Applied Psychology Research Group
Psychology can be applied to most types of human experience, including the development and support of teams and colleagues. Members of the Applied Psychology Research Group (APRG) aim to foster research creativity, through all stages of our applied psychology research careers. We seek to stimulate insight and facilitate novel inquiry.
Members of this group embrace varied methodological approaches to diverse domains within applied psychology including: Applied Cognitive Psychology; Applied Social Psychology; Forensic Psychology; Occupational and Organisational Psychology; Health Psychology, Cyberpsychology, Sport and Exercise Psychology, Psychology Practice and the Public Understanding of Psychology.
What we provide
- Support for Early Career Researchers
- A testing space for developing research and its dissemination
- A forum for collaboration and research mentoring
- Development opportunities to facilitate impactful psychological research
- Space to stay up to date with one another and our wider networks
- Developing and sharing best practice in the application of psychological and other methods to policy and practice
- Developing and sharing best practice on intervention efficacy, fidelity and longevity
Research into Serious and Organised Crime
Ministry of Justice and ADR UK Research Fellowship into Serious and Organised Crime
Background
In 2020, the Ministry of Justice and ADR UK appointed the first four Data First research fellows, giving them access to secure datasets that enabled new, cross system analysis of justice related data. Dr Tim McSweeney from the APRG is one of those initial fellows.
What did the researcher do?
Under this fellowship, Tim has focused on serious and organised crime (SOC) cases prosecuted before the Crown Court in England and Wales between 2013 and 2020. This project uses administrative datasets made available for the first time to accredited researchers. Through the initiative, this project offers new insights on who is prosecuted for serious and organised crime and what happens within the criminal justice system after charges are brought.
DrinkAware: Difficult conversations about alcohol at work
Background
Excessive alcohol consumption can have consequences for the workplace including increased work-related stress (Anderson 2010), absenteeism and lateness (Bacharach, Bamberger and Biron, 2010), loss of productivity, and poor performance (Carell, Hoekstra and West, 2011), poor co-worker relations, and inappropriate behaviour leading to disciplinary action (Anderson, 2010).
Organisations often have formal policies and procedures to manage these issues. It is less clear how organisations and managers can identify and communicate with individuals who may be experiencing problems associated with alcohol misuse. These conversations are likely to be difficult. Without adequate training or support, the conversations will be avoided.
DrinkAware commissioned this research from a team led by Dr Colleen Addicott to explore the signals, barriers, and components of difficult conversations about alcohol at work. This research sought to integrate what we know already about having difficult conversations at work with the lived experience of those who have had a difficult conversation about alcohol.
What did the researchers do?
We integrated the findings of two studies:
1. A systematic literature review to help us answer the question: what advice can we take from existing literature about having difficult conversations in the workplace?
2. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed to help us answer the question: what advice can we take from those who have had (or wish they had) a difficult conversation about alcohol at work?
The magic of wellbeing
Background
Prof Richard Wiseman has a lifelong interest in conjuring, is a member of the Inner Magic Circle, and much of his research examines the relationship between psychology and magic. Children and adults enjoy magic, many illusions are easy to learn and can be performed in a variety of situations. Because of this, practitioners and performers have examined the therapeutic and educational benefits of learning magic, including enhanced motor skills, increased creativity and curiosity, better concentration and self-control, and improved social skills and confidence.
What does the researcher do?
Richard has collaborated with several others to conduct and publish research into novel interventions to improve life skills and in undertaking large-scale reviews examining the efficacy of educational magic-based interventions on wellbeing and creativity. Their work includes:
- Life skills - find out more about Positive Magic for Children
- Educational - find out more about Conjuring cognition: a review of educational magic-based interventions
- Wellbeing - find out more about Achieving the impossible: a review of magic-based interventions and their effects on wellbeing
- Creativity - find out more about Experiencing the impossible and creativity: a targeted literature review
Other recent work
From 2019-2023, members of the APRG ran four evaluations commissioned by the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF). After these feasibility to pilot studies were published, we ran a day long event to consider outcomes and share learning. You can see a summary video from that day at the link after the next paragraph.
Possible trigger warning: Please note that the interventions were designed to support children and families going through difficult, often traumatic experiences. The video from the day talks about ways to work with families in such circumstances.
Taking Forward Evaluation Evidence Event Video
Following on from the YEF-funded feasibility to pilot studies, one of the four organisations has been regranted by the Youth Endowment Fund and we’re now running a Randomised Control Trial to evaluate how the intervention works and to compare it against usual support offered. For more information about our evaluation of the RISE Mutual CIC CAPVA programme (child and adolescent to parent violence and abuse) please see the study page.