Dr Dawn Branley-Bell

Associate Professor

School: Psychology

Dr Dawn Branley-Bell is an Associate Professor of Cyberpsychology & Director of the Psychology and Communication Technology Lab (PaCT Lab) at Northumbria University. She is a Medical Research Foundation Fellow, Chartered Psychologist (cPsychol.) and Chair of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Cyberpsychology Section.

You can find her on Twitter @TheCyberPsyche

Email Dawn

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Dr Branley-Bell specialises in cyberpsychology, health and wellbeing, and online behaviour. She has a keen interest in online communication around eating disorders, and self-harm, and the use of tech for health-related interventions. Other interests include exploring the positive side of internet usage, cybersecurity, and behaviour change.

She is the Principal Investigator for the RHED-C project (Remote Healthcare for Eating Disorders throughout COVID-19): https://research.northumbria.ac.uk/rhedc/

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
AcademAI: Investigating AI Usage, Attitudes, and Literacy in Higher Education and Research, Brown, R., Sillence, E., Branley-Bell, D. 1 Sep 2025, In: Journal of Educational Technology Systems
A Call for Strategy on Eating Disorders: The Need for a Comprehensive Eating Disorder Strategy in England and Specific Guidance for the Remote Delivery of Eating Disorder Services., Brown, R., Murphy-Morgan, C., Downs , J., Branley-Bell, D. 27 Mar 2025, In: Journal of Eating Disorders
AI and the Human Being – The Human in the Loop and AI Literacy within the AI Act, Branley-Bell, D., Feiner, J., Prossnegg, S., Libal, T. 22 Feb 2025, In: Jusletter IT
A Model of Trust in Online COVID-19 Information and Advice: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study, Sillence, E., Branley-Bell, D., Moss, M., Briggs, P. 13 Feb 2025, In: JMIR Infodemiology
Cyberinsurance adoption strategies and security of online behaviour: an experimental study, Gómez, Y., Branley-Bell, D., Briggs, P., Vila, J. 3 Apr 2025, In: Behaviour and Information Technology
Effects of childhood trauma on sleep quality and stress-related variables in adulthood: evidence from two multilevel studies, O’Connor, D., Branley-Bell, D., Green, J., Ferguson, E., O’Carroll, R., O’Connor, R. 3 Jun 2025, In: Psychology & Health
Facilitators and barriers to engaging in expressive writing among health and social care professionals, Smith, M., Hoult, L., Rippon, D., O’Brien, N., Branley-Bell, D., Byrne-Davis, L., Collins, C., Gallagher, S., Kinman, G., Mark, A., O’Connor, D., Vedhara, K., Williams, G., Wetherell, M. 25 Aug 2025, In: PLoS One
From Paper to Pixel: Demonstrating the Power of Non-Digital Serious Games for Informing Digital Health Solutions, Branley-Bell, D., Murphy-Morgan, C., Malowaniec, P. 26 Apr 2025, Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New York, US, ACM
Situation Critical: Intensive Cybersecurity Care Needed, Coventry, L., Sillence, E., Brown, R., Branley-Bell, D., Mari, P., Saverio, C., Casaroli, A., Rizzoni, F., Magalini, S. 13 Mar 2025, Socio-Technical Aspects in Security - 12th International Workshop, STAST 2022, Revised Selected Papers, Cham, Switzerland, Springer
“Stepping outside the red line": An exploration of two co-design methodologies exploring lived experiences of remote support for eating disorders throughout COVID-19 and beyond (Design4Health Conference, 2024), Murphy-Morgan, C., Branley-Bell, D. 25 Feb 2025

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Examination: Viva Examination (External Examiner): UCL 2026
Invited talk: Invited Guest Lecture: Body Image, Disordered Eating & The Internet 2025
Invited talk: Keynote speaker: BPS South West of England Branch "Education in the Age of AI" event 2025
Examination: Viva Examination (External Examiner) - Teesside University 2025
Invited talk: Expert Panellist: Ethical Research in Cyberpsychology, BPS Cyberpsychology Conference 2025
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: British Psychological Society (BPS) Cyberpsychology Conference 2025
Invited talk: Invited Speaker: Times Higher Education (THE) Digital Universities UK event 2025
Editorial work: Palgrave Macmillan (Publisher) 2025
Examination: Viva Examination (External Examiner) - Teesside University 2024
Invited talk: Invited Speaker: Broadmoor Hospital 'Mental Disorder & The Internet' Seminar 2024

PGR Supervision

Thomas O'Fee Understanding Psyber-risk: Drivers of cyber-threat perception in AI-driven therapy chatbots and implications for adoption Start Date: 01/10/2025