Dr Jennifer Todd

Jenny is a member of our Body and Self Group which forms part of our ARU Centre for Mind and Behaviour.

Jenny’s PhD project was entitled 'An investigation of the link between body image and interoception' and examined the nature and strength of relationships between interoception (the sense of the physiological state of the body) and body image. Funded by and working in partnership with the Centre for Psychological Medicine at Perdana University in Malaysia, she was investigating the cross-cultural reliability of established relationships between interoceptive processing and body image. She is utilising this research to develop interventions which reduce negative body image, and promote positive body image.

Jennifer welcomes applications from students interested in PhD projects on bodily awareness and its implications for health and wellbeing. She particularly supervises projects focusing on interoception, psychometrics, body image, breast health, breastfeeding, chronic pain, and women’s health.

Jennifer has experience supervising doctoral research, including serving as third supervisor to Dr Phaedra Longhurst (2022-2025) and currently as first supervisor to Emily Moule, and second supervisor to Elly Anastasiades Loizou.

Neuroscience of Self (undergraduate)

Cognitive Neuroscience (undergraduate)

Current Theoretical Issues in Cognitive Neuroscience (postgraduate)

• Fellow, Higher Education Academy
• Guest editor: Interoception and Women’s Health – Special Issue, Brian Sciences. Co-editor: Dr Jenny Murphy
• Guest editor: Mindfulness, Interoception and the Body – Special Issue, Brain Sciences. Co-editor: Prof Jane Aspell
• Editorial Board member, BMC Psychology
• Editorial Board member, Body Image

ESRC Digital Good Research Fund (2025) for a project titled “Accessible digital musical instruments for inclusive and social practices” awarded to Lee Cheng (project lead) and Chi Ying Lam, Jennifer Todd, Ellie Ruddock (project co-leads) and Enrico Bertelli, Wing Yan Jasman Pang and Annie Heiderscheit (project partners). Value: £72,913

Health, Performance, and Wellbeing Research Funding (Anglia Ruskin University, 2023), awarded to Jane Aspell (PI), Lee Cheng, Baris Isikguner, Kirk Woolford, and Jennifer Todd (co-applicants). Value: £22,253

The Urology Foundation Innovation and Research Award (2021) to Nikesh Thiruchelvam (PI), Jennifer Todd, Michael Lee, Jane Aspell, Kelly Leonard, Amanda Stranks (co-applicants). Value: £57,290

Awards

• Vice Chancellor’s Award - Outstanding Early Career Researcher
• Best Doctoral Thesis Award - FSE Inaugural Postgraduate Research Awards

PhD students

• Emily Moule (1st supervisor)
• Elly Anastasiades Loizou (2nd supervisor)

For a full publication list view Jennifer's profile on ResearchGate.

Anastasiades, E., Todd, J., Kirk, E., and Swami, V. (2026) '“I don’t care what you like, when I look in the mirror, I need to be happy”: A qualitative study of hair-related positive body image', Body Image, 58, 102136. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2026.102136

Todd, J., Woolford, K., Cheng, L., Lee, M. C., De Villiers, E., Finn, D. and Aspell, J. E. (2025) 'XR body illusion for managing pain in fibromyalgia: examining optimal duration', Virtual Reality, 30(1), pp. 54. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-025-01241-x

Todd, J., Plans, D., Lee, M. C., Bird, J. M., Morelli, D., Cunningham, A., ... Aspell, J. E. (2024) 'Heightened interoception in adults with fibromyalgia', Biological Psychology, 186, 108761. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2024.108761

Tylka, T. L., Maïano, C., Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M., Linardon, J., Burnette, C. B., Todd, J. and Swami, V. (2024) 'The Intuitive Eating Scale-3: Development and psychometric evaluation', Appetite, 199, 107407. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2024.107407

Longhurst, P., Todd, J., Aspell, J. E. and Swami., V. (2024) 'Psychometric Evaluation of a Revised Version of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 for Autistic Adults (BAS-2A)', Body Image, 49, 101706. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101706

Longhurst, P., Aspell, J., Todd, J. and Swami, V. (2024) '“There’s No Separating My View of My Body from My Autism”: A qualitative study of positive body image in autistic individuals', Body Image, 48, 101655. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.101655

Todd, J., Swami, V., Aspell, J. E., Furnham, A., Horne, G. and Stieger, S. (2022) 'Are some interoceptive sensibility components more central than others? Using item pool visualisation to understand the psychometric representation of interoception', PLoS One, 17(12), e0277894. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277894

Todd, J. and Aspell, J. E. (2022) 'Mindfulness, interoception and the body', Brain Sciences, 12, pp. 696. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12060696

Swami, V., Todd, J., and Tylka, T. L. (2022) 'Measuring positive breast experience: Development and psychometric evaluation of the Breast Appreciation Scale (BrAS)', Body Image, 43, pp. 275-291. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.09.007

Todd, J., Aspell, J. E., Lee, M. C. and Thiruchelvam, N. (2022) 'How is pain associated with pelvic mesh implants measured? Refinement of the construct and a scoping review of current assessment tools', BMC Women's Health, 22, pp. 396. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-022-01977-7

Todd, J., Cardellicchio, P., Swami, V., Cardini, F. and Aspell, J. (2021) 'Weaker implicit interoception is associated with more negative body image: Evidence from gastric-alpha phase amplitude coupling and the heartbeat evoked potential', Cortex. Advance Online Publication. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2021.07.006

Eggart, M., Todd, J. and Valdés-Stauber, J. (2021) 'Validation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA-2) questionnaire in hospitalized patients with major depressive disorder', PLoS One, 16(6), e025391. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253913

Swami, V., Todd, J., Barron, D., Wong, K. Y., Zahari, H. S. and Tylka, T. (2021) 'The Body Acceptance By Others Scale-2 (BAOS-2): Psychometric properties of a Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) translation and assessment of invariance across Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and the United States', Body Image, 38, pp. 346-357. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.05.009

Todd, J., Aspell, J. E., Toh, E. K. L., Zahari, H. S., Mohd Khatib, N. A. and Swami, V. (2021) 'Examining relationships between interoceptive sensibility and body image in a non-Western context: A study with Malaysian adults', International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation. Accepted for publication.

