Dr Fiona Holland
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Job title: Senior Lecturer, Psychology
Email: f.g.holland@derby.ac.uk
Phone No: 01332 591657
Room: N 204c
Experience in Industry
After completing my masters' degree in Minnesota, I spent 16 years working in a variety of health and well-being roles in the US. I was Assistant Director for employee wellness at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and then became a lead instructor at the Body Therapy Institute, a nationally recognised training school for massage therapists. I created a wellness programme for a large retirement community in Chapel Hill and also ran my own wellness consultancy and massage practice for 9 years. I developed and delivered CPD courses for qualified therapists and had a massage practice for a diverse range including athletes, weekend warriors, highly stressed executive and patients dealing with chronic pain. I returned to the UK in 2006 to teach in HE at the University of Derby's Buxton campus within their Sport, Health and Exercise team.
Faculty: Education, Health and Sciences
School: School of Science
Subject Area: Psychology
I am a Senior Lecturer in the Psychology department, supporting both undergraduate and masters level students in modules and research projects that link with health and well-being.
Research interests
My research interests all sit within health and well-being. I am particularly interested in:
- body esteem
- people's experiences of living in non-normative bodies
- benefits of well-being interventions (eg massage, yoga, meditation, physical activity) on psychological health
- motivation and adherence to well-being interventions
- occupational stress and coping
- teaching and learning
- building communities of practice within the workplace
Recent Conferences
- Holland, F.G. (July, 2012) Building body esteem: re-evaluating judgements about the bodies we live in and work with. 50th anniversary conference for the Federation of Holistic Therapists, Warwickshire, UK
- Holland, F.G. & Peterson, K. (June , 2012) Thinking outside the (BMI) box: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of healthy women who live outside the biomedically defined ideal weight range. Second Global Congress for Qualitative Health Research, Milan, Italy.
- Holland, F.G. and Curtis, S. (May, 2012) Strategies for living well in a weight-obsessed world: Health at every size and body esteem, Body Diversity and Peace conference, Berlin, Germany.
- Holland, F.G. (July 2010) Peer learning circles: A collaborative model of professional practice review. University of Derby Learning, Teaching & Assessment conference, Buxton.
Additional Interests and Activities
In addition to teaching and researching at the University of Derby, I also run a Nordic Walking business, leading weekly groups in the Peak District.
Undergraduate qualifications
- BA PE/Sports Science and English Literature, Loughborough University
Postgraduate qualifications
- MA Kinesiology (Sport Psychology focus), University of Minnesota
- PGCE PE/ English, Loughborough University
Research qualifications
- Professional Doctorate (Ed. D), University of Derby
