Nichola Street

Senior Lecturer

Health, Education, Policing and Sciences

Nikki is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and began at Staffordshire in August 2015. Her psychology journey started in studying BSc Applied Psychology at LJMU in 2009 before going on to complete a PG cert in Counselling and Psychotherapy. Following this she completed her PhD in 2015 from University of Liverpool with a thesis titled ‘What have Fractals got to do with it? Individual Differences in Aesthetic experience’.  Before joining Staffordshire she worked at a lecturer teaching Psychology at University of Liverpool and Salford University.  

Professional memberships and activities

  • British Psychological Society

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Academic qualifications

    • Mindfulness Teacher, Mindfulness Now (BPS accredited)
    • PhD ‘What have Fractals got to do with it? Individual differences in Aesthetic Experience.’ University of Liverpool
    • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
    • PG Cert Counselling & Psychotherapy, Liverpool John Moores University
    • BSc Applied Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University

Expertise

  • Psychology
  • Mindfulness
  • Positive Psychology
  • Environmental Psychology
  • Psychology of Art & Aesthetics
  • Individual Differences

Research interests

Nikki’s research can be described under the umbrella of Psychological Interventions with two distinct strands. The first is focused on intervening at an individual level with tools from Mindfulness and Positive Psychology. As a trained Mindfulness teacher Nikki’s work involves delivering mindfulness interventions and exploring the outcomes of these in various populations, most recently Nikki and colleagues have been exploring the impact of mindfulness interventions in undergraduate students to explore how/if they can improve university experience as well as enhance wellbeing and resilience.

The second strand is exploring psychological interventions at a larger environmental scale and exploring the experiences of people and changes that can be implemented in physical environments to have a positive impact on thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. Within this realm of Environmental Psychology, Nikki has a particular interest in the positive impact of natural environments and nature and has explored in her research ways in which the positive effect of nature can be brought into the build environment. Nikki’s most recent work in the area is focused around prison environments and is growing pathways exploring interventions within health care settings.

Teaching

Nikki is Level 6 tutor and has in the been course leader for the BSc Psychology course. She teaches across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules.

 

Undergraduate:

  • Pathways in Psychology
  • Adventures in Psychology 2
  • Contemporary issues in Psychology (module leader)
  • Understanding the Social World
  • Psychology of Social Perception (module leader)
  • Steps to Success
  • Psychology Project
  • Psychology Dissertation

 

Postgraduate:

  • Guest lectures focused on Mindfulness and Positive Psychology on Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology
  • MSc Dissertation supervision

Publications

Street, N., (2018) ‘Taking to Twitter’: How do students talk about feedback on Twitter? Narrated Poster. Innovative Practice in Higher Education.3;(2)

Street, N., Hurst, G., & Ware, M. (2017) Reflecting Nature: Can we amplify the power of nature through Art? Nature Connections Conference 2017, 27th March 2017, University of Derby.

Forsythe, A., Street, N & Helmy, M (2016) Revisiting Rossion & Pourtois; new ratings for complexity, familiarity, beauty and encounter. Behavioural Research Methods

Street, N., Forsythe, A. M., Reilly, R., Taylor, R., & Helmy, M. S. (2016). A complex story: Universal preference vs. individual differences shaping aesthetic response to fractals patterns. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 10.

Street, N. (2016) When Art and Psychology Collide. Haiku Deck Presentation, BPS Annual Conference 26th April 2016.

Street, N., Riley, R., Forsythe, A., Helmy, M., & Taylor, R. (2015) The beautiful complexity of nature: Using fractals to explore our connection to the natural world. Nature Connections Conference 2015, 26th March 2015, University of Derby.

Norgate, S., Street, N., Smith, L., Winstanley, C., Davies, N., Hardings, M., Cherrett, T., Dickenson, J. & Speed, C. (2014) Smart Mobility for Reducing School Gate Congestion in Europe: Innovating Smartphone Walking School Buses for Children of Primary Age, The 3rd International Conference on Smart Systems, Devices and Technologies. SMART 2014 July 20-24 2014, Paris, France.

External profiles

in the UK for Quality Education

Sustainable Development Goal 4, Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2023

for Career Prospects

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

for Facilities

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

for Social Inclusion

The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023

of Research Impact is ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Very Considerable’

Research Excellence Framework 2021

of Research is “Internationally Excellent” or “World Leading”

Research Excellence Framework 2021

Four Star Rating

QS Star Ratings 2021