Associate Professor
Erin O'Connor
Faculty of Health,
School of Psychology & Counselling
Biography
I am a registered Psychologist with a strong interest in adult and adolescent learning across a number of domains including health-based decision making, learning at university, and the career paths of non-traditional students. Much of my work involves collaborating with university students and community partners. The goal of this approach is to contribute directly to community and education services and support students to cultivate meaningful careers. I am also interested in quality tertiary education and am an assessor for the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC), and a Senior Fellow and an Associate Fellow (Indigenous) of the Higher Education Academy. I completed post-doctoral training at the University of Minnesota and I have worked as a learning design consultant in universities and in secondary schooling. I have served as my school's Director of the Learning and Teaching and the chair of my school's Learning and Teaching Committee (2015-2020). I received a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in 2014, two Vice Chancellor's Performance Awards, two nominations for the David Gardiner Teacher of the Year Award, and the APS Early Career Teacher Award for 2012.My research interests include:
- Adult learning and decision making;
- Community program evaluation and participatory research; and
- Health and consumer psychology.
Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor
Faculty of Health,
School of Psychology & Counselling
Research field
Other Education, Psychology, Other studies in Human Society
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)
- Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) (Queensland University of Technology)
Professional memberships and associations
- Registered Psychologist (Australia)
- National Assessor - Australian Psychology Accreditation Council
- Member - University Academic Board
- Member - University Learning and Teaching Committee
Teaching
PYB301 (previously PYB207) - Psychology in the Community (subject for final year students)
- Career development for psychology students
- 50 hour service learning placement with a community, private, or government organisation
- Reflection skills and training in mindfulness and self evaluation
- This placement unit culminates in a student conference during which we present short video briefs of where the students went, what they supported the organisation to do, and their professional development outcomes.
PYB300 - Behavioural Science and Contemporary Challenges
- In this core final year unit, students work with community partners to develop drafts of grant applications for funding.
PYB207 - Group Work
- Intensive experiential learning through a group experience;
- Development of group facilitation skills; and
- Refinement of reflective thinking during and after group facilitation.
I have also previously taught PYB000, PYB215, PYB302, PYB306. I have also developed and taught the psychology first year curriculum for University of Minnesota's Bachelor of Science (Health science) degree (2009/10).
Experience
Past Experience:
- Post Doctoral Associate - University of Minnesota, USA
- Learning Designer - Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology
- Education Evaluation (Private consultant) - St Paul's School, QLD
- Elected Committee Member: Consumer Liaison Committee, Food Standards Australia and New Zealand
Previous research appointments: Cancer Council, Center for Accident Research and Road Safety - QLD, St Flanna's School (Refugee support), and St Paul's School Previous volunteer service: Association for Friends and Relatives of the Mentally Ill (ARAFMI), and Pine Rivers Neighbourhood Center.
Publications
- Hamilton, K., Morrissey, S., Farrell, L., Ellu, M., O'Donovan, A., Weinbrecht, T. & O'Connor, E. (2018). Increasing psychological literacy and work readiness of Australian psychology undergraduates through a capstone and work-integrated learning experience: Current issues and what needs to be done. Australian Psychologist, 53(2), 151–160. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/223268
- O'Connor, E., Sims, L. & White, K. (2017). Ethical food choices: Examining people's Fair Trade purchasing decisions. Food Quality and Preference, 60, 105–112. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/105839
- Moss, N., O'Connor, E. & White, K. (2010). Psychosocial predictors of the use of enhanced podcasting in student learning. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(3), 302–309. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/31796
- Longman, H., O'Connor, E. & Obst, P. (2009). The Effect of Social Support Derived from World of Warcraft on Negative Psychological Symptoms. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 12(5), 563–566. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/27307
- O'Connor, E., Longman, H., White, K. & Obst, P. (2015). Sense of community, social identity and social support among players of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs): A qualitative analysis. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 25(6), 459–473. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/84804
- Lum, M., Garnett, M. & O'Connor, E. (2014). Health communication: A pilot study comparing perceptions of women with and without high functioning autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8(12), 1713–1721. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/79943
- Wilson, D. & O'Connor, E. (2017). Mindfulness, personality and disordered eating. Personality and Individual Differences, 119, 7–12. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/108164
- O'Connor, E. & White, K. (2010). Willingness to trial functional foods and vitamin supplements: The role of attitudes, subjective norms, and dread of risks. Food Quality and Preference, 21(1), 75–81. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/28458
- Burton, L., Lodge, J., O'Connor, E. & Shaw, R. (2015). Applying cognitive science to critical thinking among higher education students. In M. Davies & R. Barnett (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of critical thinking in higher education (pp. 391–407). Palgrave Macmillan. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/84806
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Erin, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Selected research projects
- Title
- Improving work placement for international students, their mentors and other stakeholders
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- ID14-3837
- Start year
- 2014
- Keywords
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.