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Brian Hughes is the Dean of International Affairs at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has also served as Director of the Centre for Research on Occupational and Life Stress (CROLS) and is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology. He holds Ph.D. and B.A. degrees in psychology from NUI Galway, and an Ed.M. degree in public science education from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has previously held visiting academic appointments at the University of Missouri (USA), Universiteit Leiden (Netherlands), the University of Birmingham (UK), King's College London (UK), and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He served as founding Head of the Psychology Department at Dublin Business School (1998-2001) and as President of the Psychological Society of Ireland (2004-2005). He sat on the Presidents Council of the European Federation of Psychology Associations (2004-2005) and was Founding Chair of the PSI's Division of Health Psychology (2003). He was recently elected to serve as President Elect of the international Stress and Anxiety Research Society (STAR) and will serve as its President for 2014-2016.
His research and publications focus on psychological stress (particularly its impact on cardiovascular psychophysiology, immunity, and health) and on psychosocial moderators of stress processes, such as social support, cognition, and personality. He also conducts research on the psychology of empiricism and of empirically disputable claims, especially as they pertain to science, health, and medicine. He has authored over 70 peer-reviewed academic publications. He sits on the Editorial Boards of the journals Anxiety, Stress, and Coping (Taylor & Francis), Psychology & Health (Taylor & Francis), the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science (Canadian Psychological Association), and Stress & Health (Wiley-Blackwell; from January 2013), and has served as Guest Editor of the journals Biological Psychology (Elsevier) and International Journal of Psychophysiology (Elsevier). In 2007 he received the Early Career Achievement Award from the international Stress and Anxiety Research Society, for “achievement in the science of stress research”, and in 2009 he received the President’s Award for Teaching Excellence at NUI Galway. He is the author of the recently published undergraduate text, Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology (London: Pearson/Prentice Hall).
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Dean of International Affairs
Member, Council of Deans/Academic Management Team
Member, Academic Council
Director,
Centre for Research on Occupational and Life Stress (CROLS)
Board Member, Irish Social Sciences Platform--NUI Galway Group
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Brian Hughes's research and publications focus on psychological stress (particularly its impact on cardiovascular psychophysiology, immunity, and health) and on psychosocial moderators of stress processes, such as social support, cognition, and personality. He also conducts research on the psychology of empiricism and of empirically disputable claims, especially as they pertain to science, health, and medicine. His work has been supported by several research grants (from bodies such as the Irish Heart Foundation, the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the National Suicide Review Group) and has appeared in a number of top international journals (including Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Clinical Psychology Review, and Behavioral and Brain Sciences). He is a Principal Investigator in NUI Galway's applied social sciences consortium who were recently awarded €5.8 million under Cycle 4 of the Irish Government's Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, and a Co-Investigator on a major three-year study of sleep, psychosocial factors and blood pressure funded by the Health Research Board.
His PhD students are active in publication and presentation, and their research has attracted of a number of prizes, including Government of Ireland Grants, Faculty Fellowships, and Rotary and Fulbright Scholarships. Upon graduation, they have found employment in universities in Ireland, the UK, the US, and Australia.
| Name | Degree | Research |
|
Niamh Higgins
(CROLS ISSP Scholar) |
PhD | The causal role of interpretive bias in cardiovascular reactivity to stress: Influence of personality and psychosocial factors |
|
Eimear Lee
(CROLS ISSP Scholar) |
PhD | Domain-specific and dispositional anger and measures of cardiovascular and immune function: Influence of social contact and perceived social support |
| Sinéad Lydon
(Government of Ireland Scholar, IRCSET) |
PhD | An investigation of physiological arousal in children with autism and co-morbid challenging behaviour [Co-supervisor with Dr Olive Healy] |
| Luisa Timothy | PhD | Social support, personality, and well-being among caregivers |
| Clair O'Connor | DPsychSc | Gender differences in the impact of economic recession on well-being in a longitudinal European sample |
| Éanna O'Leary
(CROLS ISSP Scholar) |
