Xinran Du

I am currently a PhD student in psychology at the University of Exeter. Under the supervision of Dr Andrew Livingstone and Prof Anna Adlam, my research focuses on investigating whether the experience of feeling understood by others can help with promoting international students' wellbeing and social inclusion in UK higher education. Specifically, we would like to examine:

• International students' mental health and wellbeing;
• How social identity unlocks psychological resources for wellbeing;
• Whether structured communication between groups (international students and UK students in this project) can generate felt understanding, which in turn leads to positive group relational outcomes.

I’m also interested in international students’ general experiences at UK universities, including the variation in their perceptions among students from different cultural backgrounds.

I'm currently co-organising ReproducibiliTea Exeter journal club. I'm open to any discussion about reproducibility and Open Science.

Find my CV here.

Broad research specialisms:

Social identity, international students, intergroup relations, wellbeing, open science

Publications:

Du, X., Livingstone, A. G., & Adlam, A.-L. R. (2023). Felt understanding as a bridge between social identity and wellbeing among international university students. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 1– 18. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2722

Qualifications:

MRes in Psychology, University of Manchester (2020)