Dr Karen Kirby

Overview

Dr Karen Kirby (PhD, MSc, BSc, C.Psychol, AfBPS, SFHEA) has been employed by Ulster University as a Lecturer of Psychology since 2004, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2015.

Previously, Karen started her psychology career working as a Specialist Practitioner Psychologist in Altnagelvin Hospital (Co. Derry), working in the Clinical Health Psychology department, supporting people diagnosed with Diabetes. Later she worked in Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS), and Paediatric Psychology services on a consultancy basis, whilst working in Ulster University.

Karen moved to a full-time academic lecturing post in 2004 and has worked in Ulster University since, leading on the development of several post graduate applied psychology programmes, and conducting psychological and mental health science related research.

Karen is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society since 2021, and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SHEA) since 2016.

Karen is a Chartered Practitioner Psychologist and is both a Registered Counselling and Health Psychologist with the HCPC and the British Psychological Society.  Karen is also a family therapy practitioner, trained in CBT and a qualified Schema Therapist.

Teaching Focus

Dr Kirby’s current teaching disciplines are in the areas of applied psychology practice (which also aligns with research expertise). At post graduate level, the modules that she co-ordinates and teaches on are:  PSY722 ‘Developmental and Mental Health issues across the lifespan’, PSY866 ‘Assessment, Formulation and Intervention, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy’, and contributes to PSY848 ‘Psychological Therapies for children and families’. Karen also contributes to the undergraduate final year module ‘Applied Psychology: Mental Health Practice’.

Dr Kirby is the MSc Applied Psychology programme lead for the ‘Clinical Associate Psychology’ (CAP) pathway, specialising in children and young people, which supports graduates to gain the BPS CAP qualification.  Karen originally led the design and development of the BPS accredited training of ‘Psychological Well-being Practitioners’ (PWP’s). Both CAP and PWP pathways are two professional accredited routes within the MSc Applied Psychology programme, and Dr Kirby has led on both their developments, and supports ongoing accreditation.

Research Focus

Dr Kirby is a full member of the Psychology Research Institute, contributing to the ‘Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience UOA’, at Ulster.  Karen is also a member of both the ‘Mental Health Recognised Research Group (RRG)’, and the ‘Children, Young People in Schools RRG’.

Dr Kirby’s research has predominantly specialised in understanding the predictors of child and adolescent mental health and developmental trauma, including adverse childhood experiences. Alongside this, she has researched the implementation of trauma informed approaches in schools and communities, helping other staff and professionals understand what is required to fully adopts ‘universal/whole organisation’ trauma informed models of practice.

Dr Kirby has published in up to 100 (combined) peer reviewed academic journals and conference proceedings in these research areas; including the prevalence and predictors of self-harming behaviour in children aged 11 up to 18 years, understanding the measurement and impact of emotional dysregulation on children’s mental health, teaching children hope and adaptive coping skills in school classroom settings and evaluating the first ‘trauma informed compassionate schools’ programme to Northern Ireland (NI).

More recently, Dr Kirby’s research focus has turned to investigating the formation of early maladaptive schemas and maladaptive coping modes in childhood and trying to understand whether working with parents at the perinatal stages may help prevent the formation of such negative schemes during a child’s formative developmental periods.

Research Interests and Grant Awards

Within the last 5 years, Dr Kirby has been associated with research grant income, totalling £1,625,000.

Dr Kirby has been involved as a key investigator in securing two significant grant awards with Peace Plus IV.

The first project was called ‘Our Generation- making our future better together’, awarded £595,000, (2020-2023), in which she was the co-investigator along with Prof Siobhan O’Neil, Prof Maurice Mulvenna, and colleagues. This project supported early preventative mental health and emotional wellbeing programmes (and supporting cross community relations, and intergroup trust for children under and over 11 years) for all cross border regional schools in NI. Over 3000 children took part in this large-scale study, and the pre/post outcomes have indicated significant improvement in mental health and coping and intergroup trust to name a few variables. See dedicated website for ‘Our Generation’, where a bespoke App was also developed to continue/sustain the emotional health and wellbeing of children who are growing up in a trauma surviving society.

Dr Kirby also contributed to the design and review of the key recommendations around trauma informed practices when working with children and young people.

