DOP Award Winners Announced

Kara was nominated by members of her teaching team, for a research project investigating menopause in the workplace, using a story completion task and vignettes.

The judges noted that this is an under-researched area, and commended her on the methodology, and saw this as publishable work.

Bio

Kara graduated from the University of the West of England with an MSc in Occupational Psychology in 2022. Her dissertation research explored perceptions of menopause in the workplace using an innovative hybrid vignette-story completion technique. She was supervised by Gemma Phillips-Pike, with input from Victoria Clarke and Vanessa Beck. 

Kara is currently pursuing opportunities to embark on the Qualification in Occupational Psychology (QOP) (Stage 2). She is particularly interested in systems thinking, organisational learning, and the occupational experiences of specific subsets of the workforce.

Agata was nominated by a member of her teaching team, noting her contributions as a student representative, her work with start-ups in designing and delivering initiatives, and for dissertation research which was subsequently published.

The judges commended Agata on achieving publication, for her citizenship, and for taking research into practice.

Jemma submitted evidence relating to her training as an occupational psychologist and subsequent completion of a professional doctorate, and the research work undertaken with organisations relating to personality and hybrid working.
The panel commended the timely nature of the topic and the development of a systematic review.

Bio

Dr Jemma Pomfrey is an Occupational Psychologist and Senior Consultant in the People & Organisations team at Arup. Jemma has a breadth of expertise spanning team development, organisational change, training, leadership development, and wellbeing. It is employee wellbeing which first drew Jemma to the field of Occupational Psychology, as well as an ongoing passion to make people's working lives better. 

She completed her British Psychological Society Chartership in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, an experience which inspired her interest in the psychology of working from home, the topic of her doctoral thesis.

Jemma thrives on the variety inherent in consultancy and enjoys working with clients across multiple sectors; including renewable energy, aviation, and rail to name a few. Central to Jemma's approach is evidence-based practice and applying knowledge of the human mind and behaviour within the context of organisational processes and operations.

Jemma is particularly interested in how individuals experience their environment. This fuelled her recent research into the role of individual differences and strategies in successfully working from home. It is this work that formed a core part of Jemma's Professional Doctorate in Occupational Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London, which has given her an enhanced appreciation for the importance of alignment between research and practice.

Tom submitted evidence relating to his work as an academic, in developing curriculum addressing societal challenges as a programme leader, as a researcher championing Open Scholarship practices, and through volunteer work undertaken for the DOP.

The panel praised the commitments to open access, creating large datasets through participatory approaches, approaches to decolonising the curriculum, and impressive research undertaken with the fire service.

Bio

Tom (he/him) is an Associate Professor in Occupational Psychology at the University of Greenwich. After building a compassionate and impactful Business and Occupational Psych (BOP) team at Coventry University, Tom recently launched a new Occupational Psychology MSc at Greenwich where he champions skill development, inclusivity and evidence-based practice. His goal is to support students to become impactful and socially responsible practitioners.

Passionate about both Occupational Psychology and Open Scholarship, Tom is co-chair of the Division of Occupational Psychology Training Committee (DOPTC) at the BPS, in addition to being Institutional Lead for Greenwich at the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN). Tom has written books on how Occupational Psychology contributes to the Fire Service, and the evidence behind common mainstream HR practices, and continues to work across disciplines to contribute to the wider UK research landscape (as named in the UK House of Commons Reproducibility and Research Integrity Report).

Tom is open about his values and is passionate about improving transparency and rigour. As such, he reports his ambitions publicly on his website as "Tom's Global Goals" and he leads a number of large international collaborations on important societal themes like corruption and climate change from an Occupational lens. 

His value-led work has also included making all materials for a 12-week course on evidence-based practice publicly available and free to use and adapt, providing leadership on early-career researcher-led communities like the Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training (FORRT), and developing a number of tools and resources to support others (e.g., the Non-intervention, Reproducible and Open Systematic Review (NIRO-SR) templates).

Jo and Rachel submitted evidence relating to their work in academia and in practice, having tackled complex problems through research, which in turn informs their consultancy, and which has influenced policymakers.

The panel commended Jo and Rachel on the breadth, visibility, accessibility, and impact of their work, the encouragement of others to perform research, and their commitment to evidence-based practice.

Bio

Jo Yarker and Rachel Lewis are Readers in Occupational Psychology at Birkbeck College, University of London and Managing Partners of Affinity Health at Work, an occupational psychology consultancy and research group. Together they designed and launched the Professional Doctorate in Occupational Psychology, a pioneering programme accredited by the HCPC and BPS. 

Since the programme's conception, the UK occupational psychology community has gained 24 new Doctors in Occupational Psychology, and 45 Registered Occupational Psychologists. Their research has been funded by the World Health Organisation, the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, and the UK Health and Safety Executive and they provide advisory and consultancy services to public, private and third-sector organisations globally to improve mental health and wellbeing at work. 

They contribute to national guidance and publish widely to share new knowledge, evidence and tools to improve health and wellbeing at work. Throughout their work, they are committed to building evidence-based practice in the field of occupational psychology.