Category Archives: Events

Dr Jo Lloyd featured on BBC Radio Stoke discussing her Stoke Psychologist in the Pub talk

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Dr Joanne Lloyd

Dr Joanne Lloyd, Lecturer in Psychology at Staffordshire University, was featured on BBC Radio Stoke’s Stuart Gordon early evening show talking about the Stoke Psychologist in the Pub series and her talk on “Is Gambling Really the Son of Avarice or the Father of Despair”?

You can listen to Dr Lloyd’s interview via the BBC iPlayer link below:

The Psychologist in the Pub series takes place on the first Wednesday of the month and is co-organised by the West Midlands Branch of the British Psychological Society and the Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research. The series of talks is kindly hosted by The Glebe Pub in Stoke town, near Stoke Minster.

Missed the first talk of the 2016/17 series? Don’t worry, upcoming talks include:

Weds 2nd November: Dr. Jim Grange, Keele University. “The Reproducibility Crisis in Psychological Science: One Year Later”

Weds 7th December: Dave Spence. “The Psychology of Beliefs: Christmas Special”

Weds 1st February: Dr. Daniel Jolley, Staffordshire University. “Are Conspiracy Theories Harmless?”

Talks start at 6pm, but we recommend arriving at 5:30pm to buy food and drink, and find a seat! Directions to the Glebe Pub can found here.

Staffs-Uni-Hi-Res_45-1024x683The Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research is home to research activity in the Psychology Department at Staffordshire Centre. The Centre is home to a number of research-active psychologists who are engaged in research across a wide range of psychological subdisciplines. The Centre has two overarching research streams, Health and Behaviour Change, and Applied Perception and Cognition.

The Centre provides training for PhD students, Research Masters degrees, as well as Professional Doctorates in Clinical and Health Psychology (click here for more details). The Centre also provides bespoke training to private and public organisations, as well as expertise for consultancy research opportunities. For more details about the Centre, its research activities, events and consultancy, please visit our website (click here).

Performance Psychology Conference at Staffordshire University (26th October 2016)

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Staffordshire University is hosting an exciting Performance Psychology Conference in October 2016.

The Sport and Performance Psychology Team at Staffordshire have brought together world-leading expert practitioners who will speak on their use of evidence-based approaches to sport, exercise, and performance psychology.  The conference will take place on Wednesday 26th October and is approved by the British Psychological Society.

The format of the day includes interactive workshops, keynote speakers, and an opportunity for delegates to present their own applied/research work.

Keynote speakers include:

  • Prof. Chris Shambrook, the Director of PlanetK2 and has been the Psychology Consultant to British Rowing since 1997,
  • Andy McCann, the Director of DNA Definitive.

Conference attendees will also be involved in interactive workshops with world-leading sport and performance psychology academics and consultants including Dr. Chris Harwood, Dr. Andrew Evans, Helen O’Connor, Roy White, facilitating in collaboration with the team at Staffordshire University.

The conference is suitable for practitioners at all levels, from trainees to experienced psychologists, and it’s evidence-based focus means the conference will also be of interest to researchers.

For further information, the conference programme, and how to register, please visit: www.staffs.ac.uk/PsychConf

The Sport and Performance Psychology Team: Dr Jamie Barker, Dr Martin Turner, Dr Matt Slater, & Andrew Wood.

Follow Sport & Exercise Psychology at Staffordshire University via @SEPsychStaffs

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The School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University is a leading School in the UK for Psychology degrees and is situated in the heart of England.  We produce internationally recognized research which is driving knowledge in this area forward and we work with a variety of healthcare providers, charities, international sports teams and private sector organisations.

Interested in a Psychology degree? Come to an Open Day – for further details, and to book your place at an open day, please visit: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/openyourmind/

For more information or details of the wide range of Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit our website and our courses page.

The Reflecting Nature Tour: Arts and Psychology Collaboration

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Dr Nikki Street and Dr Gemma Hurst (both members of the Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research) welcome collaborator, and award winning artist, Mark Ware to Staffordshire University’s Science Centre to exhibition a series of artworks developed as part of the psychology and art collaborative project Reflecting Nature*.

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Reflecting Nature looks at whether beauty really is in the eye of the beholder as well as the impact that art can have on individual wellbeing. Visitors are invited to take part in scientific research investigating how we respond to artwork and different environments.

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Dr Nikki Street, Dr Gemma Hurst, Sara and Mark Ware – members of the Reflecting Nature team

The artwork has been touring the UK at different locations since May 2016 and has been a great way to engage the public in research. We are excited for the project to come to it’s research home and show visitors the great research emerging from the Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research.

