About
I am a Senior Lecturer in Psychology, a discipline area that sits within the College of Health, Psychology and Social Care. I am the Employability Lead for Psychology and the Level 5 Lead for our undergraduate BSc (Hons) Psychology programme. I teach on a range of undergraduate modules, MSc programmes and am a module leader for a number of modules.
I am an active researcher and have interests in a number of different areas including nature connection; compassion; and individual differences. I supervise PhD students researching these areas.
Teaching responsibilities
I teach campus-based students at undergraduate and masters levels. I am the Employability Lead for Psychology, the Level 5 Leader for our undergraduate campus-based psychology programmes and a personal tutor. I am also the Module Leader for Psychology in the Modern World 4PS502, Psychology Nature and Wellbeing 5PS524 and Skills and Careers in Psychology 5PS532.
I teach on the following undergraduate modules:
- Psychology in the Modern World 4PS502
- Skills and Careers in Psychology (1) 4PS519
- Quantitative Methods and Individual Differences 5PS509
- Psychology Nature and Wellbeing 5PS524
- Skills and Careers in Psychology (2) 5PS532
- Psychology Research Project 6PS541
- Psychology Research Project 6PS519
I also teach on the following postgraduate modules, supporting the MSc Behaviour Change and Masters of Research programmes and supervise MSc research projects.
- Independent Research 7SO999
- Negotiated Module in Science 7SO500
In addition, I also deliver short courses relating to evaluation, quantitative research methods and statistics and Wellbeing in the Workplace.
Professional interests
After graduating from the University of Derby with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology with Social Science in 1995, I went on to study for my PhD under the supervision of Dr Keith Clements. My PhD examined the relationship between alcohol consumption and smoking and how various factors such as social context, social interaction and individual differences might interact with this relationship.
Following the successful completion of my PhD, I then went on to work for the Police for four years, in various roles including Research Assistant, Head of Market Research and Acting Head of Performance Standards and Review. Following this, I worked for seven years as a Community Safety Manager for a local authority.
I returned to the University of Derby as Lecturer in Psychology in 2012 and now teach on modules across the BSc and MSc programmes. I am particularly interested in teaching about the relationship between nature and wellbeing, personality and individual differences and quantitative research methods. I undertake research and evaluation projects for external organisations and I also develop and run short courses such as Introduction to Evaluation.
Research interests
My current research interests are focused on nature connectedness in children and adults and the relationship between nature connectedness and wellbeing. I am particularly interested in understanding more about the impact of Nature Connection on wellbeing and identifying interventions that may help to improve individuals' connection to nature. As part of this work, I am also involved in evaluating initiatives aimed at improving nature connection and increasing access to nature for individuals who may not always find it easy to access nature.
Recently I worked as part of a team evaluating an initiative for Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and we are now conducting evaluation for Suffolk Wildlife Trust as part of a Heritage Lottery Funded project. In addition, we are also working on evaluation and research projects with the Outward Bound Trust and the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts.
I also have research interests in relation to compassion within education. I am currently leading a research project which aims to embed the micro-skills of compassionate communication into the Higher Education curriculum by introducing a new pedagogic approach. It is hoped that this approach will improve students' experience of group work. See https://www.cmtschools.org/ for more information.
Finally, I am also working as part of a research team investigating the relationship between different types of beliefs, wellbeing and individual differences in personality. Recently one of my PhD students successfully developed a new scale to measure the dark personality traits called The Dark Side of Humanity Scale.
Recent conferences
Harvey, C., Hallam, J., Richardson, M. and Wells, R. (2021). Good things children notice in nature: A framework for reconnecting children with nature. Singapore Conference of Applied Psychology December 2021.
Harvey, C. Maratos, F., Montague, J., Gale, M., Gilbert, T. and Clarke, K. (2021). Developing Compassionate Micro Skills of Communication: Facilitating group work with undergraduate psychology students. Singapore Conference of Applied Psychology December 2021.
Harvey, C. & Maratos, F. (2021). Embedding Compassionate Communication Skills with Undergraduate Psychology Students. Masterclass presented to the British Psychological Society Annual Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers of Psychology conference 24 June 2021.
Harvey, C. Maratos, F., Montague, J., Gale, M., Gilbert, T. and Clarke, K. (2021). Developing Compassionate Micro Skills of Communication to facilitate group work with undergraduate psychology students. International Perspectives in Education, University of the Agean, Greece, 2020.
Harvey, C. Maratos, F., Montague, J., Gale, M., Gilbert, T. and Clarke, K. (2020). Embedding compassion in the curriculum. Presented at the Advance HE Student Retention and Success Symposium: Examining the role of mental wellbeing in the curriculum and university, 19 September 2020.
Harvey, C., Hallam, J., Richardson, M. and Wells, R. (2019). Reconnecting children with nature: an extended framework for practitioners. Presented at Nature Connections 2019, University of Derby.
Harvey, C. Maratos, F., Montague, J., Gale, M., Gilbert, T. and Clarke, K. (2019). Embedding the Compassionate Micro-Skills of Communication in Higher Education. Presented at the University of Derby, Festival of Learning, July 2019.
Harvey, C. Maratos, F., Montague, J., Gale, M., Gilbert, T. and Clarke, K. (2019). Developing compassionate micro skills of communication to facilitate group work with undergraduate psychology students. Presented at the British Psychological Society Education Section Conference, 2019, Manchester.
Harvey, C., Holland, F. and Gould, D. (2018). Play Wild works! An evaluation of nature-based taster sessions for low-income families. Presented at Nature Connections 2018, University of Derby.
Holland, F and Harvey, C. (2017). Successfully evaluating your project: A workshop for practitioners. Presented at Nature Connections 2017, University of Derby.
Huggins, T. and Harvey, C. (2017). The influence of gender, environmental concern and general ecological behaviour on green buying in developing countries; Implications for behaviour change. Poster presented at Nature Connections 2017, University of Derby.
Birdsall, K. and Harvey, C. (2016). The impact of walking environment and connectedness to Nature, Mindfulness and Empathy: A comparison of natural and urban locations. Presented to Nature Connections 2016, University of Derby.
Harvey, C. (2016). The impact of a “3 good things” in nature writing intervention on nature connection in children. Presented at Nature Connections 2016, University of Derby.
Experience in industry
During my time working in the public sector for the police and local authority, I gained considerable experience in project management and partnership working.
I recently worked on "Play Wild" a Heritage Lottery-funded project with a range of partner organisations. The aim of the project was to encourage families with young children, who live in relatively deprived areas, to spend more time playing outdoors in nature. Working with Dr Fiona Holland, from the University of Derby, our role was to ensure the project was effectively evaluated.
I am currently working on a number of evaluation and research projects including:
- Suffolk Wildlife Trust
- Outward Bound Trust
- Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts
- Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
- St Ann's Allotments