Due to the success of Our Generation 1, Peace Plus IV have awarded a second wave of funding for Our Generation 2- worth £950K (2024-2027). Our work will continue and have a new additional feature of incorporating intergroup relationships supporting children from diverse backgrounds in NI, providing trauma informed approaches, emotional wellbeing to children aged 8 up to 16 years.

Dr Kirby was also the Chief Investigator/lead for a Global Challenge Research Fund (2018) grant fund (worth over 37k), called ‘the Hopeful minds in Malaysia study’. As a result of this international research, the hopeful minds programme was introduced, adapted to Malaysian culture and re-evaluated for suitability in schools in Malaysia ( see paper Raudzah, Kirby et al, 2022), and with its positive outcomes, it has been scaled up and merged into the national school curricula for primary school children in Sarawak.

Dr Kirby is a key investigator (CoI) of the  ‘Safe Staffing in Social for NI study’, funded by the Dept of Health NI, and worth over 78k (2023). Dr Kirby collaborated with Prof. Paula McFadden – project lead. This commissioned study has witnessed significant impact, leading to legalising the ‘safe’ number of clients that a Social Worker (SW) should be responsible for in child protection services and older adult services. See papers in PURE.

• Perceptions of Safe Staffing, Self-Reported Mental Well-being and Intentions to Leave the Profession among UK Social Workers
• Children's Social Work Safe Staffing Supply and Workforce Demands Analysis
• Safer and Effective Staffing Research and Policy Development Older People’s and Children’s Social Work in Northern Ireland
• Safe Staffing and Workload Management in Social Work: A Scoping Review of Legislation, Policy and Practice
• Safe Staffing in Social Work Research and Policy Development: Children’s Services (Report 1)

Recognition Awards

Dr Kirby along with the multi-disciplinary team involved in the ‘Our Generation’ research grants (Peace IV) was awarded  ‘The Outstanding Interdisciplinary Research Team of the Year’ in 2024 (by Ulster’s research excellence awards), for long standing track record of research combining psychological and mental health sciences with computer science technology.

In addition to the focused areas of research listed above, Dr Kirby has also been involved in other research projects in recent years. Please see listed below:

Lead Investigator (current projects)

Dr Kirby was invited as a keynote speaker to an international conference held ATU in November 2022, titled 'The Science and Societal Impacts of Defective Concrete (DC).

Dr Kirby’s presentation regarding the mental health impact of DC issue gained significant media attention (several post conference radio interviews, newspapers reporting DC linked to chronic toxic stress).

This national public outcry surrounding the turmoil of living in crumbling/unsafe homes was instrumental in promoting a large-scale investigation into the psychosocial/familial impact of the DC crisis in Ireland.

Dr Kirby is the CI of this investigation and leading a multi-disciplinary team which was again highlighted in Irish Newspapers.

The study is titled: ‘An earthquake in slow motion’- the Societal and Family impact of the defective concrete crisis in Ireland. This study forms part of a DEL funded PhD scholarship (Oisin Keenan is the PhD researcher; ongoing to end 2027).

Research Supervision

Dr Kirby has a track record of PhD researcher supervision and research mentoring experience (11 scholarships since 2012).

Recently Graduated PhD Students

Dr Kirby was the lead supervisor/ investigator for five (completed) PhD scholarships [Gillen, 2010-2013; McDevitt-Petrovic 2016-2020, McGlinchey, 2017-2020; McCallion, 2019-2022; MacLochlainn, 2019-2022; and co-supervisor for a further 2 (completed) for Alamoush, 2020-2023- international Nursing student- co- supervised with Prof Owen Barr; and Hegarty 2016-2019 – co-supervised with Prof Marie Murphy (all successfully graduated within their timeframe).

Current PhD students

Dr Kirby is currently supervising four PhD researchers; lead supervisor for Oisin Keenan (started 23’) and Mary McGinley (started 24’) and co-supervising Oisin Harkin (started 23’), and Dylan Sloan with colleagues Prof. Paula McFadden from School of Applied Social Policy Sciences (due to submit April 25’).

