Key details
Dr Ran Alice Cai
Lecturer in Psychology
Alice joined the University of Greenwich as a Lecturer in Psychology in January 2020.
Her background is in health and social psychology, with an interest in how social support, autonomy, and self-efficacy can help prevent and promote the management of chronic illnesses. Alice have worked with children and young people living with chronic rheumatic conditions and type 1 diabetes to help improve their experiences of care and quality of life.
Her postdoctoral research is focused on improving healthcare quality and health-related outcomes for young people (e.g., by developing a self-management smartphone application and a benchmarking toolkit). Her teaching areas include health psychology, social psychology, and research methods. Alice have supervised and mentored BSc, MSc and PhD students and currently she is available as a PhD supervisor for students with a strong interest in her research areas.
Posts held previously
- Research Associate 2014—2019
Arthritis Research UK Centre for Adolescent Rheumatology, University College London - Assistant Psychologist 2014—2015 Children and young people's psychological services, University College London Hospital
- Research Assistant 2013—2014
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences & Psychobiology Group, University College
Responsibilities within the university
- Lecturer in Psychology
- Supervisor of BSc and MSc dissertations
Recognition
- Ad hoc peer reviewer for: Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Medical Internet Research, Rheumatology
- Ad hoc assessments for BANNAR grant proposals
- Member of BANNAR (Barbara Ansell National Network for 2014—present Adolescent Rheumatology)
- Member of UK Paediatric Clinical Studies Group 2019
Research / Scholarly interests
Alice is interested in understanding the relationship between psychosocial factors (e.g., self-efficacy, autonomy and social support) and health outcomes and wellbeing. These include interventions for preventing, or improving the self-management of, chronic health conditions (e.g., resilience, positive coping skills, reactivity to stress). She is also interested in how different modes of programme delivery (e.g., face-to-face vs digital interventions) affects reach/acceptance, outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and its implementation in real-world settings.
Key funded projects
- UCL Beacon for Public Engagement Bursary 2016
Engaging young people with chronic rheumatic conditions in research development and communicating their ideas through digital media - Contribution to Arthritis Research UK Health Services grant 2016
Improving delivery of care and self-management for young people with arthritis - Contribution to Health Foundation grant 2015
Using a mobile phone app to improve self-management and care of young people with arthritis - British Academy small research grant 2011
Social power and multiple goal-pursuit