Chris Gibbons has worked as a Lecturer (Education) in the School of Psychology at Queen’s University since 2010, with a break for a year in 2017-18. He contributes to all areas of the UG degree in psychology and on the Master conversion course in psychology. He was the Student Recruitment Offer from 2019-2022 and the Academic lead for the Pathway Opportunity Programme in psychology and on the Senior and Junior academy programmes. He helped set up and is the co-ordinator for psychology module for the growing number of American students who study in the school in their first semester. Chris obtained his PhD in psychology in 2008 during a five-year stint in the School of Nursing at Queen’s. Chris is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

As part of his doctorate work, Chris developed the Index of Sources of Stress in Nursing Students (ISSN) to measure sources of distress and eustress in students. It is used by over a dozen universities in Asia, Europe and America to monitor stress in students and has been used by several PhD students as part of their doctorate research.

Chris has an interest in health psychology and positive psychology and in the formula to help students succeed in higher education. He wrote ‘Journey into psychology – the guide for success in studying psychology’. A textbook on the core perspectives in psychology, on research methods and stats and on how to develop critical thinking in psychology. This is being published with Troubador. He surveys approximately 200 psychology students each year, gathering information on the sources of stress that contribute to states of distress and eustress, along with measuring a range of factors that influence coping and that impact on mental health, wellbeing, motivation and academic performance. This informs the guidance he gives to students in labs and lectures on how to make success more likely and several of these ingredients have been turned into a series of videos for Queen’s YouTube channel. Chris has research published using qualitative and quantitative methods but most are quantitative and draw on regression, moderation and mediation analyses.

Chris currently teachers on:

NEPS1001 Foundations in Psychology (NorthEastern University collaboration)

PSY1008 Foundations in Psychology (Level I)

PSY1009 introduction to Methods in Psychology (Labs)

PSY2065 Core Psychology I (Level II)

PSY2066 Core Psychology II (Level II)

PSY2067 Psychological Methods (Level II)

PSY3114 Psychology Thesis (Level III)

PSY7090 Core Psychology II (PG)

NEPS1001 Module Co-ordinator

Personal Tutor

Ethics Peer Reviewer (Proportionate Review applications)

Pathway Opportunity Programme Academic lead with the Widening Participation Unit

Junior and Senior Academy Academic lead with the Widening Participation Unit

STEM REIMAGINE School lead (an EPS Faculty initiative to promote science in teaching)

Founder and Chair of the Association for Psychology Teachers