Agata Wezyk
- Lecturer in Psychology
- Poole House P120, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
Biography
I obtained my Master’s degree in Psychology with a specialism in Health and Clinical Psychology in 2008 after a 5-year course at the University of Lodz (Poland). At that time I also completed a post-diploma course in Sports Psychology so my Master’s dissertation focused on self-handicapping in young athletes. 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 where I worked on various research projects related to employee well-being (job stress, fitness for work, presenteeism, work-life balance) as well as clinical issues such as PTSD in motor vehicle accident perpetrators.
In 2017 I was offered a PhD studentship at Bournemouth University under the supervision of Prof. Julie Turner-Cobb, Dr David Jones, and Dr Emily Arden-Close. I successfully defend my thesis “Understanding Stress and Health Through the Use of Visual Metaphor” in 2021. Throughout my PhD I was involved in teaching, and since January 2021 I have been working as a part-time lecturer at BU.
Research
My previous research experience focused mainly on broadly defined stress and well-being in different contexts. I have background in both quantitative and qualitative methods including working multi-modal data (verbal and visual). Currently, with colleagues from BU, University of West London, and Lyon Catholic University, I am working on a mixed-method project which has been developed to explore the efficacy of individual protective factors, family and social support networks, and organisational support available to psychology practitioners at the most critical times during and after the lockdown period. I also work part-time for the University of Lincoln on a mixed-method project “Breadwinning Mums, Caregiving Dads: Transforming Gender in Work and Childcare?” founded by Nuffield Foundation. It aims to identify the barriers to greater gender equality by exploring parenting arrangements in which childcare responsibilities are shared equally or assumed primarily by the mother/father.
