About
Dr. Laura Wilkinson is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Swansea University's School of Psychology within the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science. She specializes in experimental psychology with a focus on eating behavior, weight management, and sustainable food consumption. Her research explores food variety, multi-component food items, and the relationship between attachment orientation and disordered eating behaviors, including studies with bariatric surgery patients, night eating syndrome patients, and diabetes management. She currently serves as the Faculty Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Lead and previously led the successful joint Athena Swan submission for the School of Psychology and School of Health and Social Care. She has held roles including Deputy Athena Swan Lead at Swansea University and local lead for the UK Reproducibility Network.
- BSc (Hons) in Experimental Psychology from the University of Bristol
- PhD in Experimental Psychology (Nutrition and Behavior) from the University of Bristol
Her research interests include sustainable eating, consumer acceptability of novel foods, food variety effects, and the psychological underpinnings of eating behaviors. Recent work investigates trade-offs in consumer decisions regarding meal-replacement products and energy density of snacking. Key articles highlight connections between substance use, impulsivity, and food portion size, as well as the role of attachment anxiety in night eating syndrome.
She supervises PhD students in areas ranging from sustainable food consumption to the transition from pediatric to adult healthcare for osteogenesis imperfecta patients. Her work emphasizes reproducibility and open research practices through collaborations like the UK Reproducibility Network.
Dr. Wilkinson teaches advanced courses on brain-behavior relationships, independent research projects, and contemporary eating behavior research, integrating reproducibility training into her teaching.
