Dr Helen Foster-Collins (she/her)

About me:

As a lecturer in the Department of Psychology, I contribute to the delivery of teaching on Personality & Individual Differences, Qualitative research methods, Environmental psychology and Behavioural research skills. I also supervise student research projects for undergraduate, masters and clinical doctorate programmes on a range of topics. I am 1st year Tutor for the psychology undergraduates.

Past and current student project areas have included:
Environmental psychology - use of nature in inpatient settings, impact of plants on cognitive and physiological stress, green exercise and wellbeing (indoor vs outdoor cycling, hiking groups), attitudes towards meat consumption and religiosity.
Gender & sexuality - Bi-sexuality (discrimination, media representation), non-binary 'outness', trans and cis experiences of womanhood, ethical non-monogamy, women's experiences of ageing.
Student-generated topics (using Qualitative methods) - support groups for dementia caregivers, pro-life student societies, live-action role play (LARP) for autistic adults.
Clinical doctorate programme - queer men of colour and mental health, factors supporting retention of psychological wellbeing-practitioners (PWPs).

I have academic backgrounds in psychology, professional education/wellbeing and philosophy. I also have past experience of working to support young people with additional educational needs in schools and colleges, which has informed an interest in EDI in Higher Education and I currently co-run an Inclusion cafe - to support students and staff to share experiences and voice current issues of inclusion within the department. I have a particular passion for qualitative research methods, and am fascinated by research which crosses interdisciplinary boundaries, given the potential for us to learn from each other through dialogue.

I have recently worked on the following research projects:

• Care Under Pressure 3 - looking at interventions to reduce hospital doctors’ mental ill-health in the NHS.
• The impact of community gardening groups for people with dementia and their caregivers
• Understanding the barriers and enablers to translating research findings into practice, to improve prescribing
• Exploring workplace support for newly-qualified doctors and teachers during their first year of practice.

Keywords: qualitative research; mixed methods; nature and wellbeing; gender and sexuality; professional education and wellbeing; social and organisational psychology; environmental psychology; translating research into practice.