About Dr Sarah Pickup
I graduated from the University of Sunderland in 2010 with a First Class Honours degree in Psychology and completed my PhD here at the University in 2017. I am an Organisational Psychologist researching how individual differences, physical and social work environments impact behaviour, health, safety and wellbeing. I am a chartered member of the British Psychological Society and Senior Fellow within the Higher Education Authority.
I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the School of Psychology. I am Programme Leader for an online MSc Psychology course and lead several modules online and on campus.
Read my article on Employee Wellbeing During Covid-19 and Employers’ Responsibilities(opens in new tab).
Teaching and supervision
My main teaching focuses on workplace psychology and health, safety and wellbeing.
I am module leader for PSYM100 (Understanding Psychology), PSYM98 (Occupational Occupational psychology) and PSYM99 Research Planning and Design which are online modules within the MSc Psychology Programme.
I am also module leader for PSY261 (Future Selves) a core undergraduate module and supervise masters students taking their final assessment, a primary piece of research, across a broad range of topics.
Interests
My specific interests are related to the application of psychological/behavioural principles within the workplace (health, safety and wellbeing). My own PhD research sought to bring together many important aspects, perspectives and approaches to employee health, safety and wellbeing, including, personality, motivation, human error, organisational culture, climate and leadership.
Since my own PhD, I have been working primarily in the field of wellbeing, using organisational development principles to measure wellbeing and facilitate positive change outcomes. I also have a passion for personality theory and its application to the these fields.