Division of Occupational Psychology

The report is designed to support CR and sustainability professionals and to promote the science and practice of OPs. The focus is therefore on sharing ideas and information of relevance to professionals in any sector, demonstrating the work that OPs do to enable organisations to develop.

By doing this we aim to help professionals identify priorities, establish common principles and approaches and identify opportunities for specific, crosscutting or systems-based solutions, based on the evidence base of behavioural research and insight.

• Download Engage and change: Occupational psychologist's role in facilitating corporate responsibility

Its aim is to provide an illustration of the important contribution that the field of work and organisational psychology can make to understanding and promoting green behaviour in the workplace.

This first introductory chapter outlines what is in the other chapters, reflecting on their key messages and summarising some of the issues which they individually and collectively raise.

The report contains a range of useful material for 'people specialists' in organisations, including a number of vignettes and case studies particularly aimed at practitioners, alongside the sorts of theoretical material and research results you would expect from the specialist area of occupational psychology which applies the science of psychology to the workplace.

• Download Going Green: The Psychology of Sustainability in the Workplace

That is, those who have dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, ADD/ADHD and ASD. They are sometimes referred to as being neuro-diverse, but more commonly as having specific learning difficulties.

In recognition of the fact that the concern here is with the workplace rather than educational settings, and that most will have learned differently but effectively, the term 'performance difficulties' is used.

• Download Psychological assessment of adults with specific performance difficulties at work

Download Information sheets on health and well-being in the workplace

This document is a series of information sheets designed to provide an introduction to the area of health and well-being at work from the perspective of Occupational Psychology.

It is aimed initially at an Occupational Psychology audience as a means of orienting fellow professionals to this domain of practice and research. 

Download the White Paper – Psychological well-being at work

This White Paper is intended to provide a succinct and a perspective on the role of psychological well-being at work, including an indication of the costs/benefits of psychological well-being and guidance on how to improve psychological well-being at work. 

Good practice reflects a minimum acceptable standard of practice and is identified by 'shall' in the standard; best practice is an aspirational level of practice identified by 'should' in the standard.

• Download The Design and Delivery of Assessment Centres Standard
• Download Diseño y ejecución de los Centros de Evaluación - Spanish version

This interim position paper covers the use of diagnostic testing for dyslexia, developmental coordination disorder, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, non-verbal learning disabilities, processing speed/working memory deficit and applied (non-clinical) assessment of ADHD, during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Read the full paper on disability support assessments for adults during Covid-19 lockdown.

Those in training to become occupational psychologists, newly qualified occupational psychologists; Experienced occupational psychologists who are new to the topic of wellbeing.

Download the wellbeing at work guide for occupational psychology practitioners.

Society Members can access all our current and archived BPS Journals (plus 32 Wiley-Blackwell publications) for free via PsychSource, and are able to subscribe to hard copies of the Journals.

This position has been produced by the Neurodiversity and Employment Working Group of the Division of Occupational Psychology.

• Download Access to Work support for hidden disabilities position paper

The report also highlights suggested solutions by members to these challenges and concerns. It is the hope of this report that the presented findings will be used to develop key action points for each committee.

• Report for the BPS Division of Occupational Psychology Committee and Workforce Planning Standing Advisors Committee - May 2015

Editorial: Andrew Clements

Message from the DOP Chair: Janet Fraser

BPS Covid response – the role of the DOP: David Murphy

BPS Impact of the pandemic on psychologists' wellbeing working group: Adrian Neal

Leading in the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic: A leader-member exchange perspective: Sandie Buchan

Frontline employees are ready to accept smart energy-saving technologies, especially when they are engaged at work and when they are concerned about climate change: Daniel Jolles, Dawn Holford, Marie Juanchich, Kathryn Buchanan & Beatrice Piccoli

Making diversity work: Transforming assessment and selection to hire for

culture add, not culture fit: Lukas Wallrich

Police contact management and resolution: A call for help: Noreen Tehrani

Addressing the 'Great Resignation': Exploring the potential role of bottom-up

approaches to job design in healthcare settings: Anthony Thompson & Ella Hatton

Obituary - Peter Saville 1946-2022: Rab MacIver

• Excellence in Occupational Psychology - Student
  • Erno Berezvay
  • Rebeccas Somer
  • Nela Wiedermannova
  • Eugina Neri Mini
  • Evie McManus
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology - Early career
  • Jordan Buxton
• Outstanding contribution to occupational psychology
  • Professor Carl Macrae