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The Reflecting Nature Artwork on display at Exeter Cathedral

The exhibition, which includes a series of prints and 3D banners, will be on display from 4th – 16th October 2016 in Staffordshire University’s Science Centre and is available for viewing by the public during normal business opening hours.

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One of the images which form part of the Reflecting Nature artwork

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Some of the activities in use at the Reflecting Nature tour

Mark, and Psychology Lecturers Dr Nikki Street and Dr Gemma Hurst, will also be giving the public an opportunity to engage with workshops associated with the exhibition. Visitors have the chance to get involved in activities using the equipment for exploring human responses including eye tracking, body movement tracking and tasks such as mirror drawing. In addition, Mark Ware is providing exciting photography workshops to enhance your photography skills. Workshops are currently scheduled for Saturday 15th October, drop along and see us in the Science Centre as part of the Big Biology Day with photograph workshops being held between 11:30-12:00 and 14:30-15:30. Contact nichola.street@staffs.ac.uk to book a place.

* The Reflecting Nature exhibition, supported using public funds by Arts Council England, is part of The Wavelength Project, an ongoing arts/science collaboration between Mark Ware and neuroscientists and psychologists at Brighton and Sussex Medical School and Staffordshire University.

Staffs-Uni-Hi-Res_45-1024x683The Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research is home to research activity in the Psychology Department at Staffordshire Centre. The Centre is home to a number of research-active psychologists who are engaged in research across a wide range of psychological subdisciplines. The Centre has two overarching research streams, Health and Behaviour Change, and Applied Perception and Cognition.

The Centre provides training for PhD students, Research Masters degrees, as well as Professional Doctorates in Clinical and Health Psychology (click here for more details). The Centre also provides bespoke training to private and public organisations, as well as expertise for consultancy research opportunities. For more details about the Centre, its research activities, events and consultancy, please visit our website (click here).

Dr Sarah Rose blogs on attending the BPS Developmental Psychology Section Annual Conference

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Dr Sarah Rose (Lecturer in Psychology and Course Leader for Staffordshire University’s BSc Psychology and Child Development) recently attended the British Psychological Society’s Developmental Psychology Section Annual Conference, and blogs about her experience of the conference:

This year’s conference was in Belfast and included a wonderful mix of applied and more theoretical developmental psychology. The Conference was preceded by an inspiring public lecture in which Dr. Suzanne Zeedyk emphasised the importance of infant parent bonds not only on the child’s developing brain but for our vision for the kind of society we wish to build. This emphasis on the connections between children and the people around them was reflected in the Conference keynotes (Prof. Susan Golombok, University of Cambridge; Prof. Peter Hobson, University College, Tavistock Clinic; and Prof. Teresa McCormack, Queens University).

While at the conference I gave two research talks, presenting my work investigating the immediate impact of television on young children’s creativity and describing a new measure of creativity that I have been working on with Dr. Elena Hoicka from the University of Sheffield. Both talks were well attended and it was a great opportunity to get some feedback from others with interests in these areas.

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Dr Sarah Rose presenting her children’s creativity research at the BPS Developmental Psychology conference (Photo credit: Dr. Sian Jones)

I also took to opportunity to present a poster showcasing work done by one of my 2015-2016 3rd year project students. This student, Grace Aldridge, developed an idea that I had become interested in when attending a talk at a previous Developmental Section Conference, this was that children have problems recognising angry dogs and this may contribute to them being at an increased risk of being bitten by a dog. Grace carried out an ambitious project in which she showed 135 young children 15 images and 15 video clips of dogs and asked them what emotion they thought each dog was experiencing and their intention to approach the dog. We found that the children were actually relatively good at recognising the dogs’ emotions. However, although the children were less likely to approach an angry dog there was no difference in their inclination to approach a happy or frightened dog. They appeared to be unaware that there might be problems approaching frightened dogs, and we think that this could contribute to the increased likelihood of them being bitten by a dog. There has been some great coverage of this research in the National and International press and we hope that our evidence can be used to emphasise the importance of teaching children how to behave safely around dogs, especially regarding approaching a frightened dog.

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Dr Sarah Rose presenting her scientific poster at the BPS Developmental Psychology Section conference (Photo credit Dr. Suzanne Zeedyk)

The BPS Developmental Psychology Section Annual Conference is very friendly and welcoming and several presenters were showcasing work that they completed during Masters and PhD study. To find out more about the Section and plans for their 2017 Conference in Stratford Upon Avon see their website. Maybe see you there?

