Rebecca Webster

Dr. Rebecca Webster is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sheffield’s School of Psychology. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from Durham University, an MSc in Health Psychology from King’s College London, and a PhD in Psychology from King’s College London, focusing on nocebo effects. Her research explores placebo/nocebo effects, risk communication in healthcare, and health behavior during public health emergencies. Previously, she worked at King’s College London’s Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response.

Her work emphasizes ethical communication of medical risks, particularly in patient information leaflets and doctor-patient interactions. Key areas include enhancing placebo effects while minimizing nocebo harms, improving adherence to medical treatments, and understanding presenteeism during infectious disease outbreaks. She has led studies on quarantine compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic and contributed to guidelines on pandemic response strategies.

Grants include British Academy funding for research on side-effect communication (2019 and 2021) and projects on healthcare discrimination’s impact on medication adherence. She supervises PhD students in topics like cervical cancer screening barriers and diabetes management in Nigeria. Teaching focuses on social psychology modules and dissertation supervision. Current research priorities include post-pandemic psychological recovery and healthcare equity issues.