• Excellence in Occupational Psychology - Student
  • Kara Daly
  • Agata Dobrosielska
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology - Early career
  • Jemma Pomfrey
• Excellence in occupational psychology - Experienced
  • Thomas Rhys Evans
• Outstanding contribution to occupational psychology (Team)
  • Jo Yarker & Rachel Lewis

• Excellence in Occupational Psychology Research Early Career (Head Judge – Dr Angela Carter)
  Winner: Dr Kevin Teoh
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology Practice (Head Judge – Amanda Potter)
  Winner: Dr Hazel McLaughlin & Helen Ives, Second prize Deborah Tom
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology Research (Head Judge – Professor Rob Briner)
  Winner: Rachel Lewis & Team (Christian Ferragamo, Jo Yarker, Kai Britt-Boschmann and Emma Donaldson-Feilder)
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology Policy Impact (Head Judge – Nick Pahl)
  Winner: Dr Ashley Weinberg
• Long-term Active Service Recognition (non-competitive)
  Karen Royle, Sharon De Mascia, Rob Goate and Carole Watling
• Lifetime Contribution to Occupational Psychology (Head Judge – Dr Pat Lindley) 
  Winner:  Shelly Rubinstein
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology Practice Team (Head Judge – Fiona Patterson)
  Winner: TMP Worldwide (Kate Bradley Team Lead – Dean Kempton, Rakhee Sudra, Kirsty Nolan and Susuana Laranjeiro)
• Student Prizes for Excellence in Occupational Psychology (Head Judge – Dr Richard Kwiatkowski) 
  No prize awarded for 2019
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology Practice Early Career (Head Judge – Angie Ingman)
  No nominations received for 2019

• Student Prizes for Excellence in Occupational Psychology (Head Judge – Dr Richard Kwiatkowski) 
  Winner: 1st place, Emily Kitson, 2nd place, Thomas Harding
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology Practice Early Career (Head Judge – Julie Freeborn)
  Winner: Hoda Hussein
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology Research Early Career (Head Judge – Dr Angela Carter)
  Winner: Dr Victoria Elsey
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology Practice (Head Judge – Binna Kandola)
  Winner: Sophie Seex
  Shortlisted - Gail Steptoe-Warren, Professor Fiona Patterson
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology Research (Head Judge – Professor Rob Briner)
  Winner: Dr Claire Hardy
• Excellence in Occupational Psychology Policy Impact (Head Judge – Nick Pahl)
  Winner: Dr Nancy Doyle
• Long-term Active Service (Head Judge – Nicola Gale)
  Winner: Kisane Prutton
• Lifetime Contribution to Occupational Psychology (Head Judge – Dr Pat Lindley)
  Winner:  Dr Angela Carter

Academic Contribution to Practice: Jonathan Passmore

Lifetime Achievement Award: No award

Practitioner of the Year Award: Antonia Dietman

Student Prizes for Excellence: Charlotte Hermans

Volunteer of the Year Award: No award

Academic Contribution to Practice

2016: Dr Rachel Travers

2015: Professor David Guest

2014: Professor Rob Briner

2013: Professor Fiona Patterson

2011: Adrian Furnham

Lifetime achievement award

2016: Professor Victor Dulowicz

2015: Dr David Bartram

2014: Chris Lewis

2013: Professor Clive Fletcher

2012: Pat Lindley

2011: John Toplis

Practitioner of the year award

2016: Dr Balissa Greene

2015: Hannah Markson (nee Walker)

2014: Kate Firth

2013: Emma Donaldson-Feilder & Rachel Lewis

2012: Kate Bonsall-Clarke

2011: Laura Empey

2010: Ingrid Covington

Recognition of Excellence Award

2013: Nancy Dyle

2011: Vicki Ashworth

Student Prizes for Excellence

2016: Kathryn Pimblett / Nicola Paget / Rachel Driver

2015: Emma Donaldson-Fielder / Julie Jebson / Rachel Lewis

Volunteer of the Year Award

2016: Dr Almuth McDowell / Dr Gail Kinman / Jonathan Cox

2015: Dr Almuth McDowell

2013: Emma Donaldson-Fielder

Liza is a dynamic chartered psychologist and a chartered fellow of the CIPD.