Swami, V., Todd, J. and Barron, D. (2021) 'Translation and Validation of Body Image Instruments: An Addendum to Swami and Barron (2019) in the form of frequently asked questions', Body Image, 37, 214-224. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.03.002

Todd, J., Barron, D., Aspell, J. E., Toh, E. K. L., Zahari, H. S., Mohd. Khatib, N. A. and Swami, V. (2020) 'Translation and validation of a Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) version of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA)', PLoS One, 15(4), e0231048. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231048

Swami, V., Todd, J., Steiger, S., Furnham, A., Horne, G. and Tylka, T. (2020) 'Body acceptance by others: refinement of the construct, and development and psychometric evaluation of a revised measure – the Body Acceptance by Others Scale-2', Body Image, 36, pp. 238-253. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.11.007

Jones, A., Silas, J., Todd, J., Stewart, A., Acree, M., Coulson, M. and Mehling, W. (2020) 'Exploring the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness in youth aged 7-17 years', Journal of Clinical Psychology, 77(3), 661-682. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23067

Todd, J., Aspell, J. E., Barron, D., Toh, E. K. L., Zahari, H. S., Mohd. Khatib, N. A., Laughton, R. and Swami, V. (2020) 'Greater gastric interoception is associated with more positive body image: Evidence from adults in Malaysia and the United Kingdom', Body Image, 34, pp. 101-111. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.05.011

Todd, J. and Swami, V. (2020) 'Assessing the measurement invariance of two positive body image instruments in adults from Malaysia and the United Kingdom', Body Image, 34, pp. 112-116. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.05.009

Todd, J., Hina, F. and Aspell, J. E. (2020) 'Reduction of auditory input improves performance on the heartbeat tracking task, but does not necessarily enhance interoception', Experimental Brain Research, 238, pp. 621-629. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05740-y

Todd, J., Aspell, J. E., Barron, D. and Swami, V. (2019) 'An exploration of the associations between facets of interoceptive awareness and body image in adolescents', Body Image, 31, pp. 171-180. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2019.10.004

Todd, J., Aspell, J. E., Barron, D. and Swami, V. (2019) 'Multiple dimensions of interoceptive awareness are associated with facets of body image in British adults', Body Image, 29, pp. 6-16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2019.02.003

Book chapters:

Todd, J. (2025) 'Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness-2 (MAIA-2)'. In: Ramseyer Winter, V., Tylka, T. and Landor, A. M. (Eds.) (2025) Handbook of Body Image-Related Measures (pp. 269-271). Cambriodge: Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009398275.091

Longhurst, P., Todd, J., Aspell, J. E. and Swami, V. (2025) 'Body Appreciation Scale-2 for Autistic Adults (BAS-2A)'. In: Ramseyer Winter, V., Tylka, T. and Landor, A. M. (Eds.) (2025) Handbook of Body Image-Related Measures (pp. 49-51). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009398275.018

Todd, J. (2025) 'Interoception' In: Cook-Cottone C. and Tylka, T. L. (Eds.) (2025) Yoga as Embodied Mindfulness: Integrating Research and Practice (pp. 89-109). Cham: Springer. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-83418-9_6

Mehling, W., Todd, J., and Schuman-Olivier, Z. (2025) 'Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, Version 2 (MAIA-2)'. In: O. N. Medvedev, O. N. Krägeloh, C. U., Siegert, R. J. and Singh, N. N. (Eds.) (2025) Handbook of assessment in mindfulness research (pp. 1509-1530). Cham: Springer. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47219-0_40

• “You’re just sort of floating about in the system. And nothing links together”: Patient and Clinician Experiences of Uncertainty in Care for Pelvic Mesh Implant Complications. Poster presented at: Bridging Generations: Women’s Health, Wellbeing, and Equity, hosted by Cambridge Reproduction 2026
• British Pain Society 56th Annual Scientific Meeting, Glasgow, 2023. Heightened interoception in adults with fibromyalgia. Poster presentation.
• Body Image and Society, University College Dublin, 2022. Guest Speaker: Turning bodies inside out - Interoception and body image.
• Cambridge Festival, 2022. Interactive exhibition: Generating the foundations of the self.
• Versus Arthritis Pain Research in the UK Conference, Kings College London, 2022. Examining the representation of peripersonal space in adults with fibromyalgia. Poster presentation.
• Versus Arthritis Pain Research in the UK Conference, 2021. Using smartphone technology to explore associations between interoception and fibromyalgia. Oral presentation.
• Appearance Matters 9 Online Conference, 2021. Bodies from the inside out: Exploring relationships between interoception and body image in adults from the UK and Malaysia. Poster presentation.
• Body Representation Network (BRNet) 3 Online Workshop, 2021. Weaker implicit interoception is associated with more negative body image. Poster presentation.