Dr Helen Lee

Senior Lecturer in Psychology
Timetabling and room bookings for undergraduate Psychology awards
Elected member on the Psychology Strategic Planning Group
Facilitates the departmental Critical Reading Group

I graduated from the University of East London (UEL) in 1994 with a BSc (Hons) Psychology. I spent six months travelling in Asia and then worked as a research assistant at UEL on a qualitative research project centred on identity and young people in multi-cultural East London. In 1996 I moved from London to Staffordshire to begin a PhD in Critical Psychology centred on ‘non-religious spirituality’. I completed my PhD in 2000 and took up a P/T lecturership at Staffordshire University. Since 2003 I have been working as a  research consultant and analyst on a participatory action research project with SiRCHESI (NGO) which centres on beer sellers in Cambodia. More recently, I have been collaborating with Dr Stephen Gallagher (University of Limerick) on a project with parental care givers.

PhD Psychology, Staffordshire University, 2000
BSc (Hons) Psychology (1st Class) University of East London, 1994

Participant-centred research including qualitative research methods (e.g. interviewing and focus groups, as well as more creative and visual methods) and participatory action research.

I am involved as a consultant and analyst on community projects in health and education.  Recently, I have worked as part of an international team alongside SiRCHESI (NGO) to evaluate an educational and work skills program.

Using participatory action research in a broad range of community projects.

Lee, H., Lubek, I., Pollock, G., et al. (2010).  Creating new career pathways to reduce poverty, illiteracy and health risks, while transforming and empowering Cambodian women's lives. Journal of Health Psychology. Special Section on Poverty Reduction. 982-992.

Hallam, J., Das Gupta, M., & Lee, H. (2008). An Exploration of Primary School Teachers’ Understanding of Art and the Place of Art in the Primary School Curriculum. Curriculum Journal, 19(4), 269-281.

Hallam, J., Lee, H., DasGupta, M., (2007). An Analysis of the Presentation of Art in the British Primary School Curriculum and its Implications for teaching. International Journal of Art and Design Education, 26(2), 206–214.

Hallam, J., Lee. H., & DasGupta, M. (2010, in press). An investigation into the ways in which art is taught in English reception classes. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
Lee, H. (2005). An ethics of involvement in researching spirituality. Feminism and Psychology, 15(4), 501-506.

Lee, H. (2007). ‘Truths that set us free?’: use of rhetoric in mind, body and spirit. Journal of Contemporary Religion. 22(1), 91-104.

Lee, H. (2009). A Critical Psychology of Spirituality: Socio-Cultural and Psychological Constructions. Verlag: VDM.

Lee, H., Lubek, I., Pollock, G., et al. (2010, in press).  Creating new career pathways to reduce poverty, illiteracy and health risks, while transforming and empowering Cambodian women's lives. Journal of Health Psychology.

Lee, H., and Marshall, H. (2003). Divine individualism: transcending psychology. International Journal of Critical Psychology 8. Special Issue: New forms of spirituality, 8, 13-33.

Lubek, I., Lee, H., Wong, M. L., et al, (2009). The life of a beer seller in Cambodia—to die for? La vie d’une vendeuse de bière au Cambodge– à mourir? Cahiers du Genre, 47, 77-102.  

My teaching is informed by critical psychology and qualitative research methods. I teach on the Psychology undergraduate modules Social Psychology: Theory and Methods’ at level 2; 'Dealing with Difference' at level 3 and sessions on social constructionism and qualitative research methods on the MSc/Dip Psychotherapeutic Counselling. More specifically, my teaching covers historical and conceptual issues in psychology; cultural and historical constructions of selfhood/personality and intelligence; social constructionism; discourse analysis; methodological issues in qualitative research; psychology's 'representation' of ethnicity, race, sex and gender; and individualism and the politics of psychology. I supervise undergraduate, graduate diploma and postgraduate research students to PhD level who want to develop a critical qualitative approach in their research.