With a career spanning over two decades, Liza has been a driving force in the fields of occupational psychology and HR since she completed her undergraduate degree in 2003. Her journey into occupational psychology took a significant step in 2007 when she pursued the BPS qualification route.

Her experience extends beyond her impressive academic qualifications. She has a proven track record of leadership and service. Notably, she has served as a chartable trustee and held senior roles in both the private and public sectors.

In the healthcare arena, she made a significant impact as an HR Director in the NHS within Commissioning services. She also ventured into the psychometric space as the Chief Product Officer at 10x Psychology. Currently Liza is a Solutions Director at MindGym, using occupational psychology and behavioural science to improve the work experience.

In 2021, Liza completed her professional doctorate. This achievement has energized her to refocus her activities within the Division of Occupational Psychology (DOP), where she was previously part of working groups.

Her dedication and unwavering passion for occupational psychology shine through in her commitment to maintaining the gold standard of excellence within the DOP.

Liza is determined to lead initiatives that enhance the value proposition for DOP members. She aims to drive professional growth and satisfaction among her peers while ensuring the continued excellence of occupational psychology.

Sonia is currently the Director of People and Culture for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

She is a chartered psychologist/associate fellow of the BPS and chartered fellow of the CIPD with a strong track record of leadership and delivery. Sonia worked in the Civil Service for 25 years, most recently as Director of Government Skills in the Cabinet Office. Here she delivered a radical vision and case for change for the prestigious Civil Service Fast Stream and led the development of the Civil Service 2022-2025 Apprenticeship Strategy. She provided strategic leadership and management of training across the Civil Service, including leading the Curriculum and Campus for Government skills to provide a clear, coherent learning and development offer for all Civil Servants.

Sonia served as Government Head of Profession for Occupational Psychology for six years. In the role she drove forward the strategic agenda to ensure occupational psychology was thriving and impacting all corners of the Civil Service.

In her earlier career Sonia worked on cross-cutting organisational initiatives at the Ministry of Justice and HM Inspectorate of Prisons, applying psychology positively to influence cultural change and the experience of work. She led on specialist recruitment, filling the most specialist/niche roles across the Civil Service and subsequently led the creation of the Government Recruitment Service.

Sonia is a DOP Leadership Development Programme alumnus with a history of actively volunteering in several DOP roles. She is passionate about the DOP member value proposition and wants to make a difference now and for the future generations to come.

Noreen has had a varied career working as a medical researcher, retail operations director and as a senior manager for a public organisation managing a team of 100 professional staff to provide psycho-social support for 200,000 employees.

She formed her own organisation in 1997 to assist organisations and employees to maximise their effectiveness and efficiency.

Noreen has combined her commercial, psychological and counselling knowledge and experience to develop an approach to supporting employees, which meets the needs of both the organisation and the employees.

Noreen understands organisations and business and uses this commercial approach to develop ethical products and services which meet the needs of the organisation for which she works. She is passionate about her work and constantly looks for ways to improve what she does.

Noreen has written many articles, papers and book chapters including two books on trauma, Workplace Trauma- concepts, assessments and interventions and Managing Trauma in the Workplace. She has also written two books on Workplace Bullying.

Noreen is the Deputy Chair of the Division of Occupational Psychology and past Chair of the Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Section of the BPS.

Tim is an organisational psychologist with a focus on organisational design, development and change.

He has worked across most areas of HR including strategic HRM, Recruitment, Reward and Benefits, L&D, Talent Management and HR Technology.

He has also worked across a number of industry sectors such as FMCG, Retail, Professional Services, Pharmaceuticals, Airlines and spent six years in the Middle East working for an international university.

Professionally Tim is a Chartered Psychologist,  Registered Occupational Psychologist and Chartered Fellow CIPD.

Anna Paolillo is a Doctor in Organisational Psychology, an Associate Fellow of the BPS and registered Occupational Psychologist with the HCPC.