PhD | Effects of sleep loss on ambulatory and laboratory psychophysiological function and psychosocial well-being [Co-supervisor with Professor Jack James] |
| Páraic Ó Súilleabháin | PhD | Individual differences in cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress |
| Name | Degree | Research |
| Ann-Marie Creaven | PhD
|
Modelling social support in the laboratory: Effects on cardiovascular functioning [2012] |
| Dr. Sinéad Conneely | PhD | A psychophysiological examination of factors that influence placebo-type responses: Expectancies, negative emotionality, and stress [2010] |
| Dr. Diarmuid Verrier | PhD | Impact of schizotypy on context-processing performance and physiological reactivity [2009] |
|
Dr. Aoife O'Donovan
|
PhD | Threat-related psychological variables, inflammation, and cellular aging: Unrelated or interlinked? [Co-supervisor with Prof. Kevin Malone, UCD][2009] |
| Dr. Siobhán Howard | PhD | Utility of the Type D personality in psychosomatic cardiovascular etiology: Effects on well-being and patterns of hemodynamic response to stress [2008] |
| Dr. Tracey Quinn | PhD | Does repression moderate the impact of social context on cardiovascular reactivity to stress? [2007] |
| Dr. Mary Kells | DPsychSc | The comparative utility of social cognition models in the self-management of Type II diabetes [2008] |
| Dr. Claire Hogan
|
DPsychSc
|
Anger and attachment in violent offenders [Co-supervisor with Dr John Bogue][2006]
|
| Dr. Eoin Ryan | DPsychSc | An exploratory study of the effectiveness of expressive writing for people with depression [2006] |
| Leonor Rodrigues (2011- ). PhD, School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway |
| Ciara Foody (2011- ). PhD, School of Psychology, NUI Galway |
| Dr Daragh McDermott (2010-2011). PhD, School of Psychology, NUI Galway |
| Dr Susanna Kola (2009-2010). PhD, School of Psychology, NUI Galway
|
| Michael Browne (2009- ). PhD, School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway
|
| Michelle Kelly (2009- ). PhD (Applied Behaviour Analysis), School of Psychology, NUI Galway |
| Helena Lydon (2009- ). PhD (Applied Behaviour Analysis), School of Psychology, NUI Galway
|
| Clodagh Murray (2009- ). PhD (Applied Behaviour Analysis), School of Psychology, NUI Galway
|
| Lorraine McDonagh (2008- ). PhD, School of Psychology, NUI Galway
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Authored Book
Hughes, B. M. (2012). Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology. Harlow, UK: Prentice Hall (Pearson). (xv 205 pp.) ISBN: 978-0-273-73728-5 |
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Edited Volumes
Phillips, A. C., Ginty, A., & Hughes, B. M. (Eds.) (forthcoming). Blunted cardiovascular reactivity: What does it mean? Special Issue of the International Journal of Psychophysiology.
Phillips, A. C., & Hughes, B. M. (Eds.) (2011). Cardiovascular reactivity at a crossroads: Where are we now? Special Issue of Biological Psychology, 86 (2), 95-152 . ISSN: 0301-0511
Howard, S., &
Hughes, B. M. (Eds.) (2010).
STAR 2010: 31st World Conference on Stress and Anxiety Research--Book of Abstracts. Galway: CROLS.
ISBN: 978-0955315954
Hughes, B. M., & Walsh, J. C. (Eds.) (2005).
Preventing ill health: Psychological risk factors and behavioural interventions. Special issue of the
Irish Journal of Psychology,
26 (1-2). (89 pp.)
ISBN:0-9531019-9-1
Peer-Reviewed Articles
2013:
68. O'Donovan, A., Rush, G., Hoatam, G.,
Hughes, B. M., McCrohan, A., Kellegher, C., O'Farrelly, C., & Malone, K. M. (in press). Suicidal ideation is associated with elevated inflammation in patients with major depressive disorder.
Depression and Anxiety. [Impact Factor: 4.184]
66. Phillips, A. C., Ginty, A. T., & Hughes, B. M.. (in press). The other side of the coin: Blunted cardiovascular and cortisol reactivity are associated with negative health outcomes. International Journal of Psychophysiology. [IF: 2.144]
65. Hughes, B. M. (in press). Complementary and alternative therapies for psychological problems. In R. Cautin & S. O. Lilienfeld (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
64. Creaven, A-M., Skowron, E. A., Hughes, B. M., Howard, S., & Loken, E. (in press). Dyadic concordance in mother and preschooler resting cardiovascular function varies by risk status. Developmental Psychobiology. [IF: 2.977]
63. Creaven, A-M., Howard, S., & Hughes, B. M. (in press). Social support and trait personality are independently associated with resting cardiovascular function in women. British Journal of Health Psychology. [IF: 2.697]
62. Kola, S., Walsh, J. C.,
Hughes, B. M., & Howard, S. (in press). Matching intra-procedural information with coping styles reduces psychophysiological arousal in women undergoing colposcopy.
Journal of Behavioral Medicine.
doi:10.1007/s10865-012-9435-z [IF: 3.104]
61.
Hughes, B. M. (2013). Blood pressure reactivity or responses. In M. D. Gellman & J. R. Turner (Eds.),
Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine
(Vol. 2, pp. 235-239). New York: Springer.
ISBN:978-1-4419-1004-2
2012:
60. Howard, S., &
Hughes, B. M. (2012). Benefit of social support for resilience-building is contingent on social context: Examining cardiovascular adaptation to recurrent stress in women.
