Britta Renner has held the Chair of Psychological Diagnostics and Health Psychology at the University of Konstanz since 2007. She studied psychology in Berlin and Landau; doctorate at the FU Berlin (2000).
Professor Dr Renner is Vice President of the German Nutrition Society (DGE), Deputy Chairwoman of the Scientific Advisory Board for Agricultural Policy, Nutrition and Consumer Health Protection (WBAE) at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and of the Council of the independent think tank Agora Agrar. She is on the Board of Directors of the Cluster of Excellence EXC 2117 "Collective Behaviour" (spokesperson since December 2023). She has been a member of the German Committee for Sustainability Research, an advisory body mandated by the DFG Executive Committee, since 2023.
A long-standing focus of her research is the investigation of psychological determinants of health behaviour with a focus on dietary behaviour and the development of mobile interventions to change behaviour. She has led several collaborative projects funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the EU (DEDIPAC; SMARTACT; EATMOTIVE). As part of the Cluster of Excellence EXC 2117 "Collective Behaviour", she leads the research project "Collective Appetite". Other topics in her research are subjective risk assessment and risk communication. In 2022, she also established sustainability as one of her research focuses with the project "Why we move how we move", which is being carried out as a sub-project at the Baden-Württemberg Institute for Sustainable Mobility (BWIM).
Research projects
The research projects "Collective Appetite" and "Why me move how we move" are currently being carried out in Professor Dr Britta Renner's working group.
Courses
Professor Dr Britta Renner's main courses are the lectures on the basics of diagnostics and personality psychology as well as the psychology of health and prevention. The seminars focus on risk perception and communication as well as concepts and models of health behaviour.
Current courses
| Title | Type |
|---|---|
| Research Colloquium Psychological Assessment & Health Psychology | Research Colloquium |
| Psychology of Health 1 | Lecture |
| Why Do People Behave (Un)Healthy? Concepts, Models and Empirical Evidence on Health Behaviors | Block Seminar |
Curriculum Vitae Professor Dr Britta Renner
Qualification
- 2004 Habilitation and Venia Legenda in Psychology, University of Greifswald
- 2000 Doctorate in Psychology, Free University of Berlin
- 1993 Diploma in Psychology, Free University of Berlin
Professional career
- since 2007 W3-Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz
- 2004-2007 Professor of Psychology, JCLL, Jacobs University Bremen
- 2000-2004 Postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald
- 1993-1999 Research Assistant at the Department of Psychology, FU Berlin
Functions in scientific societies and committees
- 2023 - today
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board to the Citizens' Council of the German Bundestag "Nutrition in Transition: Between Private Affairs and State Responsibilities", appointed by the German Bundestag - 2023 - today
Member of the German Committee for Sustainability Research (DKN) in Future Earth
(advisory body mandated by the Executive Committee of the DFG) - 2023 - today
Deputy Chairwoman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Agora Agrar think tank (Election 2023) - 2022 - today
Member of the Baden-Württemberg Institute for Sustainable Mobility (BWIM) - 2019 - today
Vice President of the German Nutrition Society (DGE), re-elected in 2022 - 2018 - today
Spokesperson for the "Nutritional Behaviour Research" section of the German Nutrition Society (DGE) - 2018 - today
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Foundation for Health Prevention Baden-Württemberg, Ministry for Social Affairs and Integration Baden-Württemberg - 2018 - today
Deputy Chairwoman of the Scientific Advisory Board for Agricultural Policy, Food and Consumer Health Protection (WBAE) at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), re-elected in 2022 - 2015 - today
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Agricultural Policy, Nutrition and Consumer Health Protection (WBAE) at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), reappointed by the BMEL in 2022 - 2012 - 2015
Coordinator of the "Risk Communication" group; BMBF "Risk Management of Emerging Substances and Pathogens in Water" (RiskWa) - 2007 - 2011
Spokesperson for the Health Psychology Section of the German Psychological Society - 2006 - 2010
President and "Past President" of the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS)
Engagement in the research system and academic self-administration
- 2023 - today
elected spokesperson of the DFG Cluster of Excellence Centre for Advanced Study of Collective Behavior - 2023 - today
Member of the Extended Directorate of the Centre for Human | Data | Society (CHDS), University of Konstanz - 2021 - today
Member of the Committee on Research (AFF), University of Konstanz, reappointment 2023 - 2019 - 2023
Member of the Senate of the University of Konstanz - 2019 - today
Member of the Advisory Board of the Karl Landsteiner Private University for Health Sciences, Austria - 2018 - today
Member of the Board of Directors of the DFG Cluster of Excellence EXC 2117 "Centre for Advanced Study of Collective Behavior", University of Konstanz, re-election 2023 - 2015-2021
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Berlin-Potsdam Nutrition Research Competence Cluster NutriAct (Nutritional Intervention for Healthy Aging: Food Patterns, Behaviour, and Products) - 2014 - 2016
Member of the board of trustees for the awarding of the "Science and Society at the University of Konstanz" foundation prize - 2010
Vice Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Konstanz - 2009 - 2011
Spokesperson of the Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz - 2008 - 2017
Board member of the Lurija Institute for Rehabilitation Sciences
External Funds (acquired external funds as speaker)
- 2023-2024
