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UCY Team member
Maria Karekla
Associate Professor
Maria Karekla, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, and the Director of the ACT healthy: Clinical Psychologyand Behavioural Medicine Laboratory.
Dr Karekla has expertise in ACT and ACT for healthbehaviours and has extensive experience developing digital, gamified and avatar-ledinterventions for health-related conditions. Her team uses innovative research-basedknowledge and innovative delivery methods (e.g., digital interventions, virtual reality) in theprevention and treatment of health-related problems such as (eating disorders, smoking,chronic pain, etc.) and aims at understanding and ameliorating human suffering.
She has developed and tested novel and technologically enhanced interventions for among others, smoking cessation (Flexi quit for various groups: In youth, Antinarcotics Council of Cyprus,PI: Karekla); chronic pain (European Commission, 1851/24-04-2012 -C (2008)1132/28-03-2008; PI: Karekla); and eating disorders (Accept ME, UCY internal grant, PI: Karekla). Herresearch received numerous local, European and international grants, and awards by(among others) the European Council and Pompidou’s group, the Society of Behavioural Medicine, and the Association for the Advancement of Behaviour Therapy.
Her research hasbeen published in Clinical Psychology Review, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, InternetInterventions, Annals of Behavioural Medicine, Eating Behaviours, Mindfulness,Psychophysiology, Translation Behavioural Medicine, Nicotine and Tobacco Research,Appetite, Psychological Assessment, Health Psychology Review, Eating and WeightDisorders, Psychology & Health, Comprehensive Psychiatry, Behaviour Research andTherapy, Behaviour Therapy, The Psychological Record among others.
She is currently thechair of the Clinical Psychology Doctorate committee, University of Cyprus. She also servedas the chair of the Cyprus Bioethics Committee on Biomedical Research, and is now the chairof the European Federation of Psychology Associations’ Psychology and Health committeeand a member of the e-health task force.
