Zoë Franklin

Dr. Zoë Franklin is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University's Institute of Sport. Her research focuses on improving chronic pain management through personalized approaches that integrate personality type analysis and anxiety response mechanisms. She leads a £6,000 Nuffield-funded project exploring virtual reality’s role in anxiety treatment (2019-ongoing).

Teaching responsibilities include undergraduate and postgraduate courses such as 'Psychology of Pain and Rehabilitation' and 'Active Environments and Behaviour Change.' She supervises PhD students investigating personality-cognitive bias interactions in chronic pain contexts and internet-based interventions for musicians.

Key research themes include cognitive biases in clinical populations, eye gaze metrics in pain management, and neurorehabilitation techniques for Parkinson’s patients. Her work bridges sport science, clinical psychology, and technology applications, with publications in journals like Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience and Pain Practice.

• Awards:
  • 1st Prize for Best Oral Presentation (Pain in Motion Conference, 2015)
  • 1st Prize for Best Presentation (MMU Postgraduate Student Conference, 2015)

Advising and grants include co-leading a Parkinson’s rehabilitation project and contributing to VR-based training simulations. She collaborates with interdisciplinary teams across psychology, neuroscience, and sports medicine.

Labs and teams: Active in the Institute of Sport’s chronic pain research cluster and neurorehabilitation working group.