly!) divided into two main areas:

1. Digital Health and Behaviour Change. 
   

    I co-lead the Digital Intervention Group (DIG) at the University of Southampton, which has 60 research staff and postgraduate students across Psychology, Medicine and Primary Care, and Computer Science. DIG focuses on developing, evaluating and implementing digital behaviour change interventions (you can see all of our research here). I’m an expert at using the Person-Based Approach. I am particularly interested in using cutting-edge models of 'engagement' to understand why and how people use digital technology, and how it can be effectively implemented within healthcare settings. I lead the Germ Defence project, a digital tool to reduce the spread of infections like COVID-19, which was used by over 600,000 people in 183 countries. I’ve published research with mental health tech companies like Headspace and Medito.

2. The Psychology of Asthma and Allergy.
   I lead the Psychology of Asthma and Allergy Research Group in the School – which includes post-doctoral researchers and PhD students. I’m an active member of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Southampton (in the Respiratory and Allergy Theme) and I sits on the UK Taskforce for Lung Health which advises on national policy for respiratory disease research and treatment.
   We do all sorts of exciting research in this group, ranging from studying how digital tools may affect societal inequality, understanding how people’s partners can help their disease management, or using cutting edge neuroimaging tools to examine how our brains perceive disease symptoms.