Interested in Psychology? Come to an Open Day & find out more about Psychology courses at Staffordshire University.

Book your place at an Open Day via: www.staffs.ac.uk/openyourmind/

The School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University is a leading School in the UK for Psychology degrees and is situated in the heart of England. We produce internationally recognized research which is driving knowledge in this area forward and we work with a variety of healthcare providers, charities, international sports teams and private sector organisations. Find out more about our Undergraduate Psychology Courses and Postgraduate Research Awards.

Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research – Showcase Seminar (Thurs 22nd Sept, 4-6pm)

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We are delighted to announced that the first of our Visiting PrintSpeaker Series of research talks for the 2016/17 academic year will feature a number of short talks by Psychologists based in the Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research at Staffordshire University.

The Centre is home to research activity in the Psychology Department at the University, and is part of the research-active culture in the department incorporting academic staff, postgraduate researchers and PhD students.

The Showcase Seminar takes place on Thursday 22nd September, 4pm-6pm, in the R002 Lecture Theatre located in the Ground Floor of the Science Centre (click here for the location of the Science Centre in the Stoke-on-Trent campus).

4pm Welcome to the Showcase Event 
Short talks by:

Dr Daniel Jolley: Tin-foil hats and secret plots: What’s the harm with conspiracy theories anyway?

Dr Rachel Povey: ‘They said I’m a square for eating them’: Children’s beliefs about eating fruit and vegetables.

Dr Justine Drakeford: Do executive problems in Major Depressive Disorder cause temporal order memory deficits?

Dr Helen Combes: Q Method: Inter-disciplinary differences in Understanding psychological health.

Dr Amy Burton: Being a behavioural scientist in Uganda.

Dr Robert Dempsey: Why the Clinical Risk Factor approach may not be sufficient for understanding suicidality in Bipolar Disorder.
5:45pm Professor Karen Rodham
6pm onwards Discussions and networking opportunities at the Verve Bar, Leek Road Campus, Staffordshire University (short walk from the Science Centre)

The Showcase Seminar is open to everyone who has an interest in Psychology – including students, staff and members of the public! No need to book, just turn up!

Upcoming Visiting Speaker Talks

The Visiting Speaker Series then continues in the 2016/2017 academic year with talks from invited speakers from across the UK, including:

29/9/2016: Dr Kevin Hochard (University of Chester) discussing the relationship between suicidality and sleep disturbances.

10/11/2016: Stacey Heath (University of Exeter) talking about the relationships between community identification and psychological wellbeing.

For details of the dates and locations of these talks please visit our Visiting Speaker Series pages (click here). Details of further talks will be announced via our @StaffsPsych twitter feed. You can follow the discussions about the Visiting Speaker Series using the #StaffsVSS hashtag.

Staffs-Uni-Hi-Res_45-1024x683The Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research is home to research activity in the Psychology Department at Staffordshire Centre. The Centre is home to a number of research-active psychologists who are engaged in research across a wide range of psychological subdisciplines. The Centre has two overarching research streams, Health and Behaviour Change, and Applied Perception and Cognition.

The Centre provides training for PhD students, Research Masters degrees, as well as Professional Doctorates in Clinical and Health Psychology (click here for more details). The Centre also provides bespoke training to private and public organisations, as well as expertise for consultancy research opportunities. For more details about the Centre, its research activities, events and consultancy, please visit our website (click here).

Stoke Psychology in the Pub returns for 2016/17!

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We are pleased to announce that a new series of the Stoke Psychologist in the Pub talks starts on the 5th October. The series is organised by the British Psychological Society’s West Midlands Branch, the BPS Stoke Hub, and psychologists at Staffordshire University, and very kindly hosted by The Glebe Pub in Stoke.

The Glebe Pub, Stoke-upon-Trent

The Glebe Pub, Stoke-upon-Trent

The talks provide a friendly, informal and inspiring space for anyone with an interest in Psychology, to hear about the latest psychological research being conducted in the West Midlands.

The 2015/16 Stoke Psychology in the Pub series saw a series of great talks from academic psychologists working in Staffordshire University’s Psychology department and universities around the region on subjects as diverse as psychogeography, false confessions, the psychology of art and aesthetics, cyberpsychology and consumer psychology!

