Dr Amber Copeland

BSc, MSc, PhD

School of Medicine and Population Health

Research Fellow

Amber Copeland
Profile picture of Amber Copeland
A.copeland@sheffield.ac.uk
Regent Court (ScHARR)

Full contact details

Dr Amber Copeland
School of Medicine and Population Health
Regent Court (ScHARR)
30 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 4DA
Profile

I am a Research Fellow in the Sheffield Addictions Research Group, funded by the Wellcome Trust. My background is in Psychology, and my research has largely focused on understanding the cognitive mechanisms that underlie behaviour change and recovery from addiction, with applications to alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis use. I have been at the University of Sheffield since 2018, joining the School of Medicine and Population Health in 2025.

I recently secured funding to develop a new computational model to explore how environmental factors influence people’s attempts to reduce their alcohol consumption, and to use this model to appraise novel alcohol policies. The project combines two computational approaches: drift-diffusion models, which capture immediate, moment-to-moment decision-making processes, and agent-based models, which simulate how individual decisions aggregate into population-level trends over time. While my project focuses on alcohol, the modelling infrastructure I develop will be adaptable to other public health challenges, including diet, vaping, and gambling.

Qualifications
  • PhD in Psychology (University of Sheffield) 
  • MSc in Research Methods (University of Liverpool)
  • BSc in Psychology (University of Liverpool)
Research interests
  • Behavioural Economics 
  • Conceptual Modelling
  • Individual & Population-Level Modelling
  • Policy Appraisal 
Publications

Journal articles

  • Dora J, Shinn M, Copeland A, Neilson EC, Weiss NH, Witkiewitz K, Murphy JG, Field M, George WH & King KM (2025) . Addiction.
  • Copeland A, Dora J, King KM, Stafford T & Field M (2025) . Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.
  • Kersbergen I, Copeland A, Pryce R, Meier P & Field M (2025) . Addiction, 120(5), 860-870.
  • Perski O, Copeland A, Allen J, Pavel M, Rivera DE, Hekler E, Hankonen N & Chevance G (2025) . Health Psychology Review, 19(1), 1-44.
  • Copeland A, Stafford T & Field M (2024) . Addictive Behaviors, 156.
  • Dora J, Copeland A, Field M & Kevin KM (2023) . Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 31(5), 920-932.
  • Copeland A, Stafford T & Field M (2023) . Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 25(7), 1269-1276.
  • Copeland A, Jones A, Acuff SF, Murphy JG & Field M (2023) . Addiction Research and Theory, 31(3), 191-200.
  • Copeland A, Stafford T, Acuff SF, Murphy JG & Field M (2023) . Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 37(1), 132-143.
  • Copeland A, Stafford T & Field M (2022) . Cogent Psychology, 9(1).
  • Pennington CR, Jones A, Bartlett JE, Copeland A & Shaw DJ (2021) . Addiction, 116(11), 3243-3251.
  • Copeland A, Jones A & Field M (2020) . Addictive Behaviors Reports, 11.

Book chapters

  • Copeland A, Stafford T & Field M (2021) , The Handbook of Alcohol Use (pp. 563-579). Elsevier

Preprints

  • Copeland A (2025) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Dora J, King KM, Stafford T & Field M (2025) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Dora J, King KM, Stafford T & Field M (2025) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A (2025) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A (2025) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Dora J, King KM, Stafford T & Field M (2025) , Center for Open Science.
  • Dora J, Shinn M, Copeland A, Neilson E, Weiss N, Witkiewitz K, Murphy J, Field M, George WH & King KM (2025) , Center for Open Science.
  • Dora J, Shinn M, Copeland A, Neilson E, Weiss N, Witkiewitz K, Murphy J, Field M, George WH & King KM (2025) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Dora J, King KM, Stafford T & Field M (2024) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Dora J, King KM, Stafford T & Field M (2024) , Center for Open Science.
  • Taylor AJ, Miller BP & Copeland A (2024) , Center for Open Science.
  • Taylor AJ, Miller BP & Copeland A (2024) , Center for Open Science.
  • Perski O, Copeland A, Allen J, Pavel M, Rivera DE, Hekler EB, Hankonen N & Chevance G (2023) , Center for Open Science.
  • Perski O, Copeland A, Allen J, Pavel M, Rivera DE, Hekler EB, Hankonen N & Chevance G (2023) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Stafford T & Field M (2023) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Stafford T & Field M (2023) , Center for Open Science.
  • Kersbergen I, Copeland A, Pryce R, Meier P & Field M (2023) , Center for Open Science.
  • Kersbergen I, Copeland A, Pryce R, Meier P & Field M (2023) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Stafford T & Field M (2022) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Stafford T & Field M (2022) , Center for Open Science.
  • Dora J, Copeland A, Field M & King KM (2022) , Center for Open Science.
  • Dora J, Copeland A, Field M & King KM (2022) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Stafford T, Acuff S, Murphy J & Field M (2022) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Stafford T, Acuff SF, Murphy J & Field M (2022) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Jones A, Acuff S, Murphy J & Field M (2022) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Jones A, Acuff SF, Murphy J & Field M (2022) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Stafford T & Field M (2021) , Center for Open Science.
  • Pennington CR, Jones A, Bartlett JE, Copeland A & Shaw D (2021) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Jones A & Field M (2019) , Center for Open Science.
  • Copeland A, Jones A & Field M (2019) , Center for Open Science.
Grants

2025–2030: A novel interdisciplinary approach to understanding how contextual factors influence alcohol consumption. Wellcome Trust (£591,755). Principal Investigator. 

2022–2025: Reinforcer-specific value-based decision-making in persistence of and recovery from alcohol use disorder. UK Medical Research Council (£662,584). Researcher Co-Investigator.

Links