Gillian Shorter's work improves the health and wellbeing of people who use alcohol and drugs who are not currently seeking treatment. Her research focuses on reducing stigma and empowering change through three strands:

1. Determining and understanding effective interventions for people who use alcohol and other drugs who are experiencing/at risk of harm (e.g. alcohol brief interventions, drug consumption rooms, overdose prevention centres, harm reduction initiatives for alcohol).
2. Developing methods for intervention and other evaluation (e.g. recruitment to trials, trial retention, intervention mapping, behaviour change, open science).
3. Developing core outcome sets to prioritise measures of change and improve the evidence base (e.g. core outcome sets or minimum data standards for alcohol and drugs and their psychometric properties).

Gillian's expertise has been supported by five million in research funding to support her work. Current funders are National Institute for Health Research, Health Service Executive (Ireland), Health Research Board (Ireland), Higher Education Authority (Ireland), Forte (Sweden), and Drug Science (UK).

Previous grants include projects funded by the Medical Research Council, HSC Public Health Agency, Alcohol Research UK, Extern, Economic and Social Research Council, British Tinnitus Association, Placental Analytics (USA), Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), University of York, Home Office, Ulster University, Linköping University, and University of Nottingham.

Gillian Shorter has conducted research in substance use for over 18 years. She co-Directs the Drug and Alcohol Research Network, an Internationally recognised interdisciplinary research cluster in the addictions at Queen's University Belfast (with co-Director Dr Anne Campbell).

Gillian's employment history

• Reader in Psychology, Ulster University (2018-2020)
• Lecturer in Psychology, Ulster University (2018)
• Research Fellow, Teesside University (part-time 2016-2018)
• Research Fellow, Ulster University (part-time 2016-2018)
• Promoted to Senior Research Fellow by Trinity College Dublin (2016)
• Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin/Health Services Executive Mental Health Services South Dublin (2015-2016)
• Medical Research Council funded Lecturer in Population and Clinical Trials Methodology at the MRC All Ireland Hub for Trials Methodology Research, part of the UK MRC Hubs for Trials Methodology Research (2012-2015)
• Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Nottingham Trent University (2008-2012)

She joined the School of Psychology in July 2020.

Gillian has supervised eleven PhD/DClinPsy Researchers to successful completion Dr Abby Hunter (McCormack), Dr Daria Kuss, Dr Jane Rigbye, Dr Lucy Handscomb, Dr Lydia Devenney, Dr Vanessa Gstrein, Dr Kenneth Ross, Dr Jane Williams, Dr Clara Wilson, Dr Nicole Miller, and Dr Luke McCann (3 as Principal Supervisor).

Her current Doctoral level students are

1. Niamh Ni Cheallaigh - DClinPsy QUB
2. John McQuaide - PhD Ulster University
3. Zoe Campbell - PhD Ulster University
4. Elizabeth Cowdean - PhD Ulster University
5. Ben Scher - DPhil University of Oxford (SSA studentship)
6. Juliette Allen - PhD Liverpool John Moores University
7. Kerry Campbell - PhD Queen's University Belfast
8. Caoimhe Shields - PhD Queen's University Belfast

Gillian teaches:

PSY7100 Health Behaviour Change

PSY7104 Research Design and Essential Methods in Psychology

PSY7066 Quantitative Data Analysis II

PSY3131 Forensic Psychology and Crime

PSY3132 Contemporary issues in addiction and mental health

Placement MSc Clinical Health Psychology

She supervises Doctorate in Clinical Psychology Research Dissertations on substance use topics; so too, dissertations for the MSc Clinical Health Psychology degrees.