The 2016/17 edition of #PitPStoke starts on Wednesday 5th October 2016, 6pm, with a talk by Dr Jo Lloyd (Staffordshire University) titled “Is gambling really the son of avarice and the father of despair?“.

Upcoming talks (may be subject to change) include:

2nd Nov 2016: Dr. Jim Grange (Keele University) “The Reproducibility Crisis in Psychological Science: One Year Later”

7th Dec 2016: Dave Spence, Keele University. “The Psychology of Beliefs: Christmas Special”

1st Feb 2017: Dr. Daniel Jolley, Staffordshire University. “Are Conspiracy Theories Harmless?”

1st Mar 2017: Andrew Wood, Staffordshire University. “Irrational Beliefs in Sport – Helpful or Hindrance?”

The talks take place in the Glebe Pub, Glebe Street, Stoke-upon-Trent, ST4 1HG. Talks start at 6pm and last until 7pm, with opportunities for questions to the invited speaker and networking after the talk has finished. Guests are advised to arrive early to secure a seat and order food/drinks! Directions to the Glebe Pub can be found here.

Students, staff and anyone interested in psychology from the general public are very welcome to attend the talks! No need to book just show up!

Don’t forget that you can join in the Psychology in the Pub conversation using the #PitPStoke twitter hashtag or follow the Staffordshire University Psychology Department twitter feed for live tweets (@StaffsPsych)!

We hope to see you there!

Staffs Psychology Graduation 2016 Gallery!

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The Psychology Department held their Annual Graduation Ceremony at the beautiful Trentham Estate in July 2016. See the below gallery for images of our Graduating Class of 2016:

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Psy1The School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University is a leading School in the UK for Psychology degrees situated in the heart of England.  We produce internationally recognized research in our Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research which informs our teaching and is conducted in collaboration with a variety of healthcare providers, charities, international sports teams and private sector organisations.

Interested in a Psychology degree? Come to an Open Day – for further details, and to book your place at an open day, please visit: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/openyourmind/

For more information or details of the wide range of Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit our website and our courses page.

Dr Sarah Krähenbühl blogs on the 2016 Intermediaries for Justice Conference

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Dr Sarah Krähenbühl (Lecturer in Forensic Psychology & Course Leader for Staffordshire’s BSc in Forensic Psychology) reports on a recent conference held at Staffordshire University for researchers, policy makers and professionals with interests in the use of vulnerable individuals as witnesses:

On March 12th 2016 a national conference took place at Staffordshire University called ‘Intermediaries for Justice’. Registered Intermediaries (RI) are professionals who facilitate communication with vulnerable witnesses (and now also with vulnerable suspects) who are participating in legal proceedings. An RI will have specialist expertise in an area of communication, will conduct an assessment with a vulnerable person, and then liaise with all other professionals involved in the legal proceedings (e.g. Police Officers, Barristers, Judge) to ensure that appropriate communication takes place. At this conference, in addition to Registered Intermediaries, there were a range of delegates including Police, Social Workers, charitable organisation representatives (e.g. Citizens Advice Bureau), academics and students from Staffordshire University. The speakers included Hon Ms Justice Russell, HHJ Sally Cahill QC, Dr. Sarah Krähenbühl, Gill Darvill, Dame Joyce Plotnikoff and Dr Richard Woolfson.

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Dr Sarah Krähenbühl (of Staffordshire University) and Gill Darvill (Registered Intermediary) gave a presentation on the UK findings of a Europe-wide research project conducted for the Fundamental Rights Agency (Vienna) regarding children’s experiences in the Criminal Justice System.

In addition there were a series of 6 discussion groups facilitated by professionals covering a range of topics related to legal proceedings such as witness interview training, pre-trial recorded cross-examination, pre-trial preparation, individuals with autism or mental health vulnerabilities, and fitness to plead issues.

The conference was a huge success and was greatly oversubscribed. You can get further information about the work of Registered Intermediaries from the ‘Advocates Gateway’ website http://www.theadvocatesgateway.org/intermediaries – and of course, look out for their next conference in 2017!

The School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University is a leading School in the UK for Psychology degrees and is situated in the heart of England.  We produce internationally recognized research which is driving knowledge in this area forward and we work with a variety of healthcare providers, charities, international sports teams and private sector organisations.

For more information or details of the wide range of Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit our website and our courses page.

