Grant McGeechan joined the University in January 2015 as a Research Associate working on a series of co-production evaluations of public health interventions with Durham County Council. This involved Grant working as a researcher in residence at the local authority, and members of the public health team travelling to the University to work on all aspects of the evaluations.

In addition to this Grant worked on various research projects within the School of Health and Social Care - most notably as a research co-ordinator and lead qualitative researcher for an NIHR funded randomised controlled trial looking at the impact of learning mentors delivering alcohol brief interventions to students within a high school setting.

In January 2018 Grant moved roles within the University and joined the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Law as a lecturer in Health Psychology, later becoming a Senior Lecturer. Grant has been course leader for the MSc Health Psycholoy since 2021 (shared role since September 2022), and is module leader for the Applications of Health Psychology Research module.

In addition Grant has numerous roles within the University. He is the deputy chair of the psychology department research ethics committee, he serves on the Academic Board as the School of Social Sciences, Humanties and Law representative, and also serves on the Student Learning and Experience Committee.

Externally, Grant is an experienced examiner having been the external examiner for the MSc Applied Psychology at the University of Chester between 2022-2025. He has also been an external examiner for four PhD candidates for universites such as Northumbria University, and the University of Manchester.

Grant has also held various roles with the BPS. From 2020-2022 he was a committee member for the North East branch of the BPS and served as the newsletter editor. Currently Grant is a member of the Division of Health Psychology Partenrship and Accreditation Team. With this role Grant attends other universities and accredits their stage 1 MSc Health Psychology Programmes, and is also involved in the review of the committee standards for accreditation for stage 1 and stage 2 health psychology programmes in the UK.

Grant's research interests focus on applied health psychology with a speciifc focus on two areas: Psychooncology research looking at how people shape their attitudes towards cancer screening, and how they cope with cancer as a chronic illness; and the development of stress management interventions.

Additionally, Grant has extensively worked in Public Health research and specialises in evaluations of public health services. He has previously worked collaboratively with Durham County Council, South Tees Public Health, Sunderland Council, and Gloucestershire Council.

Grant is a regular reviewer for a number of journals including the Journal of Public Health, Perspectives in Public Health and BMC Public Health and is an ediote for BMC Public Health, and Frontiers in Oncology.

Grant has received numerous funding awards from funders including NIHR, Alcohol Research UK, The Children's Foundation, as well as local authorities and Public Health England. In addition, Grant has been a reviewer for research funding including for Cancer Research UK, Breast Cancer Now, The Irish Cancer Society and North West Cancer Research.

Current Research Projects include:

• Systematic Review of international student experiences of stress.
• NIHR Team Science - development of LEAN weight management intervention for people with severe mental illness.

Grant supervises both full, and part-time PhD students and would welcome the opportunity to work with students in the areas of Health Psychology, Psycho-Oncology or students looking to employ qualitative research methods in the remit of physical health. Current students are conducting research in the following areas - understanding the experiences of people with learning disabilities, and the influence of their carers on national cancer screening programmes; and understanding the lived experiences of people undergoing treatment for fear of cancer recurrence.

Deputy Chair - Psychology department research ethics committee

DHP - PACT - committee member

Grant primarily teaches on the MSc in Health Psychology and leads the module 'Applications of Health Psychology research' teaches on the Health Psychlogy in Practice, Applications of Qualitative Methods in Psychoogy, and Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Issues in Health Psychology modules.

Grant specialises in teaching health behaviour change models, psycho-oncology, the impact of alcohol on physical health outcomes and qualitative research methods. Grant supervises students across all levels of study, from undergraduate dissertations through to PhD students, and Top Up Doctorate students.