• Knowledge translation / implementation research
• Stakeholder engagement in implementation science
• Healthcare professional behaviour change with a focus on habits and routines
• Practical Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine
• Theory-based process evaluations of interventions alongside trials
• Behaviour change theory
• Cognitive emotion regulation

Sebastian has experience in supervising PhD and MD students in a broad range of topics in applied health research. Currently he is supervising two PhD students.

Current postgraduate supervision:

Leah Buhrmann - Translating research evidence into health and social care policy and practice: using best practice across an integrated health and social care system (North East and North Cumbria ARC) to co-develop and evaluate tools for knowledge mobilisers and implementers

Claire Leader - How does the discourse of National Governmental policy influence social practices around the management of wellbeing of Nurses and Midwives working in the National Health Service? 

Dr Sebastian Potthoff is a Chartered Health Psychologist and Assistant Professor at Northumbria University whose research focuses on the intersection between Health Psychology and Implementation Science. He has a wealth of expertise in supporting the implementation of service innovations into health and social care practice.

He is recognised internationally as an expert in the psychology of habit and has published numerous papers and book chapters, exploring how the concept of ‘habit’ can be drawn on to understand and change the clinical behaviours of practitioners translating research into practice.

Currently, his work focuses on developing practical tools (e.g. ItFits-toolkit) to make theory more ‘usable’ for non-academic users who are implementing service innovations. He also leads research to further advance methods and tools to support comprehensive approaches to stakeholder engagement in implementation research and practice.

Sebastian is an active member of the European Health Psychology Society, a Head Editor of the Practical Health Psychology Blog, a Director of Open Digital Health, and a Training Lead for the Knowledge Mobilisation and Implementation Theme of the NIHR Applied Research Collaborative North East and North Cumbria. He is a Member of the Innovation and Implementation Research Group at Northumbria University.