Professor Ian Tucker
Professor in Psychology
Professor
Professor in Psychology
Department of Psychology & Human Development , School of Childhood and Social Care
Ian is Professor in the School of Childhood and Social Care at UEL. He has expertise in digital media, emotion and mental health, and teaches across undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programmes in these areas.
OVERVIEW
Ian has developed applied approaches that study the ways that psychological processes are shaped through relations with social, technological and environmental practices. This includes a specific focus on how emotion and affect operate in increasingly digitally mediated environments. This ranges from experiences of digital media use through to highlighting the impact of new digital technologies on psychological thought and practice more broadly. Ian has also studied the relations between individual and institutional practices in a range of environments for mental health care and support, from community day centres to forensic psychiatric units.
Ian has held grants from the EPSRC and Mental Health Foundation and is currently working on two related EPSRC NewMind Network+ funded projects to develop a digital peer support mobile app for mental health communities. He is reviewer and rapporteur for EU Cost Action and British Council Newton Fund funding programmes and has reviewed for a number of European and UK funding agencies.
Ian has published over forty-five articles and book chapters and has a monograph book entitled 'The Social Psychology of Emotion' published for Sage in 2015 (with Darren Ellis UEL). He is currently co-authoring an 'Emotion in the Digital Age' monograph for Routledge's Studies in Science, Technology & Society Series.
Ian is currently supervising three PhD students and is interested in supervising PhDs in the areas of digital media, emotion and affect, mental health, and surveillance.
CURRENT RESEARCH
Ian is currently involved in the following projects:
1. The Empathy Agent (AI)
This involves designing and developing a digital app utilising artificial intelligence to provide peer-to-peer support for mental health communities and patients. The project is funded by EPSRC NewMind Network+, and involves working with colleagues from the University of Sheffield, a service user co-researcher and a UEL Student Research Intern (Hounsell).
2. Digital Community Assets in Mental Health
This project focuses on the role of digital media in the development and maintenance of community assets for mental health recovery and resilience. The project is part of a newly formed Special Interest Group I lead as part of the £1.4m ESRC Social, Cultural and Community Assets for Mental Health (MARCH) Network+ (PI is Dr Daisy Fancourt at University College London).
3. Emotion in a Digital Age
This is focused on the role of emotion in key areas that are taken as central to life in an increasingly digital age. Currently, this involves undertaking systematic reviews of the role and uses of emotion in the areas of artificial intelligence, social media, and digital surveillance. This work will form the basis of a co-authored Emotion in a Digital Age monograph contracted to Palgrave's Science and Technology Series.
FUNDING
- Building and Testing a Demonstrator System for the Artificial Intelligence Empathy Agent, EPSRC Newmind Mental Health Technology Network+. £30,000. Co-Investigator. 2019
- Developing an Artificial Intelligence Empathy Agent, EPSRC Newmind Mental Health Technology Network+. £15,000. Co-Investigator. 2018
- Online support for psychiatric medication. EPSRC Communities and Culture Network+. £9801. Principal Investigator. 2015
- Social media and austerity: Online peer support and mental health communities, EPSRC Communities and Culture Network+. £32901. Principal Investigator. 2014
- 'The impact of life transitions on older mental health service users'. Mental Health Foundation. £11853. Principal Investigator. 2006-2008
TEACHING
BSc (Hons) Psychology
Studying for a BSc in Psychology, you will develop a good knowledge of the influences on, and factors involved in, human functioning in all the core areas of psychology.
Read more about this course
BSc (Hons) Clinical and Community Psychology
Explore Clinical and Community Psychology at UEL. Gain skills in mental health, community support, and clinical practice to make a positive impact in diverse settings.
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MSc Psychology
A psychology conversion course for students with a first degree in another subject area. It means you could go on and train to be a professional psychologist.
Study MSc PsychologyMODULES
- PY4108 - Clinical and Community Psychology Foundations 1
- PY5210 - Clinical and Community Psychology Foundations 3
- PY5201 - Researching Psychological Worlds 2
- PY7153 - Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology
Publications
The last four years of publications can be viewed below.
Full publications list
Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications
- Temporalities of peer support: the role of digital platforms in the ‘living presents’ of mental ill-health Health Sociology Review. 33 (1), pp. 59-72. https://doi.org/10.1080/14461242.2024.2322531
- Digitally mediated psychotherapy: Intimacy, distance, and connection in virtual therapeutic spaces European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling. In Press. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642537.2024.2313193
- The emotional in-formation of digital life: Simondon, individuation and affectivity Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory. In Press. https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2023.2224523
- Digital community assets: Investigating the impact of online engagement with arts and peer support groups on mental health during COVID-19 Sociology of Health & Illness. 45 (3), pp. 666-683. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13620
- Muting, filtering and transforming space: Autistic children's sensory ‘tactics’ for navigating mainstream school space following transition to secondary school Emotion, Space and Society. 42 (Art. 100872). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2022.100872
- Simondon, emotion, and individuation: The tensions of psychological life in digital worlds Theory & Psychology. 32 (1), pp. 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543211055199
- Covert Aspects of Surveillance and the Ethical Issues They Raise in: Iphofen, R. and O’Mathúna, D. (ed.) Ethical Issues in Covert Research, Security and Surveillance. Emerald Publishing Limited, pp.177-197
- (Re)thinking body-technology relations with Michel Serres: Emotion, sense and the emergence of algorithmic appropriation Media Theory. 5 (1), pp. 219-230
- Peripheral recovery: Keeping safe and keep progressing as contradictory modes of ordering on a forensic psychiatric unit Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. 39 (4), pp. 704-721. https://doi.org/10.1177/02637758211013032