Gillian Shorter is a harm reduction psychologist. Gillian's research improves health and inclusion for people who use alcohol and other drugs who are not seeking formal treatment. Her work spans intervention effectiveness,  evidence based policy work, and the development of core outcome sets and other methodological innovations to strengthen the evidence base. She advances the discipline of psychology by bringing psychological insight into interdisciplinary addiction settings, demonstrating how psychological perspectives can meaningfully inform, shape, and drive change. She has secured ~£6M in research funding and holds a visiting Professorship at Tampere University and visiting Researcher role at Trinity College Dublin. She is President (2025–2027) of the International Kettil Bruun Society, celebrating 50 years of international scholarship and excellence in 2025.

Gillian Shorter’s programme of research advances health and social inclusion for people who use alcohol and other drugs, with a focus on individuals not currently seeking treatment. Her work reduces stigma, empowers behaviour change, and shapes evidence-informed policy through three integrated strands.

1) Effective interventions for alcohol and other drugs

Gillian determines and refines theory-based interventions for people experiencing, or at risk of, harm. Areas include:

• Alcohol brief interventions
• Drug consumption rooms / overdose prevention centres / safe consumption sites
• Enhanced harm-reduction services and alcohol-focused harm-reduction initiatives

2) Methods for intervention development and evaluation

She develops and tests methods that strengthen trial quality and translational impact, including:

• Recruitment and retention in trials
• Intervention mapping and behaviour change approaches
• Open science practices to enhance transparency and reproducibility

3) Core outcome sets to improve evidence quality

Dr Shorter leads development of core outcome sets and minimum data standards to prioritise meaningful measures of change and evaluates their psychometric properties to build a robust evidence base.. These include for:

• Alcohol brief interventions
• Drug consumption rooms, safe consumption spaces, overdose prevention centres
• Drug, alcohol, and gambling treatment

Funding and collaborations

Gillian’s research portfolio has attracted approximately £6 million in competitive funding. Current funders include the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Health Service Executive (Ireland), Health Research Board (Ireland), Higher Education Authority (Ireland), Forte (Sweden), Cancerfonden (Sweden), the Australian Research Council (Australia), and Drug Science (UK).

Previous grants have been supported 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, the Home Office, Ulster University, Linköping University, and the University of Nottingham.

Academic leadership and appointments

Dr Shorter holds a competitive Visiting Professorship at Tampere University (Finland) and is a Visiting Researcher at Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin. She serves as President of the International Kettil Bruun Society (2025–2027), an esteemed global society with a history spanning more than 50 years.

Gillian Shorter has conducted research in alcohol and other drug use for 20+ years. She is proud to Lead the MSc Clinical Health Psychology as Course Director. She joined the School of Psychology in July 2020 as a Lecturer, and was promoted to Reader for the second time in 2023.

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)
• Research Assistant, Ulster University (2008-2009)
• Health Services Researcher, Department of Health, Social Services, and Public Safety (2006-2007)

Gillian has supervised 15 PhD/DClinPsy/DPhil Researchers to successful completion Dr Abby Hunter (McCormack; Nottingham Trent), Dr Daria Kuss (Nottingham Trent), Dr Jane Rigbye (Nottingham Trent), Dr Lucy Handscomb (Nottingham) , Dr Lydia Devenney (Ulster), Dr Vanessa Gstrein (Ulster), Dr Kenneth Ross, Dr Jane Williams, Dr Clara Wilson, Dr Nicole Miller (Ulster), Dr Niamh Ní Cheallaigh, Dr Elisabeth Cowdean (Ulster), Dr Zoe Woods (Campbell: Ulster), Dr Luke McCann, and Dr Ben Scher (University of Oxford)- 5 as Principal Supervisor.

Her current Doctoral level students are

1. John McQuaide - PhD Ulster University
2. Juliette Allen - PhD Liverpool John Moores University
3. Caoimhe Shields - PhD Queen's University Belfast
4. John Horton - PhD Liverpool John Moores University

Gillian teaches:

PSY7100 Health Behaviour Change (Module Leader)

PSY7116 Research Methods

PSY7106 Clinical Health Psychology Dissertation (Module Leader)

PSY3131 Forensic Psychology and Crime

PSY3132 Contemporary issues in addiction and mental health (Module Leader)

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

Gillian is Course Director for the MSc Clinical Health Psychology degree.