Anxiety, Stress, & Coping,
25, 411-423.
doi:10.1080/10615806.2011.640933 [IF: 1.973]
59. Kola, S., Walsh, J. C.,
Hughes, B. M., & Howard, S. (2012). Attention focus, trait anxiety, and pain perception in patients undergoing colposcopy.
European Journal of Pain,
16, 890-900.
doi:10.1002/j.1532-2149.2011.00068.x [IF: 3.939]
58. Higgins, N. &
Hughes, B. M. (2012). Individual differences in the impact of attentional bias training on cardiovascular responses to stress in women.
Anxiety, Stress, & Coping,
25, 381-395.
doi:10.1080/10615806.2011.616956 [IF: 1.973]
57. James, J. E., Douglas Gregg, M. E., Matyas, T. A.,
Hughes, B. M., & Howard, S. (2012). Stress reactivity and the hemodynamic profile-compensation deficit (HP-CD) model of blood pressure regulation.
Biological Psychology,
90, 161-170
.
doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2012.02.021 [IF: 3.225]
56. Creaven, A-M., &
Hughes, B. M. (2012). Cardiovascular responses to mental activation of social support schemas.
International Journal of Psychophysiology,
84, 113-119
.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.01.018 [IF: 2.144]
55. Howard, S. &
Hughes, B. M. (2012). Construct, concurrent, and discriminant validity of Type D personality in the general population: Associations with anxiety, depression, stress, and cardiac output.
Psychology & Health,
27, 242-258.
doi:10.1080/08870446.2011.603423 [IF: 2.126]
2011:
46. Conneely, S., & Hughes, B. M. (2010). Test anxiety and sensitivity to social support among college students: Effects on salivary cortisol. Cognition, Brain, Behavior, 14, 295-310. [Invited contribution to Special Issue on Test Anxiety]
6.
Hughes, B. M., Lee, E. M., McDonagh, L. K., O'Leary, É. D., & Higgins, N. M. (2012). Review of the book
Handbook of Adult Resilience, by J. W. Reich, A. J. Zautra, & J. S. Hall (Eds.),
Journal of Positive Psychology,
7, 155-158.
5.
Hughes, B. M. (2010). Response to Friedman and Krippner.
PsycCRITIQUES: Contemporary Psychology--APA Review of Books,
55
(44). doi: 10.1037/a0021626.
4.
Hughes, B. M.
(2010). Extraordinary people, ordinary evidence: New paradigms for parapsychology, same old problem [Review of the book
Mysterious Minds: The Neurobiology of Psychics, Mediums, and Other Extraordinary People, by S. Krippner and H. Friedman (Eds.)].
PsycCRITIQUES: Contemporary Psychology--APA Review of Books,
55
(30). doi: 10.1037/a0019804.
3.
Hughes, B. M. (2007). To Err is Humane (sorry, Human): Enhancing health care and patient safety through ergonomics [Review of the book
Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care and Patient Safety, by P. Carayon (Ed.)].
PsycCRITIQUES: Contemporary Psychology--APA Review of Books,
52 (37). doi: 10.1037/a0007997.
2.
Hughes, B. M. (2006). Lies, damn lies, and pseudoscience: The selling of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) [Review of the book
Secrets, Lies, Betrayals: The Body/Mind Connection--How the Body Holds the Secrets of a Life, and How to Unlock Them, by M. Scarf].
PsycCRITIQUES: Contemporary Psychology--APA Review of Books,
51 (10). doi: 10.1037/a0001765.
1.
Hughes, B. M. (2005). Trouble with a capital E: Evolutionary psychology and the descent of (straw) man [Review of the book
Adapting Minds: Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature, by D. J. Buller].
PsycCRITIQUES: Contemporary Psychology--APA Review of Books,
50 (30). doi: 10.1037/05169111.
External
2013-2015: National Science Centre (Poland). Research Programme Grant (with £. Kaczmarek).
2009: Health Research Board. Summer Student Scholarships (2), with S. Howard.
2007-2011: Higher Education Authority, Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions. Project Leader for CROLS within NUI Galway consortium of the Irish Social Sciences Platform (award: €5.8 million).
2007: Higher Education Authority, Equipment Grant Scheme. Project Leader for CROLS within NUI Galway consortium (award: €0.3 million).
2003-2005: Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Research Project Grant.
2003-2005: Irish Heart Foundation. Research Project Grant.
2003-2004: National Suicide Review Group. Research Project Grant (with M. E. Gregg & J. E. James).
1998-1999: Department of Health and Children. Research Funding (with J. Sweeney & A. Leahy).
Internal
NUI Galway Millennium Research Fund. Two Travel Assistance Grants (2007, 2008), one Conference Hosting Grant (2010), and three Research Project Grants (2001, 2001, 2002).
