Dr Emma O'Dwyer

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Emma O'Dwyer
About
Teaching and learning
Research

About

In 2013, I completed my PhD. in political psychology at Queen's University, Belfast. After this, I joined Kingston University as a postdoctoral researcher and subsequently as a lecturer. Broadly, my research focuses on two related areas: 1) how people understand and orient towards issues like foreign policy and military intervention, and (2) political participation, citizenship, and social change. I have investigated these priorities with reference to a diverse range of issues, e.g., Brexit, drone warfare, and, most recently, Covid-19 mutual aid groups. I have led the Social Psychology Research Group at Kingston University since 2019.

I am Director of Studies in the Department of Psychology. I teach Social Psychology, Political Psychology, and Research Methods at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. 

Academic responsibilities

Senior Lecturer in Political Psychology

Qualifications

  • 2004 - 2008: B.A. in Psychology and English Literature, Trinity College, Dublin
  • 2008 - 2009: MSc. in Political Psychology, Queen's University, Belfast
  • 2009 - 2013: PhD. in Political Psychology, Queen's University, Belfast

Teaching and learning

I am Director of Studies in the Department of Psychology.

I teach across undergraduate and postgraduate modules at Kingston University, mostly teaching Social Psychology and Research Methods. I am current leader of the core final year module, PS6000 (The Psychology Research Project) as well as Level 6 year tutor at Kingston University. 

Qualifications and expertise

  • Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Undergraduate courses taught

Postgraduate courses taught

Research

After completing my PhD at Queen's University, Belfast, I joined Kingston in 2013. My research has examined two related issues: (1) how people understand and orient towards issues like foreign policy and military intervention, and (2) political participation, citizenship, and social change. I frequently draw upon social representations theory in my research, and I take a pragmatic approach to method, which has meant the adoption of diverse methods during my research career, including interviews, automatic text analysis, and multi-level modelling. I have led the Social Psychology Research Group at Kingston University since 2019.

My current research priorities are (1) understanding the community response to Covid-19, particularly the phenomenon of mutual aid groups; and (2) investigating the social and psychological implications of worker cooperatives. 

I am currently (co-) supervising four PhD students:

  • Joanne Ahmed - 'Social representations of medicinal cannabis'
  • Sharmistha Chaudhuri - 'A qualitative analysis of UK teachers' construction of the notion of radicalisation among school children'
  • Kristin Hanson - 'American national Identity and political polarisation:  A mixed-methodology study'
  • Dina Gadallah - 'Framing Egyptian foreign policy in international print media'

Please contact me if you are interested in applying for a PhD in the areas of social or political psychology.  

Areas of specialism

  • Social psychology
  • Political psychology
  • Political participation
  • Social representations
  • Foreign policy opinion

Scholarly affiliations

  • International Society of Political Psychology
  • Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues

Research student supervision

Main supervision

Other supervision

Publications

Jump to: Article | Book Section | Conference or Workshop Item | Thesis
Number of items: 26.

Article

O'Dwyer, Emma, Silva Souza, Luiz Gustavo and Beascoechea-Seguí, Neus (2022) Rehearsing post-Covid-19 citizenship : social representations of UK Covid-19 mutual aid. British Journal of Social Psychology, ISSN (print) 0144-6665 (Epub Ahead of Print)

O'Dwyer, Emma, Beascoechea-Seguí, Neus and Souza, Luiz Gustavo Silva (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, ISSN (print) 1052-9284 (Epub Ahead of Print)

Hanson, Kristin, O'Dwyer, Emma, Chaudhuri, Sharmistha, Silva Souza, Luiz Gustavo and Vandrevala, Tushna (2021) Mitigating the identity and health threat of COVID-19 : perspectives of middle-class South Asians living in the UK. Journal of Health Psychology, ISSN (print) 1359-1053 (Epub Ahead of Print)

Hanson, Kristin, O'Dwyer, Emma and Lyons, Evanthia (2021) The national divide : a social representations approach to US political identity. European Journal of Social Psychology, ISSN (print) 0046-2772 (Epub Ahead of Print)

Souza, Luiz Gustavo Silva, O'Dwyer, Emma, Coutinho, Sabrine Mantuan dos Santos, Chaudhuri, Sharmistha, Rocha, Laila Lilargem and Souza, Luciane Pessanha de (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), pp. 105-122. ISSN (online) 2195-3325

O'Dwyer, Emma (2020) Reading the public : political action and its relationship to constructions of political disagreement and opinion climate in the context of Brexit. Political Psychology, 41(5), pp. 945-960. ISSN (print) 0162-895X

Vandrevala, Tushna and O'Dwyer, Emma (2020) Perceptions and experiences of live-in carers : why acknowledging versus neglecting personal identity matters for job satisfaction and well-being. Ageing and Society, 42(1), pp. 72-88. ISSN (print) 0144-686X

O'Dwyer, Emma (2020) COVID-19 mutual aid groups have the potential to increase intergroup solidarity – but can they actually do so? LSE British Politics and Policy blog,