The Role of Health Psychology in fighting the Obesity Epidemic, #StaffsVSS, Thursday 7th April 4pm

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Dr Fiona Gillison

The School of Psychology, Sport & Exercise is pleased to welcome Dr Fiona Gillison (Senior Lecturer in Exercise & Health Psychology, University of Bath) who is giving the next Visiting Speaker Series talk on Thursday 7th April, 4pm, in the LT003 Lecture Theatre in the Ashley Building (Leek Road campus).

Fiona previously worked in a public engagement role with primary care teams, and as a stop smoking and weight management specialist in the NHS, and so has continued to take a very applied approach to her research. Fiona’s current focus is on applying psychological theory into practice, in investigating how we can better support people to improve their health behaviours in the prevention and reduction of obesity – whether at the individual, community or policy level. She is currently involved in a range of research studies including; an intervention to promote weight loss in people with high cardiovascular risk, work with school nurses, public health teams and health communication specialists to improve the positive impact of the National Child Measurement Programme, and a collaborative project to identify the important dynamic processes within groups that facilitate behaviour change.

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All staff, students and members of the public are welcome to attend these free Visiting Speaker talks – join in our live tweeting from the talk using the #StaffsVSS event hashtag. We hope to see you there!

The Visiting Speaker seminars are a regular series of free talks hosted by the School of Psychology, Sport & Exercise. Psychologists from across the country are invited to speak at these events to share their research and discuss their findings with staff and students from Staffordshire University. The Visiting Speaker series is also open to anyone from the general public with an interest in psychological research.

No need to book a place – just turn up!

The Third Annual Staffordshire Psychology Student Conference a Great Success!

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Dr Robert Dempsey and Dr Louise Humphreys, co-organisers of this year’s Psychology Student Conference, report on a very successful event featuring a range of talks by current third year students about their final year research projects:

The Psychology Department at Staffordshire University were pleased to host the Third Annual Psychology Student Conference in March 2016. The Conference featured a range of talks and poster presentations by current Final Year Psychology Students and was well attended by current first, second and third year students, postgraduate research students, academic staff and invited guests from the University including Professor Allan Howells, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Enterprise & External Affairs).

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The students presented research using a variety of psychological methodologies and included presentations on diverse topics such as “Experiences of positive body image in women with a BMI above 25“, “The effects of cooperative gaming vs competitive gaming on spontaneous helping behaviour“, “The Effect of Fact vs. Myth-Based Interventions on Mental Health-Related Stigmatising Attitudes”, and “The effects of physical activity and hypnosis on physiological stress response and psychomotor performance”.

All our students did a fantastic job of presenting their research and presented in a confident, professional and engaging manner.

Student Awards Ceremony

The Conference was also followed by a Student Awards Ceremony where we acknowledged the contributions of our student presenters and also gave out prizes for Best Performance at each level of study, plus two student-nominated awards for Best Teamwork and Unsung Student (recognising a student who makes a valuable contribution to student life at Staffordshire). Professor Allan Howells, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University presented the awards and raised the students for their hard-work and their confidence in presenting their research in front of a large audience.

Staff attending the conference also voted for the Best Student Talk and Best Student Poster Presentation. We were extremely impressed with the overall quality of the students’ presentations and the hard work they had obviously placed into their final year research project. The two winners of the Best Talk and Poster prizes were:

  • Kondwa Thawethe won the Best Poster Prize for her poster titled: The effect of music listening on cold pressor pain perception and tolerance.
  • Paige Johns won the Best Talk for her oral presentation titled: Effect of different presentation modes and levels of negative arousal on an individual’s susceptibility to developing false memories.

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Dr Louise Humphreys, Level 6 Psychology Tutor and conference co-organiser, said “the conference was fantastic event and was very much enjoyed by all who attended. The presentations covered such a range of topics and the students were very enthusiastic about their research – I really enjoyed hearing about the work that they had done. I felt very proud to be part of the event. It was also great to see students from various years receive awards – to see their hard work and achievements being recognised.”

Dr Robert Dempsey, conference co-organiser and Award Leader for the BSc Psychology degree, commented: “I thought the conference was a great showcase for our students’ final year research projects and that our students did a fantastic job of presenting their work to an audience of their peers and staff. I was very impressed by the quality of the students’ talks and poster presentations and, like many who attended the event, I really enjoyed the conference and enjoyed hearing about great research being produced by our students“.

The School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University is a leading School in the UK for Psychology degrees and is situated in the heart of England.  We produce internationally recognized research which is driving knowledge in this area forward and we work with a variety of healthcare providers, charities, international sports teams and private sector organisations.

For more information or details of the wide range of Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit our website and our courses page.