She currently works as Senior Lecturer and Course Director of the Kingston Business School MSc in Occupational and Business Psychology at Kingston University, London.

She has extensive experience as work psychologist in assessment, learning and development, career coaching and counselling.

She has mentored, coached and trained individuals and groups at different stages of their careers, including students, employed/unemployed people, vulnerable individuals, professionals and executives across Europe and the Middle East.

Her research interests and expertise cover psychological assessment of organisational climates as related to employees' inclusion, safety and other wellbeing outcomes, within sectors such as manufacturing, hospitality, infrastructure and healthcare.

Her focus has been on developing evidence-based tools and assessment practices that help people thrive in organisational settings, whether at work or in further education and continuous professional development.

Her work has been published in a broad range of peer-reviewed journals and sector-leading editors in the area of organisational psychology and psychological testing, such as Hogrefe, Palgrave and Erickson Eds.

Dr Anna Viragos is an Associate Professor in Organizational Psychology, working in Leeds University Business School.

Anna is a Chartered Psychologist, and a full member of the DOP.

She is teaching on Organizational Behaviour and Organizational Psychology related modules at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate level, and part of the teaching team for the MSc Organizational/Business Psychology Programme.

Anna also supervises PhD students, and UG and PG Dissertations.

Anna's research focuses on job design, motivation, OCBs, wellbeing, creativity, and leadership. She has experience with both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Anna has worked on smaller consultancy projects and is open to getting involved in further opportunities.

Ian is director of High Potential Psychology which was founded in 2014 to conduct psychological research and develop workplace psychometric assessments. Tests developed by Ian & High Potential Psychology have been completed over one million times. 

Ian has been a member of the DOP since 2010 and has contributed to BPS publications regularly over the past decade, first contributing to Assessment and Development Matters in 2014. 

Ian is a writer and award winning author of books about workplace psychology.

His books include High Potential: How to spot manage and develop talented people at work (Bloomsbury, 2014; 2018), Motivation and Performance: A guide to motivating a diverse workforce (Kogan Page, 2017), Dark Social: Understanding the darker side of work, personality and social media (Bloomsbury, 2021), and his latest book is Web of Value: Understanding blockchain and web3's intersection of technology, psychology and business (Alexandria, 2024). His books have been published in a dozen languages. 

Ian's current focus is on the expansion of digital networks; how people shape digital spaces; and the impact of technology on human communication, cognition and behaviour. He wants to see occupational psychologists play a more active role in shaping discussions around technology, especially the practical and ethical implications surrounding personal autonomy, privacy and well-being in the workplace. 

She is the Division representative to the European Federation of Psychologists' Association's (EFPA) Standing Committee on Work and Organizational Psychology. She is also leading the "Threats and Security" topic of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology Impact Incubator.

Roberta is Associate Professor in Work Psychology at the Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia. Roberta's main research interests are related to the understanding of unethical behaviour at work and how to prevent them. In particular she is interested on the role of moral disengagement and self-efficacy. She has conducted several funded research projects in Italy, the UK and Canada on wellbeing and stress at work. Roberta has also undertaken research projects in the health-care system with the aim of understanding the implication of workplace aggression. Roberta has published more than 80 papers in scientific journals including Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Vocational Behavior and Personality and Individual Differences.

For the past 40 years Karen has managed an experiential management development company, which she established with her husband and is now being run by the second generation of the family; working with all levels of management from graduates to the boards of multinational corporations. During this time, she  specialised in assessment for purposes from recruitment to promotion and restructuring departments, leading her to complete the Specialist in Test Use, Occupational certification.

With a lifetime interest in aviation, in 2017 Karen accepted an offer from one client to undertake a short secondment as Principal Occupational Psychologist to their assessment division which develops and delivers tests for the aviation sector, and she is currently still in this role.

Karen is particularly concerned that assessments, where and whenever they are carried out, should be conducted to the highest possible standards and using appropriate tests and test methodologies to ensure the fairest outcomes for candidates whilst being cost effective for the client.

Bio coming soon.

Bio coming soon.

• 08 August (TBC)
• 03 October (10am – 1pm)
• 05 December (10am – 1pm)