Titles of PhD studies are:

1. Oisin Keenan: An earthquake in slow motion: Investigating the psychological and familial impact of the MICA/ defective concrete block property decay crisis in the Republic of Ireland
2. Mary McGinley: Early Maladaptive Schema activation in the Perinatal Period: An examination of the mediators influencing coping modes, perinatal anxiety and depression, and maternal bonding, in the antenatal and postnatal period
3. Oisin Harkin: An Exploration of the Human-Digital interface in the Application of Low-Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in a Primary Care Setting
4. Dylan Sloan: Investigating the Impact of School Social Work with Students in Need: The Impact of Service Provision and Student Well-Being

Innovation awards with research focus:

Dr Kirby has been involved in generating approx. £300,995k in income via seven significant innovation activities; all are aligned with her specialisms in childhood mental health/trauma/wellbeing and have been inter-disciplinary in nature (see 1-7 below).

1. In 2015,  Dr Kirby led on an invest NI innovation project (5k): testing a novel social prescribing platform (Element) to support Type 2 diabetes prevention.

   The outcome of this research led to significant social, health and economic impact:

   See Testimonial dated 21st/10/2024 from Jennifer Neff- CEO (Elemental Software ltd):

   '.... Dr. Kirby's research through Invest NI's Innovation Vouchers significantly influenced Elemental Software's market validation. The Elemental platform prototype was tested in a community setting, revealing reduced anxiety, depression, and diabetes risk levels among participants (with high 75% uptake). Karen's research solidified Elemental Software's participant-led, personalised, and community-focused approach, set us on track to lead the way with our business and our technology. The business launched in 2016 and created 45 jobs in Derry City, securing angel investment and contracts from various care trusts and organisations. As a result of Elemental Software's success, the company was bought by a large UK based technology company looking to build its portfolio of health, support and care solutions'.

2. In 2017, Dr Kirby was involved in another innovation fund (£5000), developed digital technologies to improve access to perinatal mental health services to support mothers in areas with high post-natal depression rates.
3. In 2019/20, Dr Kirby was the lead Psychologist/CoI with Prof Mulvenna and the Verbal Arts centre, secured an ‘Invest NI, KTP fund (£150,000) to develop digital bibliotherapy to support the emotional and MH literacy for school children. This created a novel Chatbot (pilot involving over 1000 children), with outcomes disseminated via several conference and publications:
   • Chatbots to Support Bibliotherapy in Promoting Resilience & Wellbeing in Children
   • Hidden in Plain Sight: Discreet User Interfaces
   • Innovation Voucher: Digital Reading Rooms Using Chatbot Technology
4. In 2020/21,  Dr Kirby led/secured £20,000 consultancy fund - ‘Schools for Hope Model and Hub’ project in Dunagannon, addressing youth suicides, piloting trauma-informed approaches, and daily online mindfulness. Outcomes were disseminated at Local Mid-Ulster District council conference and scaled to local schools.
5. In 2021/22,Dr Kirby supported the design of an Innovate UK funded 'Digital 999' app (£99,990), enabling women/children to report domestic violence in urgent situations. Developed in collaboration with TapSOS and PSNI, the app provides discreet, non-verbal alerting, ensuring victims' safety.
6. Between 2008-2014, Consultancy: Dr Kirby provided specialist psychology consultation to the Western Trust CAMHS/ Paediatric Psychology services, Altnagelvin Hospital (£21,000).
7. In2024/25, currently leading an innovation fund (£5,000) to evidence the impact bibliotherapy (reading rooms) via peer review, to support MH literacy in children (Verbal Arts centre, 2024/25).

Other Faculty held Positions

Dr Kirby is co-chair of the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences (L&HS) Wellbeing, Resilience and Belonging working group.

Dr Kirby is also the school lead representative for the Interprofessional education (IPE) Faculty L&HS working group.

Administration Roles and Memberships

Dr Kirby is the post graduate placement co-ordinator for the new Clinical Associate Psychology for Children and Young People, MSc specialist pathway.

Dr Kirby is a member of the Division of Counselling Psychology, and the Northern Ireland British Psychological Society. Karen is also a member of the GTi -CAP training committee (UK wide), and the Psychology Professions Workforce Consortium (PPWC) for Northern Ireland.

