The Department of Applied Psychology enjoys a strong reputation for teaching and research. It is a world-class centre of excellence in research in applied psychology, and a leading provider of education and training in areas of applied psychology and related subjects. Our international team of highly-qualified staff have expertise in a range of areas and enable the department to be a centre for the collection, evaluation and dissemination of information on research, education, practice and policy in its core areas.
Research
Research is one of the defining activities of the Department of Applied Psychology. There is a close and mutually beneficial relationship between the department’s research and postgraduate teaching as each contributes to the other. The department’s research is in applied psychology and grounded in real world issues. This research contributes directly or indirectly to its main objective of promoting ‘healthy people, healthy organisations and healthy communities’.
The department’s activities are managed through three clusters:
- Occupational health and wellbeing
- Learning and development
- Culture and social cognition in organisations
Occupational health and wellbeing
This cluster is concerned with contemporary issues in occupational health and wellbeing, with an emphasis on cross cultural contexts. Areas of interest include:
- work-related violence and occupational stress
- impact of environmental design on health and wellbeing
- health and safety cultures
- HR best practise in health services
- reproductive health and public health services
- resiliency and work-life balance
- burnout and work engagement
Learning and development
The learning and development cluster is concerned with individual and organisational level processes and issues that impact on people’s growth in organisations and communities.
Areas of interest include:
- career decision making
- emotional intelligence
- performance management
Culture and social cognition in organisations
This cluster is concerned with the impact of culture and group level processes on work and organisational outcomes. Areas of interest include:
- organisational culture and positive work outcomes
- research culture and productivity
- multicultural contexts and work outcomes
- social identity perspectives in organisations
- cross-cultural management
- individual and organisational values
- cross-cultural adaptation