O'Dwyer, Emma and Coymak, Ahmet (2020) Basic human values and their contexts : a multilevel analysis of support for the use of armed drones in the USA, UK, and Turkey. Political Psychology, 41(2), pp. 249-264. ISSN (print) 0162-895X

Coymak, Ahmet and O’Dwyer, Emma (2020) Does Brexit mean a return to sectarianism? Beyond 'the border issue', the future of social identities in Northern Ireland from a political psychological perspective. Development, 63(1), pp. 74-78. ISSN (print) 1011-6370

Hanson, Kristin and O'Dwyer, Emma (2019) Patriotism and nationalism, left and right : a Q-methodology study of American national identity. Political Psychology, 40(4), pp. 777-795. ISSN (print) 0162-895X

Hanson, Kristin, O'Dwyer, Emma and Lyons, Evanthia (2019) The individual and the nation : a qualitative analysis of US liberal and conservative identity content. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 7(1), pp. 378-401. ISSN (online) 2195-3325

O'Dwyer, Emma, Lyons, Evanthia and Cohrs, J. Christopher (2016) How Irish citizens negotiate foreign policy : a social representations approach to neutrality. Political Psychology, 37(2), pp. 165-181. ISSN (print) 0162-895X

O'Dwyer, Emma [Reviewer] (2016) Book Review of : 'Social psychology and politics' by J. P. Forgas, K. Fiedler & W. D. Crano (Eds.). Social Psychological Review, 18(2), ISSN (print) 1369-7862

Book Section

O'Dwyer, Emma (2018) Foreign policy and identity. In: Hewer, Christopher and Lyons, Evanthia, (eds.) Political psychology: a social psychological approach. Chichester, U.K. : Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 189-206. ISBN 9781118982389

Cohrs, J. Christopher and O'Dwyer, Emma (2018) “In the minds of men…”: social representations of war and military intervention. In: Hammack, Phillip L., (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Social Psychology and Social Justice. Oxford, U.K. : Oxford University Press. pp. 331-350. (Oxford library of psychology) ISBN 9780199938735

Conference or Workshop Item

O'Dwyer, Emma (2019) Will of the people? Constructions of the British public and public opinion in UK ‘Remainers’’ talk about political participation. In: The 42nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology : Empowering Citizens in Illiberal Times : The Political Psychology of Oppression and Resistance; 12 - 15 Jul 2019, Lisbon, Portugal. (Unpublished)

O'dwyer, Emma and Coymak, Ahmet (2017) Lay understandings of armed drones in the UK, USA and Turkey. In: The 40th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology : ISPP at 40 : Revisiting Core Themes of Tyranny, Intergroup Relations and Leadership; 29 Jun - 02 Jul 2017, Edinburgh, U.K.. (Unpublished)

O'Dwyer, Emma and Beascoechea Segui, Neus (2016) 'Stretching the elastic' : Anti-war and pacifist activist representations of war, peace and social change. In: The 39th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology : The Good Society : Prospects for Reason, Communication, and Well-Being; 13-16 Jul 2016, Warsaw, Poland. (Unpublished)

O'Dwyer, Emma, Wilson, Oliver, Cohrs, J.Christopher and Lyons, Evanthia (2014) Identity and support for military intervention: data from two qualitative studies in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. In: 37th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology: Ideologies and Ideological Conflict - The Political Psychology of Belief Systems; 4-7 Jul 2014, Rome, Italy. (Unpublished)

O'Dwyer, Emma, Lyons, Evanthia and Cohrs, J. Christopher (2013) How Irish citizens negotiate foreign policy: dilemmatic and identity-related aspects of social representations of neutrality. In: Department of Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University Seminar; 5 Nov 2013, Cambridge, U.K.. (Unpublished)

O'Dwyer, Emma, Lyons, Evanthia and Cohrs, J. Christopher (2012) 'Constraint' and lay foreign policy decision making: the dilemmatic and functional nature of Irish neutrality. In: Annual Conference of the Social Psychology Section, British Psychological Society; 21-23 Aug 2012, St Andrews, U.K.. (Unpublished)

O'Dwyer, Emma, Lyons, Evanthia and Cohrs, J. Christopher (2011) A historical perspective on the social representation of Irish neutrality and its relationship with national identity. In: Annual Conference of the Social Psychology Section, British Psychological Society; 6-8 Sep 2011, Cambridge, U.K.. (Unpublished)

O'Dwyer, Emma, Lyons, Evanthia and Cohrs, J. Christopher (2011) Social representations and Irish neutrality: The role of values in anchoring. In: 34th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology; 9-12 July 2011, Istanbul, Turkey. (Unpublished)

O'Dwyer, Emma, Lyons, Evanthia and Cohrs, J. Christopher (2010) The function of changing social representations of neutrality for Irish national identity. In: BPS Social Psychology Section Annual Conference: "Social Psychology in Action: Theoretical Debate and Social Impact"; 7-9 Sep 2010, Winchester, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Thesis

O'Dwyer, Emma (2013) Social representations of Irish neutrality. (PhD thesis), Queen's University, Belfast, uk.bl.ethos.602720.

This list was generated on Wed May 25 06:53:24 2022 BST.

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