Professional memberships

• Chartered Practitioner Psychologist with the BPS
• Registered Counselling and Health Psychologist with the HCPC
• Registered Schema Therapist with the International Schema Therapy Association

Community Impact

Dr Kirby has expertise in leading projects with a significant community impact, and indeed has responded to important community crises. These projects have focused on prevention of youth suicide, families living in unsafe homes (i.e. defective concrete DC- already listed above to name a few. Locally and internationally, she has partnered with health care agencies, schools, businesses and communities/district councils to help address some major societal issues.

One of the most noteworthy of these areas (which is linked to research) and has impacted society significantly is the prevention youth self-harm via educating children about adaptive coping skills as part of the education curriculum.

Youth Self-harm/ Suicide prevention

Dr Kirby was the chief investigator (CI) of four key studies/reports which examined the predictors of self-harming behaviours and poor mental health (MH) in almost 1,800 children (11-18years) attending school in NI (See PURE reports/papers Gillen, Kirby et al., 2015/2020 and McGlinchey, Kirby et al, 2018/2021). The outcome of these studies recommended educating children about the neuroscience of stress and the brain, emotional regulation skills, and problem-solving as key life skills to help prevent/address depression and hopelessness in childhood. Dr Kirby has passionately dedicated several years of her academic/professional career to implementing evidenced-based tools to help transform the mental health (MH) literacy programmes in schools across NI, and internationally with the intention of reducing maladaptive coping mechanisms which lead to self-harm behaviours in youth.

In response to the outcome of the studies referred to above, Dr Kirby was involved in the design and evaluation of a novel school-based suicide prevention program to support and nurture the MH, wellbeing, and coping skills of all children attending primary/secondary school. This school programme was developed in collaboration with international academic colleagues from Harvard University (Prof Myron Belfer & Dr Kristin Stark) and Kathryn Goetske, and implemented in NI by Marie Dunne (director of Resilio).   The curriculum, is scientifically driven utilising ‘Hope theory’ (Snyder, 2018) to avoid/prevent the emergence of hopelessness, a key predictor of suicide in youth. This programme was assessed (see PURE; Kirby et al. 2021/2021) and presented at the 2019 symposium of the NI British Psychological Society (BPS), and the 9th International Conference on Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Malaysia.

Prior to this, Dr Kirby chaired a conference in UU Derry/Londonderry campus, called 'Building Resilience for Children and Young people in NI’ (June2017). Keynote speakers were the colleagues from Harvard University listed above (Prof Belfer & Dr Stark), and founder of Hopeful Minds (Kathryn Goetske), and director of Resilio (Marie Dunne).  Representatives from CAMHS, the Education Authority, the Dept. of Health, several NI school principals, along with the NI commissioner for children and young people attended this conference which sparked the training of teaching staff and the roll out implementation of hopeful minds as part of the school curriculum.

The hopeful minds project extended internationally to Malaysia. With the support of a Global Challenge research fund (37k), and a continuation of our collaboration between US partners, and our key collaborating research partner- Prof Ghazali from the University of Sarawak, they piloted 'Bringing hopeful minds to the children of Malaysia', which later led to its adoption in hundreds of schools after its peer review (see Ghazali, Kirby et al. 2022).

See below example of impact reported by teachers

‘The Hopeful minds programme has helped children understand the concept of always maintaining hope even during the most difficult times and more importantly, knowing in simple terms, the neurobiology of stress on the brain, and where to seek help and problem solve when needed, and how to regulate emotions. These are evidenced based invaluable coping skills to instil in a child early on in life.

To date, several hundred teachers have been trained in ‘hopeful-minds’.

Dr Kirby has sustained her leadership and impact from the hopeful minds project:

• The Derry & Strabane District Council held a 'Festival of Hope Day' supporting adults overcoming community hopelessness post-Covid.
• ‘Campus of Hope’- Designed a poster exhibition on the Derry/Londonderry campus on April 25th/2024 (large turnout of staff/students).
• Claudia Hammond (BBC presenter), live audience interview and podcast on  ‘The Psychology of Hope’ during BBC Science festival (March 2024), highlighting the impact of research on child suicide prevention - recorded podcast: All in the Mind-Psychology of Hope

Personal Information

Karen loves long beach and countryside walks, swimming, and seriously loves music (especially the 80’s era, Hans Zimmer, Ennio Morricone- anything live!). She loves being a mother and watching her four children (Aiyanah, Kaia, Farrah and Ethan) thrive. She loves Italy, and especially spending time travelling with her husband, Paul.