Chris Smyth

I graduated from Queens University with a degree in psychology in 2014, having completed a third year project on the use of heurisitics with age. Following my Undergraduate degree I have worked outside of academia in a number of roles. I am registered with the NISCC and worked in Autism Support with Positive Futures. I also completed a placement with the HNS Recovery College, which aimed to support those with chronic mental health and addicticion issues. As a research assistant, I conducted efficacy analysis on the courses run by the College and aided in the delivery of the courses offered.  

I also worked in elected politics, serving as a Councillor in Fermanagh Omagh District Council from 2014 until 2021. I served as the Council's Chairperson (2020-2021). I also served on the Councils Health and Social Care lisaon committee and briefly as one of the Mental Health Champions for the District. 

I taught as a Lecturer at the South West College in 2018-2020 teaching the Psychology ACCESS course. 

I started my PhD at the University of Ulster in 2017 and passed my VIVA in December 2020 and worked as a demonstrator in numerous modules during that time.    

I began working as a lecturer at Coventry University in February 2021

My PhD used secondary data based on a 100,000 strong sample representative of the Uk population to investigate the psychometric properties of the GHQ-12 and to test dimensional representations of this scale to account for wording effects. 

Following this I applied an appropriate dimensional represntation to model mental health longitudionally. By doing so I was able to extract trajectories of mental health and investigate what predisposed individuals to display these trajectories.   

Coming from the relatively convoluted path mentioned in my biography, I have a wide range of research interests, however generally I have experience and expertise in mental health research and more specifically the use of secondary data to model mental health longitudionally. The skills gained in my PhD have afforded me the opportunity to develop transferable skills especially in the field of strucural equation modelling which I am interested in applying these skills to other areas.  

I have also have experience in using primary data to determine the efficacy of interventions through my time at the recovery college and would be interested in developing this further  

I have extensive exterience in local goverment and have an interest in investigating the efficacy of interventions at both the individual level and societal level. 

I also investigated the use of heuristics with age during my undergraduate and would be interested in revisiting this area should the opportunity arise.