Professor Kevin Turner
Professor Kevin Turner, MA DM FRCS (Urol), Consultant Urological Surgeon and Visiting Professor Bournemouth University
I am a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Royal Bournemouth Hospital and a Visiting Professor at Bournemouth University. In 2015 I co-founded the BU Surgeon Wellbeing Research Team with colleagues in the Department of Psychology. The aim of the team is to generate original research data concerning the impact of adverse events on surgeons and to develop and trial novel interventions designed to ameliorate that impact.
Prior to coming to Bournemouth, I trained in Urology in Oxford, Edinburgh and Melbourne. My clinical interests are in urological cancer, particularly surgery for pelvic cancer and robotic / minimally invasive surgery. I have been elected a Hunterian Professor of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and have been awarded the European Association of Urology Thesis Award for my research in renal cancer. I co-edit the Oxford Handbook of Urological Surgery.
Dr Helen Bolderston
Dr Helen Bolderston BSc MSc MSc PhD, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Clinical Psychologist, Bournemouth University
I graduated from the University of Exeter with a BSc(Hons) in Psychology in 1985. I went on to qualify as a Clinical Psychologist at the University of Surrey in 1989. Since that time I have worked as a clinical psychologist, predominantly in NHS Adult Mental Health services. I managed the Bournemouth Adult Mental Health Psychology and Counselling service in Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust for several years.
In recent years, I have taken my career in a more academic direction, gaining a Research Methods MSc (2008) and a PhD (2013) from the University of Southampton. I joined Bournemouth University as a Lecturer in Psychology in September 2014.
I have three main areas of research and clinical interest:
Acceptance-based psychotherapies, particularly Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and mindfulness interventions.
Processes implicated in the development and maintenance of mental health problems, particularly Social Anxiety Disorder, Personality Disorder, and Psychosis.
Psychological wellbeing, resilience, and burnout in health professionals, particularly surgeons.
Dr Kevin Thomas
Dr Kevin Thomas BSc MSc PhD, Principal Academic in Psychology, Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University
I have been an academic researcher for almost 20 years, working in the fields of cognitive psychology and social-cognitive psychology. My current research mainly focuses on the interplay between different aspects of well-being (e.g., emotion) and decision-making and the resultant effects on future performance, particularly in applied contexts such as healthcare. I have published a number of peer-reviewed journal articles based on my research, which has attracted grant funding from bodies such as the Economic and Social Research Council and the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. In the course of my research, I collaborate with university researchers at national and international level as well as healthcare professionals in the NHS.
Dr Maddy Greville-Harris
Dr Maddy Greville-Harris BSc MSc PhD DClinPsy, Lecturer in Psychology, Bournemouth University
I graduated from the Open University with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology in 2008 and then completed an MSc in Psychological Research Methods at the University of Exeter in 2010. I became interested in clinical and health psychology, completing a PhD at the University of Exeter in 2013 in collaboration with the Peninsula School of Medicine and Dentistry. This work explored the effects of understanding and non-understanding communication in the context of chronic pain consultations, particularly focusing on the potential placebo and nocebo effects. I then worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Southampton from 2014-2015 focusing on qualitative research, digital interventions and placebo effects in the context of chronic pain.
I am very interested in research and practice that focuses on improving wellbeing in health and mental health settings. I completed my training as a Clinical Psychologist in 2018, and have experience of working in the NHS providing consultation and training in the looked after children service, focusing on the impact of traumatic experiences on child development. I now work as a Lecturer in Psychology at Bournemouth University. My main research and clinical interests include disordered eating, patient-provider interactions, as well as the impact, and interventions for, traumatic experiences and complex trauma.
Stephen Richer
Stephen Richer BSc MSc
Stephen Richer is a PhD researcher at Bournemouth University. His background is mental health nursing and he has worked in numerous roles within the NHS and for various mental health charities. Stephen returned to academia in 2010 and gained a BSc in Psychology, his dissertation focusing on cognitive psychology, including Framing Effect and Cognitive Heuristics. In 2014 he completed an MSc in Clinical Psychology where his main areas of study were Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Emotional Processing. Stephen’s interests in this research project were the result of his experience in clinical and cognitive psychology both from his previous roles in the NHS and his recent academic work. A desire to improve the quality of life of individuals has been the driving force in much of Stephen’s career.
Catherine (Kate) Withers
I am a Ph.D researcher at Bournemouth University, working as part of the Surgeon Wellbeing Team.
I initially graduated with a degree in Theology before completing an M.Sc (Distinction) in Psychology. The focus of my research was the analysis of efficacy of the commonly used digit span testing as a measure of short-term memory capacity in children. I have published and presented research on a variety of topics and am now concentrating my efforts on my doctoral research, which aims to establish a model of psychological outcomes for surgeons following adverse events.
My employment background is within education, having gained my PGCE in 2010. Professionally, I have held roles which include Director of Holistic Education, Head of Department, behaviour specialist, safeguarding and wellbeing lead.
I am motivated by a strong desire to work with people and make a positive impact on their wellbeing and quality of life. As the wife of an Orthopaedic surgeon, I am passionate about supporting the surgical community, both in terms of the improvement of care for patients and, more crucially, by exploring how surgeons might also care for themselves.
Dr Agata Wezyk
Dr Agata Wezyk BSc MSc PhD, Lecturer in Psychology, Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University
I graduated in 2008 from University of Lodz (Poland) having completed a 5-year MSc programme in Health and Clinical Psychology. I have always been interested in health and occupational psychology, and initially I worked in HR for about two years. Then, I moved on to a research position in Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (Lodz, Poland) where I worked on several research projects focusing on employees' well-being and related issues (job stress, fitness for work, presenteeism, work-life balance). In 2017 I was offered a PhD studentship at Bournemouth University, and I successfully defended my thesis “Understanding Stress and Health Through the Use of Visual Metaphor” in 2021. At the same time, I joined the Psychology Department as a lecturer. My main research interests revolve around stress and health, particularly in the workplace settings. My recent research projects include studying individual protective factors, family and social support networks, and organisational support available to psychology practitioners during and after the Covid-19 lockdowns, understanding work-life balance of women-academics with caring responsibilities, and exploring arrangements around sharing work and childcare between parents.