Dr Alison Torn is Associate Professor (Teaching and Learning) at Leeds Trinity University, where she leads on digital pedagogy across the university, as well as teaching on the psychology programmes and supervising postgraduate research.  She has published articles relating to nursing, mental health and narrative psychology, is co-editor of the book Psychology for Nursing (2016, Polity), co-author of Madness: History, Concepts and Controversies (2019, Routledge), and is associate editor for The Psychologist magazine. Alison convened the 2016 Joint Annual Conference of the BPS History and Philosophy of Psychology section and the UK Critical Psychiatry Network.  She convened the 2017 Stories of Psychology event for the History of Psychology Centre and was the 2017 keynote speaker for the BPS Psychology4students conference.  

Alison is passionate about her teaching and students’ university experiences. This is reflected in her pedagogical research interests around the development of communities of learning, the co-construction of the student experience, and barriers/facilitators to student engagement.

Anna is a Registered Forensic Psychologist, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology and module lead for the MSc Assessment, Intervention and Formulation Module at Leeds Trinity University. She teaches on various other modules including the undergraduate Forensic Psychology and research skills modules, the foundation year research methods and the MSc conversion Thesis module. She initially graduated with a BA in Business and Management before taking her interest in Psychology forward. Following this she graduated with a degree in Psychology, and an MSc in Forensic Psychology and Crime before completing her Practitioner Training with a PGDip in Forensic Psychology. She is currently working towards her PhD at Leeds Trinity University focusing on stalking. Anna’s research interests focus on forensic psychology, prisons, interventions, risk assessment, applied practice, reflection, denial, Parole Boards and stalking.

Dr Fayme Yeates completed her PhD at the University of Exeter investigating implicit sequence learning in humans, using a combination of behaviour experiments using variations of serial reaction time (SRT) tasks explore how we learn predictive contingencies between events without awareness or intention. Alongside these tasks, her work involved simulating and developing cognitive computational models of these processes using a recurrent network.

Her PhD fellowship involved graduate teaching responsibilities, for which she was recognised with a number of learning and teaching awards. She was the postgraduate representative to the BPS Mathematical, Statistical and Computing section, reflecting her keen interest in research methods, statistical analyses and computational modelling. After her PhD she moved to as position as Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Plymouth as a Lecturer in Psychology and spent two years there, where she was awarded multiple teaching awards by the University and student guild - including Best Dissertation Supervisor and Most Innovative Teacher. She then took a career break to care for her young family and moved to Leeds Trinity University on her return to academia as a Lecturer in Psychology in late 2023.

Dr Laura De Pretto is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology. Her research focuses on cross-cultural and environmental psychology, mainly through quantitative methods. Laura has an interest in cross-cultural variations in pro-environmental behaviours and connectedness to nature, as well as how these constructs intersect with hope, health, wellbeing and acculturation.  

Originally from Italy, Dr De Pretto obtained her PhD in Applied Psychology in 2013 from East China Normal University. After that, she worked as an Assistant Professor for the University of Nottingham Malaysia until 2017, when she joined Leeds Trinity University.  

At Leeds Trinity, she currently teaches contemporary issues in psychology, social psychology, professional learning through work and quantitative research methods across bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and supervises BSc dissertations, MSc theses and PhD projects.  

Dr De Pretto is also the international coordinator for the department.

James holds a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences from Heriot-Watt University, a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Sheffield, as well as an MSc in Industrial Psychology and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Hull. James was a lecturer at Hull for several years before moving to Leeds Trinity University. 

His PhD thesis was: “The relationship between tinnitus, cognitive performance and demands on the individual” and as someone with both tinnitus and hearing loss,  James is fascinated by the subjective nature of tinnitus and how it is perceived by different individuals. Why do some people habituate quickly, while others take longer? And why do others remain distressed over the long term, with significant consequences for their quality of life? 

Previously, James has been an unpaid scientific advisor to Hearing Power, the company behind the smartphone app MindEar (formerly Tinnibot). This work, supported by external grants, helped Tinnibot to win the third annual prestigious Hearing Technology Innovator Awards (October 2022). Alongside interventions for tinnitus in the online space, James has investigated the effects of tinnitus on diurnal hormonal cycles (specifically the stress hormone, cortisol), as well as dissatisfaction of tinnitus patients within the primary care pathway, help-seeking behaviour, and post-COVID tinnitus prevalence in the UK. 

James is active in the field of Knowledge Exchange, and runs workshops for GPs, audiologists, and other healthcare professionals to better understand tinnitus, and the evidence base behind specific tinnitus interventions. He has general interests in all kinds of chronic stressors (e.g. loneliness, chronic pain, long-term hearing impairment etc) and in the effects of hormones on human attractiveness and sexual orientation. He has made a number of media appearances with regards to the psychology of attraction, dating apps, loneliness, etc. 

James is open to supervise PhD students. 

Dr Conlon obtained her BA in Psychology from Trinity College, Dublin, and her MS and PhD in Developmental Psychology from Florida State University. She is a member of the BSc Psychology and Child Development team, primarily teaching on the Level 4 and Level 6 Child and Educational Psychology modules. Her research focuses on primary school children’s attitudes towards maths, how attitudes like maths interest, anxiety and self-concept interact with each other and with maths achievement over time, and how social factors like gender stereotyping might play a role in their development. She is interested in using advanced statistical methods to understand how maths attitudes change over time, in order to inform interventions to support positive maths attitudes and progression into STEM. Dr Conlon is passionate about Open Science and the importance of making research accessible and replicable.

Dr Zacharia Nahouli is a Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at LTU with several years of teaching and research experience. He is a mixed methods researcher whose interests centre primarily on applying psychological principles to forensic topics, such as investigating the social and cognitive aspects of forensic interviewing practices, criminal justice processes and offender rehabilitation programmes/interventions. This research informs his teaching on topics such as police interviewing, eyewitness memory, detecting deception, rapport and empathy, jury expert decision-making, and false memories, amongst others. 

Prior to his current role, Zac completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology with Criminology (BSc) at the University of Hull in 2014, a Masters degree in Psychology and Law (MSc) at Maastricht University in 2015, and a doctorate in Psychology (PhD) at the University of Westminster in 2021. He worked as a lecturer in Forensic Psychology at the University of Derby from 2021-2023, where he also completed an Academic Professional Apprenticeship (APA) and Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Higher Education, which gave him fellowship to the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

Tim Gomersall is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Leeds Trinity University. He has published widely in the areas of health psychology, gender-based violence, and theoretical psychology. He is interested in health inequalities, and believes that psychologists can create positive social change through their research and teaching. He has expertise in health psychology, qualitative research methods, and systematic reviews in health-related research.

Tim gained his BSc in Psychology from Lancaster University, followed by an MSc in Qualitative Psychology and Health and a PhD in Psychology, both from the University of Leeds. His PhD examined the experiences of well and poorly controlled type 2 diabetes, and the issues people experience in managing this complex chronic illness. Seeing the impact of social injustices on people’s health first-hand led to a lifelong passion for addressing these problems.

Tim has held research and teaching positions at the University of Manchester, the University of Sheffield, and the University of Huddersfield. He currently teaches at Leeds Trinity University across a range of modules on the Psychology programmes.