Mhairi Bowe is a Chartered Psychologist and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, an award winning teacher of Psychology, and an active researcher in the field of Social Psychology, Mental Health and Well-being. 

Mhairi is the current Chair of the British Psychological Society Social Psychology Section 

Mhairi is a member of the Centre for Applied Behavioural Sciences (CABS) and the newly formed Cultural and Social Interaction Research Group

Mhairi is also an Associate Member of the NTU Social Identity Research Group

Mhairi can be contacted on M.Bowe@hw.ac.uk

Mhairi can be consulted on topics relating to community and social groups, collective phenomena, society and health and well-being; social prescribing; nature and ecotherapy, place-related identity; transitions to parenthood and its impact on mental health; lived experiences of financial insecurity and food poverty; and the relationships between time, history, and national identity

Mhairi's research is primarily located within social psychology and mental health, where she employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore identity processes in relation to collective, personal, and place-related identities and how they interact with mental health and well-being outcomes. 

Specific areas of study and research impact include: social prescribing, loneliness reduction, community volunteering, experiences of poverty, financial and food insecurity, marginalisation and stigma, identity transitions, temporal aspects of national, community, and collective identity, mental health and well-being, group processes; social issues and health. 

Mhairi achieved a first class honours degree in psychology at the University of Dundee in 2004. After a working as a research assistant for Prof Fabio Sani on an ESRC funded project exploring perceived collective continuity between 2004 and 2006/7, Mhairi acquired an MSc in Psychological Research Methods in 2008 before embarking on a PhD. Mhairi's PhD research focused on the role of places in identity processes and specifically assessed the temporal aspects of place identity and their connections with both social identity and mental health.

Mhairi moved to Nottingham Trent University in 2010 to take up the post of Lecturer before being promoted to Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor.  Mhairi gained experience of teaching and research supervision at UG, PG, and PGR levels at NTU where she was also a research group lead, course leader, and programme director between 2010 and 2022.  

Mhairi took up the post of Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology in the School of Social Sciences at Heriot-Watt University in September 2022.

Social Psychology, Social Identity, Health and Wellbeing, Social Prescribing, Collective Experiences, Loneliness and Isolation, Marginalisation and Stigma, Food Poverty and Financial Insecurity, National Identity, Temporal Identity and Collective Continuity