Speaker of the interdisciplinary sub-project ”How we move why we move” of the Baden-Wuerttemberg Institute for Sustainable Mobility (BWIM) - 2018 - today
Principal investigator (PI) of the interdisciplinary project Collective Appetite of the DFG Cluster of Excellence Centre for Advanced Study of Collective Behavior, University of Konstanz (FKZ: EXC 2117) - 2016-2021
Speaker of the DFG Research Unit: The Dynamics of Risk - Perception and Behavior in the Context of Mental and Physical Health (Riskdynamics) (FKZ: FOR 2374) - 2015-2023
Speaker of the interdisciplinary BMBF project ”Individual and context-based real-time interventions to promote normal nutrition and physical activity through mobile technology” (SMARTACT) (FKZ: 01EL1420A, 01EL1820A) - 2014-2017
Speaker of the EU-JPI DEDPIAC work package 2.1 Dietary behavior with 24 consortium partners from 11 countries within the EU-JPI Determinants of Diet and Physical Activity Knowledge Hub (DEDPIAC) (FKZ: 01EA1375) - 2010-2014
Speaker of the interdisciplinary BMBF project EATMOTIVE: Innovations for the food sector: Why we eat what we eat: Motives, social context and economic implications, (FKZ: 01EA1326)
Academic Distinctions
- 2021 'LUKS' award for excellent teaching, University of Konstanz
- 2015 Honorary Fellow of the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS)
- 2015 Science award culinary art (Wissenschaftspreis Kulinaristik)
- 2015 'LUKS' award for excellent teaching, University of Konstanz
- 2010 Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, USA
- 2001 Marie Schlei Dissertation Award, Free University of Berlin
Editorial and Peer-Reviewing Activities
Member of the editorial board of Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie (executive editor 2012-2014)
Member of the editorial board of Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine: an Open Access Journal
Member of the editorial board of Health Psychology Review; Journal of Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being
Ad hoc reviewer for Anxiety, Stress, and Coping; Basic and Applied Social Psychology; British Journal of Health Psychology; British Journal of Nutrition; Cognition & Emotion; Diagnostica; Enviroment & Behavior; European Journal of Personality; European Journal of Psychological Assessment; European Journal of Social Psychology; Experimental Psychology; Familial Cancer; Health Education Research; Health Psychology; Health Psychology Review; Health, Risk & Society; International Journal of Behavioural Medicine; Journal of Applied Psychology; Journal of Applied Social Psychology; Journal of Individual Differences; Journal of Positive Psychology; Journal of Public Health; Memory; Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin; Positive Psychology; Public Health Nutrition; Psychologische Rundschau; Psychology & Health; Psychology, Health & Medicine; Risk Analysis; Social Cognition; Social & Preventive Medicine; Social Science & Medicine; Vaccine; Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie; Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie; Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie; Zeitschrift für Psychologie
Grant reviewer for DAAD, DFG, Humboldt Foundation, EU, Economic and Social Research Council (UK), The Leverhulme Trust (UK), Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden-Württemberg, Netherlands Organisation of Health, Research and Development (ZonMw), Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, Schweizer Nationalfonds (Switzerland)
Membership of professional associations
- The German Nutrition Society (DGE)
- European Health Psychology Society (EHPS)
- The German Psychological Society (DGPs)
- Association for Psychological Science (APS)
- Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)
Key publications
- Renner, B., Buyken, A. E., Gedrich, K. M., Lorkowski, S., Watzl, B., Linseisen, J., & Daniel, H. (2023). Perspective: A conceptual framework for adaptive personalized nutrition advice systems (APNASs). Advances in Nutrition. Preprint doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2023.06.009
- König, L. M., & Renner, B. (2019). Boosting healthy food choices by meal colour variety: Results from two experiments and a just-in-time Ecological Momentary Intervention. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1-15.
- Sproesser, G., Ruby, M. B., Arbit, N., Akotia, C. S., Alvarenga, M. D. S., Bhangaokar, R., ... & Renner, B. (2019). Understanding traditional and modern eating: the TEP10 framework. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1-14.
- Villinger, K., Wahl, D. R., Boeing, H., Schupp, H. T., & Renner, B. (2019). The effectiveness of app‐based mobile interventions on nutrition behaviours and nutrition‐related health outcomes: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Obesity Reviews, 20(10), 1465-1484.
- Stok, F. M., Hoffmann, S., Volkert, D., Boeing, H., Ensenauer, R., Stelmach-Mardas, M., ... & Renner, B. (2017). The DONE framework: Creation, evaluation, and updating of an interdisciplinary, dynamic framework 2.0 of determinants of nutrition and eating. PloS one, 12(2), e0171077.
- Wahl, D. R., Villinger, K., König, L. M., Ziesemer, K., Schupp, H. T., & Renner, B. (2017). Healthy food choices are happy food choices: Evidence from a real life sample using smartphone based assessments. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1-8.
- Sproesser, G., Schupp, H. T., & Renner, B. (2014). The bright side of stress-induced eating: eating more when stressed but less when pleased. Psychological Science, 25(1), 58-65.
- Renner, B., Sproesser, G., Strohbach, S., & Schupp, H. T. (2012). Why we eat what we eat. The Eating Motivation Survey (TEMS). Appetite, 59(1), 117-128.
- Renner, B., Hankonen, N., Ghisletta, P., & Absetz, P. (2012). Dynamic psychological and behavioral changes in the adoption and maintenance of exercise. Health Psychology, 31(3), 306.
- Renner, B. (2004). Biased reasoning: Adaptive responses to health risk feedback. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(3), 384-396.
- Schwarzer, R. & Renner, B. (2000). Social-cognitive predictors of health behavior: Action self-efficacy and coping self-efficacy. Health Psychology, 19, 487-495.