Current PhD Students
I supervise PhD students who are engaged in independent research projects related to my own research interests. Have a look through their profiles, perhaps it will inspire you to develop your own research proposal and come and join us?​
Minali Wadu Mesthri
Nature’s Embrace: Examining the impact of biophilic workplaces on employee well-being in Sri Lanka and New Zealand over time.
University of Waikato, NZ
With seven years of experience in the academia and earning two master’s degrees in the field, my passion for understanding workplace well-being has deepened. This journey has led me to pursue a PhD in Psychology at the University of Waikato, where I can explore how our surroundings shape our mental and emotional well-being at work.
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My research focuses on how incorporating natural elements into workplace design can enhance well-being across diverse cultures. The idea that nature can positively influence our work lives fascinates me. Therefore, I aim to connect psychological research with workplace design by examining how nature-infused environments contribute to healthier work lives.
Zane Sheeran
The influence of organisational environmental sustainability on employee well-being, authenticity and productivity.
University of Waikato, NZ
I was first exposed to the exciting world of organisational psychology whilst taking a gap year and working for a company in the UAE that builds and runs sustainable schools and teaches a curriculum based on ecoliteracy. This is also when I began to develop an interest in environmental sustainability. After completing a BSc in psychology and environmental science I joined Dr Anna Sutton's lab as an honours student, where my dissertation focused on the predictive powers of authenticity and personality on employee well-being.
My PhD research aims to investigate whether 'green' companies have happier, more authentic and better performing employees.
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Shanice Herms
The mechanisims of mindfulness: stress buffering or resource building?
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University of Waikato, NZ
During my Organisational Psychology Master program in the Netherlands, I became interested in the topic of positive psychology and mindfulness. I’m interested in how we can use psychology to help people flourish and use their strengths, focusing on inner resources.
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My doctoral research aims at exploring through which mechanisms mindfulness exerts its positive effects. Specifically, I will investigate the mindfulness stress buffering hypothesis which states that the benefits of mindfulness are most prominent during periods of increased stress while assuming that mindfulness only has minimal or no positive effects under low stress circumstances.
Past PhD Students
I've supervised several students through their PhDs, read more about their projects - or even their whole theses! - here. You can also get in touch with them directly.
Claudia Nario
Leadership and the Enneagram Personality Model: A Multiple Rater, Multiple Outcome Perspective
Manchester Metropolitan University, UK (Completed 2023)
I have been a practicing organizational psychologist for more than 25 years, having worked both as a Consultant and an HR Executive, and I have an MSc in Organizational Behaviour. During my career, I have developed two passions: Leadership Development and the Enneagram, which I have found to be an extremely powerful tool to understand personality and predict behavior.
My PhD examined the relationship between the Enneagram and Leadership, by exploring the associations between this personality model and three sets of leadership variables: leadership behaviours, perceived leadership outcomes, and leadership performance indicators.
Madeleine Stapleton
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University of Waikato, NZ
(Completed 2023)
This thesis examined the impact of perceived manager psychopathy, using the triarchic model (i.e., boldness, meanness, and disinhibition), on employees’ motivation, performance, and well-being. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), we aimed to identify the underlying mechanisms driving the relationships between employees’ perception of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition in their manager, and their own motivation, performance, and well-being. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that boldness in managers leads employees to be more motivated, in addition to productive and psychologically well, when working; meanness and disinhibition in managers have the opposite effect.
Anja Römer
The potential and the limits of mindfulness: When and for whom is it beneficial?
University of Waikato, NZ (Completed 2021)
In my PhD research I examined the benefits and limitations of mindfulness in the workplace and investigated under which circumstances mindfulness-based interventions show positive effects.
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I now work as a lecturer in Organisational Psychology at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. I am interested in understanding and improving the experiences of employees by applying principles and methods from positive psychology and cognitive psychology.​
Amy Yong
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University of Waikato, NZ
(Completed 2020)
Supervisors’ autonomy support (SAS) is one of the main factors that contributes to employees’ well-being and other positive outcomes. But employees in low-skilled occupations are often neglected in research. This thesis expands the organisational and self-determination theory literature by including an understudied occupational group: low-skilled employees and their supervisors. The findings of this thesis emphasise not only the benefits of AST and SAS for employees and supervisors, but also highlight the importance of senior managerial autonomy support and organisational support in leading low-skilled occupations.
Sarah-Jane Lennie
Manchester Metropolitan University, UK (Completed 2019)
During my Organisational Psychology Master program in the Netherlands, I became interested in the topic of positive psychology and mindfulness. I’m interested in how we can use psychology to help people flourish and use their strengths, focusing on inner resources.
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My doctoral research examined the psychological outcomes of emotional labour for police officers in England and Wales using a sequential qualitative mixed method design. I found that emotional labour for police officers begins in the public arena and feeling and display rules operate in every aspect of an officers’ life, including with friends and family.
Wim Kuit
Development and Evaluation of the Coach-Athlete Relationship Enhancement (CARE) Intervention
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa
I am a psychologist and since 2008 I have been applying the Enneagram in my work with individuals, couples and groups. Recently I have become interested in the application of the Enneagram within sport psychology research and practice. Having applied the Enneagram in mental health and addiction treatment, my work is focused on bringing together insights about behaviour change and personal development with an in-depth understanding of personality patterns and their influence on relationships and performance.
My PhD research focused on enhancing the coach-athlete relationship through an integration of the Enneagram typology with sport psychological theories of the coach-athlete relationship. I developed and evaluated a practical intervention for improving the relationship between elite level university coaches and athletes.
Doaa Mirah
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Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
(Completed 2017)
The overall aim of this thesis was to examine HR practices within university settings in Saudi Arabia and the extent to which these HR practices as perceived by staff are associated with employees' (academics) level of job satisfaction and their commitment to their universities. The findings point to various challenges facing HR practices and how they are perceived in Saudi universities, and hence these should be addressed with the aim of improving job satisfaction and organisational commitment amongst faculty staff members. A key empirical contribution of this thesis is the expansion of academic research in the field of strategic HR management (SHRM) in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in general and in higher education in specific.
Margaret Hyde
Understanding dimensionality in health care
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Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
(Completed 2014)
While dimensions such as the environment, communications, reliability, access, etc., all contribute to making patients feel more at ease during a time when they are at their most vulnerable, they often fall short of what they should be. This thesis supports the shift towards greater emphasis on understanding the functional elements of health services in an effort to improve patient experience and outcomes. The findings provide a four-factor model comprising: trust, access, a caring approach and professionalism, three of which are comprised primarily of human interactions. The results point the way for further research to develop a detailed model to evaluate service quality in health care settings.