Dr Vicki Elsey

Associate Head of School

School: Psychology

Vicki is an experienced and respected Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a Registered Occupational Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology. Prior to joining Northumbria University, Vicki worked for an esteemed national consultancy as an Occupational Psychologist delivering projects for public and private sector clients. Vicki's consultancy expertise centres around employee selection (including bespoke design and delivery of the full range of assessment activities including graduate and senior exectuive), coaching (including maternity and leadership coaching) and career development (such as delivery of development programmes, leadership development and evidence-based training design and evaluation). In her role at Northumbria University, Vicki leads the Applied Work Psychology Research Group and is Director for Postgraduate Education, responsible for quality assurance for the distance learning and campus-based postgraduate psychology programmes. Vicki leads a popular Learning and Development module as part of the successful MSc Occupational and Organisational Psychology Programme and supervises postgraduate and undergraduate dissertation research projects. In addition, Vicki is an experienced doctoral level supervisor of both academic PhDs, professional doctorates and a qualified supervisor and assessor of the British Psychological Society's Stage Two Qualification in Occupational and Organisational Psychology. Vicki completed her Professional Doctorate in 2016 investigating The Career of an Occupational Psychology Graduate: Employment, Employability and Identity. Her research centres around career sustainability and employability, with a particular interest in supporting women's careers (including parenthood and women's health conditions), and the impact on career satisfaction, meaning and purpose. Vicki is the past co-Chair of the Division of Occupational Psychology Training Committee, past Academic Board Member for the BPS Qualification in Occupational Psychology and past career lead for the BPS Division of Occupational Psychology.

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Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
In Search of a Professional Image: How Women Comedians Engage Gender in their Work, Cook, C., Callahan, J., Elsey, V., Pollet, T. 1 Mar 2026, In: Gender, Work & Organization
Uncovering Gender and Temporal Dynamics: Career Resources Impacting Career Success, Malkowska, W., Elsey, V., Longstaff, L., Arnold, J. 12 Jan 2026, In: Administrative Sciences
What was the experience of home-working for UK women during the pandemic, and how did this impact future working preferences?: Submission to the Home-based Working Select Committee , Thomas, L., Elsey, V. 21 May 2025
Do I Say or Let it Go? Emotions Predict How People Respond to Receiving Sexual Objectification at Work, Shepherd, L., Mouter, O., Elsey, V., Lovell, B. 1 Apr 2023, In: Sex Roles: A Journal of Research
Elite High-Performing Military Leaders: An Evidence-Based Analysis on the Role of Resilience in Military Careers, Covington, I., Malkowska, W., Elsey, V. 8 Sep 2023, Resilience in Modern Day Organisations, London, Taylor & Francis
Examining the role of employability as a mediator in the relationship between psychological capital and objective career success amongst occupational psychology professionals, Elsey, V., Van der Heijden, B., Smith, M., Moss, M. 14 Dec 2022, In: Frontiers in Psychology
Positive expressive writing as a tool for alleviating burnout and enhancing wellbeing in teachers and other full-time workers, Round, E., Wetherell, M., Elsey, V., Smith, M. 31 Dec 2022, In: Cogent Psychology
International Differences in Employee Silence Motives: Scale Validation, Prevalence, and Relationships with Culture Characteristics across 33 Countries, Knoll, M., Götz, M., Adriasola, E., Al‐Atwi, A., Arenas, A., Atitsogbe, K., Barrett, S., Bhattacharjee, A., Blanco C., N., Bogilović, S., Bollmann, G., Bosak, J., Bulut, C., Carter, M., Cerne, M., Chui, S., Di Marco, D., Duden, G., Elsey, V., Fujimura, M., Gatti, P., Ghislieri, C., Giessner, S., Hino, K., Hofmans, J., Jønsson, T., Kazimna, P., Lowe, K., Malagon, J., Mohebbi, H., Montgomery, A., Monzani, L., Pieterse, A., Ngoma, M., Ozeren, E., O'Shea, D., Ottsen, C., Pickett, J., Rangkuti, A., Retowski, S., Sattari Ardabili, F., Shaukat, R., Silva, S., Šimunić, A., Steffens, N., Sultanova, F., Szücs, D., Tavares, S., Tipandjan, A., Dick, R., Vasiljevic, D., Wong, S., Zacher, H. 1 Jun 2021, In: Journal of Organizational Behavior
Becoming a professional: The five pillars of identification in Occupational Psychology in the UK, Elsey, V., Thompson, N., Sillence, E., Longstaff, L., Moss, M. 18 Jun 2020, In: InPractice: The EAWOP Practitioners E-Journal
Collaborative Leadership in Systems: Evaluation report on Pilot Development Centre and Coaching, Elsey, V., Carter, M., Longstaff, L., Thompson, N., Wheatman, A. Jun 2020

Current and Recent Projects

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Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management 3 MSCA RISE Project No 734824, Pearce, A. (Principal Investigator), Elsey, V. (Co Investigator), European Commission, 14/12/16 - 30/12/20, £769,355.00

Professional Activity

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Invited talk: What can occupational psychology teach you about careers: evidence and experiences 2018
Invited talk: What can occupational psychology teach you about careers: evidence and experiences 2018

PGR Supervision

Jayne Ruff Examining contextual behavioural coaching as a resource for HR leaders navigating the demands of organisational change Start Date: 01/10/2024
Kate Bradley Navigating the Intersection of Occupational Psychology and Climate Action: Addressing Values Conflict and Professional Responsibilities Start Date: 01/10/2023
Wika Malkowska Career Success Through a Gendered Lens: A Conservation of Resources Theory Perspective Start Date: 05/04/2023