About
Rich Harrison is a Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Reading’s School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, co-leading the CINN Pain Lab. His interdisciplinary research focuses on pain mechanisms, including neuropsychological recovery from chronic pain, neuroinflammation in Long COVID, women’s health pain management, and the analgesic effects of swearing. He also investigates predictive assessment tools for pain outcomes in clinical interventions such as genicular artery embolization for osteoarthritis and uterine fibroid surgery.
His research integrates clinical, psychological, and neuroscientific approaches, emphasizing individual differences in pain perception and sociocultural factors influencing healthcare. He collaborates with the Royal Berkshire NHS Trust on clinical research and actively participates in public engagement through events like PAINSTORM and media outreach via his website and Bluesky.
Key responsibilities include advancing pain assessment methodologies, co-designing patient-centric gynecological care, and applying magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study neuroinflammation. His work also explores philosophical underpinnings of pain perception, aiming to refine treatment stratification through validated questionnaires.
- Lab/Team: Co-leads the CINN Pain Lab at the University of Reading.
- Collaborations: Works with NHS trusts and international researchers on pain mechanisms and clinical interventions.
