Ben Teasdale

I am a researcher working on the ATTUNE project; a multi-site study that aims to explore young people’s experiences and understandings of mental ill health and adverse childhood experiences using arts-based and digital methods.

My background combines creative practice with cross-disciplinary research. I worked in TV for a decade, as a Script Editor for BBC Drama and then as a professional screenwriter, before retraining with an MSc in Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex. I moved on to research roles at Magdalen College, Oxford, where I worked on the Adults At Play(s) project with Professors Robin Dunbar and Laurie Maguire. We used experimental methodology to examine the psychology of dramatic audiences across a number of empirical studies.

I’m particularly fascinated by story-telling, and how we use narrative to frame our understanding of ourselves and the world around us, especially with its complex relationship to negative affect. I completed a PhD in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University in 2022.