Dr Luiz Silva Souza

Qualifications

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• British Psychological Society Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol)

Courses taught

• Psychology MSc
• Psychology BSc (Hons)
• Psychology with Criminology BSc (Hons)
• Psychology with Counselling BSc (Hons)

Current funded project (2026-2028)

British Academy International Writing Workshops 2025: Supporting Brazilian Early-Career Researchers in Critical Social Psychology and Enhancing their Global Visibility. This initiative aims to strengthen the international visibility of Brazilian critical social psychology and support the career progression of emerging scholars in Brazil, with the publication of their work in high-impact journals.

Selected publications

• Souza, L. G. S., & Bruun, A. (2026). Harmful to animals and humans? Arguments that challenge animal research and attitudes held by university students. Anthrozoös, [accepted for publication].
• Bohier, C. N., Souza, L. G. S., & Menandro, M. C. S. (2025). Animal suffering in the social representations constructed by animal protectors. Psicologia e Saber Social, 14, 436-467.
• Coutinho, S. M. S., Souza, L. G. S., Lemos, M. S., Rocha, L. L., & O’Dwyer, E. (2024). From cosmological breakthrough to normalised disease: A longitudinal study on the social representations of Covid-19. Papers on Social Representations, 33(2), 2.1-2.31.
• Souza, L. G. S. (2023, July 27). Should animal advocates talk about the animals, the environment, or human health? The Vegan Society (Newsletter). Available at Vegansociety.com
• Souza, L. G. S., & O'Dwyer, E. (2022). Social Distance and Social Connection: A Psychosocial Approach to the Community Responses to Covid-19. In E. O'Dwyer, & L. G. S. Souza (Eds.). Psychosocial Perspectives on Community Responses to Covid-19. Networks of Trust and Social Change (pp. 1-12). Routledge.
• O'Dwyer, E., & Souza, L. G. S. (2022). Psychological, social, and political implications of UK Covid-19 mutual aid groups. In E. O'Dwyer & L. G. S. Souza (Eds.). Psychosocial perspectives on community responses to Covid-19: Networks of trust and social change (pp. 133-144). Routledge.
• E. O'Dwyer & L. G. S. Souza (Eds.). (2022). Psychosocial perspectives on community responses to Covid-19: Networks of Trust and Social Change. Routledge.
• Souza, L. G. S., & O'Dwyer, E. (2022). Animal rights, environment, or health? Effects of argument type and dissonance on the attitudes toward the consumption of animals. Appetite, 176, 106129.
• O'Dwyer, E., Souza, L. G. S., & Beascoechea-Seguí, N. (2022). Rehearsing post-Covid-19 citizenship: Social representations of UK Covid-19 mutual aid. British Journal of Social Psychology, 61(4), 1245-1262.
• Souza, L. G. S., O'Dwyer, E., Coutinho, S. M. S., Chaudhuri, S., Rocha, L. L., & Souza, L. P. (2021). Social representations and ideology: Theories of common sense about COVID-19 among middle-class Brazilians and their ideological implications. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 9(1), 105-122.
• O'Dwyer, E., Beascoechea-Seguí, N., & Souza, L. G. S. (2021). The amplifying effect of perceived group politicization: Effects of group perceptions and identification on anxiety and coping self-efficacy among members of UK COVID-19 mutual aid groups. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 32(3), 423-437.
• Hanson, K., O'Dwyer, E., Chaudhuri, S., Souza, L. G. S., & Vandrevala, T. (2021). Mitigating the identity and health threat of COVID-19: Perspectives of middle-class South Asians living in the UK. Journal of Health Psychology, 27(9), 2147-2160.
• Souza, L. G. S., Atkinson, A., & Montague, B. (2020). Perceptions about veganism. (Peer-Reviewed Technical Report) Birmingham, UK: The Vegan Society. 50p.
• Souza, L. G. S. (2020). Places from which we speak: The concepts of consensual and reified universes and the interpretation of the outcomes obtained with ALCESTE and IRAMUTEQ. Papers on Social Representations, 29(2), 11.1-11.25.

Specialisms

• Social Psychology
• Health Psychology

Scholarly affiliations

• Research Advisory Committee of the Vegan Society
• International Member of the Observatory of Prejudice (INCT-Preconceitos, Brazil)
• Member of the Association for the Development of Social Psychology (ADEPS, Brazil)

Societal impact

I am principal investigator for the International Writing Workshop 'Supporting Brazilian Early-Career Researchers in Critical Social Psychology and Enhancing their Global Visibility' (British Academy). I have worked in partnership with Voices of Hope (Kingston upon Thames) to produce knowledge about their activities in support of women in situations of vulnerability and domestic violence. I also conduct knowledge exchange activities with animal rights organisations.

From 2010 to 2013, I developed a programme of action research and psychosocial intervention in partnership with a Brazilian Primary Health Care centre. This programme included the investigation of social representations and social practices towards alcoholism, masculinity, and male patients. In partnership with health care professionals, I set up a series of interventions to improve the care delivered to the underserved male population covered by the mentioned health centre, especially alcoholic men. This action research programme included quantitative and qualitative studies and contributed to the construction of new spaces of care and protagonism for the male population living in the nearby communities and played an important role in challenging the gender stereotypes constructed by the health professionals themselves. 

From 2013 to 2018, I coordinated the practices of psychology students in educational and social welfare services in collaboration with their professional teams. These practices included professional guidance workshops with students in secondary education and support groups with mothers of people with learning disabilities and with adolescents at risk.

Academic impact

• Associate Editor of the journal Papers on Social Representations, published by the ISCTE-IUL (Portugal), LSE (UK), and Johannes Kepler Universität (Austria).
• Consulting Editor of the journal Psychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations, published by the PHAIR Society.
• Researcher invited by The Vegan Society (UK) to coordinate the study Perceptions about Veganism (2019, technical report).

• Deputy Faculty Research Ethics Lead, Kingston University
• Assessment Officer, Department of Psychology, Kingston University
• Coordinator of Practices in Psychology, Fluminense Federal University, Brazil (2020-2022)
• Head of Department, Department of Psychology, Fluminense Federal University, Brazil (2017-2018)