Dr Cath Sullivan

In addition to her role as course leader and her teaching and research activities, Cath is a member of the University Review Panel, carrying out validations and quality assurance reviews across the University of Central Lancashire. As an experienced supervisor and examiner of research students, Cath is also involved in training postgraduate research students across the University.

Cath’s research interests are currently particularly focused psychological aspects of mindfulness and meditation. She also has interests in the social psychology of gender, for example in relation to work and family. Cath has also done research on flexible working (including telework and work at home). She has a particular interest in qualitative research methods and the philosophical issues surrounding research, including social constructionism, discourse and qualitative research Cath has published her research in a wide range of psychology journals, including 'Qualitative Research in Psychology', 'Gender, Work and Organization' and 'New Technology, Work and Employment'.

She is also involved in peer review, and has reviewed journal articles for a range of publications including 'Personality and Individual Differences', 'Work and Stress' and 'Qualitative Research in Psychology' and regularly reviews book proposals for publishers such as Sage. As a founding member and former Chair of the Higher Education Special Interest Group on Teaching Qualitative Psychology, Cath has been involved in initiatives to support and train lecturers from across the UK's HE sector. Her publication record also includes authoring and editing a number of qualitative methods textbooks, such as Sullivan, C. and Forrester, M.A. (2019) (Eds.) Doing Qualitative Research in Psychology: A Practical Guide. London: Sage.