Rusi Jaspal is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research & Knowledge Exchange) and a Professor of Psychology at the University of Brighton in the United Kingdom. He is a Chartered Psychologist and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Professor Jaspal's research cuts across the fields of psychology and public health, focussing particularly on social psychological approaches to promoting good psychological and physical health outcomes. He has developed the Health Adversity Risk Model (HARM) to predict the impact of social and psychological stressors and identity threat on health outcomes. Much of his research using the model has focused on HIV prevention, HIV care and mental health. With Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell, Rusi Jaspal has contributed to the development of Identity Process Theory. Additionally, Professor Jaspal has conducted extensive research into aspects of psychological wellbeing among gay men, the management of identities in conflict, national identity, prejudice and discrimination, public understanding of science, technology and medicine and the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rusi Jaspal is the author or editor of 6 books, and has written over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and several reports for the Department of Health. He supervises and examines PhD students in his areas of expertise.
Rusi Jaspal studied at the University of Cambridge, the University of Surrey, and Royal Holloway, University of London. After his PhD, he completed an ESRC post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Nottingham. In 2015, Rusi Jaspal was awarded a personal chair in Psychology and Sexual Health at De Montfort University Leicester where he also held a number of senior posts, including that of Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research). He has also held professorships at Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland, where he helped set up the Minority Research Profile, at at Nottingham Trent University, UK, where he founded and led the Identity Change Research Group. Professor Jaspal has also served as Social Isolation Advisor to Wandsworth Borough Council, London.
As a passionate advocate for knowledge exchange, Prof Jaspal has served on many national and international committees relating to his research, including the Steering Committee of HIV Prevention England, the Advisory Group of the National HIV Commission, the Medical Board of NAZ Project London, the Board of Trustees of the LGBT Foundation, and the Working Group for the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV Recommendations for Integrated Sexual Health Services for Trans, Including Non-Binary Patients. In 2018, he delivered a keynote lecture on the social psychology of HIV prevention and care to the British HIV Association/ British Association for Sexual Health and HIV Joint Annual Conference. For many years, he has been and remains a member of the Advisory Board of the Terrence Higgins Trust and an Ambassador for the Honour Abuse Research Matrix (HARM).
Rusi Jaspal has won several awards for his research, including:
British Psychological Society, Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section’s Outstanding Research by an Early Career Scholar Award.
nOSCARS 2019 for his research into HIV prevention in the British South Asian community.
Ten Out of Ten Award for research into HIV prevention in BAME communities.
Dan MurphyGlobal Director of Policy & Government Affairs
Phil SambaStrategic lead for PrEP4QueerMenOfColour
Rusi JaspalPro Vice-Chancellor (Research & Knowledge Exchange)
Sue HunterPositive Voices corrdinator
Mark stevensIslington IPS Employment Support Team Manager
Mina KakaiyaWellbeing Coach
Luis E. GuerraAssociate Director Government Affairs