My primary research focuses on the use of brain stimulation (TMS, TES) and brain imaging techniques (fMRI, MRS, MEG) to understand cognitive control, attention and awareness in the human brain. I am particularly interested in translational applications of cognitive neuroscience in the domain of obesity and behaviour change. My group is also working on the simultaneous combination of TMS and MRI, as well as technical advances in TMS methods to improve the precision and reliability of cortical stimulation.

I also pursue interests in the relationship between science and the media, the role of science in shaping evidence-based public policy, and the promotion of open research practices. As part of this work, I co-founded Registered Reports, Exploratory Reports, Verification Reports, the Transparency and Openness Promotion guidelines, the Royal Society Replications initiative, the UK network of open research working groups, the Peer Reviewers’ Openness Initiative, the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN), the GW4 Undergraduate Psychology Consortium programme for promoting reproducible science, the Royal Society Rapid Review Network for COVID-19 Registered Reports, and the Peer Community in Registered Reports. I currently chair the Registered Reports committee supported by the Center for Open Science and I serve on the UKRN steering committee. I also sit on the Advisory Board of Nature Human Behaviour and on the British Neuroscience Association’s Credibility Advisory Board.

I am author of the Seven Deadly Sins of Psychology: A Manifesto for Reforming the Culture of Scientific Practice, which won the 2018 British Psychological Society Book Award (Best Academic Monograph) and the 2018 PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers. From 2013-2018 I was a freelancer writer at the Guardian where I co-hosted the psychology blog, Head Quarters.