Career Overview 
Dr Allison M. C. Gillen (PhD, MSc, BSc, CPsychol, SFHEA, AFBPsS, M.Ps.S.I.) is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society, is the Psychology Director for the BA (Hons) English and Psychology Programme (Note: the Psychology Strand is accredited by the Psychological Society of Ireland), and is a Lecturer in Psychology (2019), having joined the team at Atlantic Technological University Sligo in September 2018.

Allison was awarded Senior Fellowship status of the Higher Education Academy (2018) and was awarded the Level B (Personality Tests) Certificate of Competence in Occupational Testing from the Psychological Testing Centre (2018; British Psychological Society), and is on the Register of Qualifications in Test Use.  Allison is a reviewer on the journals Cogent Psychology, Child Care in Practice, Psychiatry Research, Journal of Affective Disorders and Clinical Psychology Review.

Prior to joining the team at the Atlantic Technological University Sligo, Allison was a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Suffolk (2015-2018; UK), was the Course Leader for the MSc Applications of Psychology and the PhD and Research Coordinator for Psychology.  Allison was the Module Leader and Creator of the Academic Development module, the Module Leader of: (1) Social and Developmental Psychology; (2) Questionnaire Design and Analysis and (3) Personality and Intelligence, while contributing and sharing responsibility for: (4) Social Science Research Skills and (5) Foundations of Social and Developmental Psychology.  Additionally, Allison supervised final year dissertation students, was a personal tutor for final year students and was a Mentor for a Research Assistant alongside being a contributing member on various University Committees. 

Allison had extensive experience of teaching a wide range of psychology modules while completing her PhD at Ulster University (2011-2015; Northern Ireland).  Furthermore, Allison delivered her course entitled: “Introduction to SPSS for Beginners” during the Statistics Summer School at Ulster University (2012-2014; Northern Ireland).   Allison was awarded a full Vice Chancellor’s Research Scholarship to conduct her PhD entitled: “The Prevalence and Mediating Intrinsic and Extrinsic Predictors of Deliberate Self-Harm in Northern Irish Adolescents” from Ulster University (2011-2015; Northern Ireland).  During this time, Allison was awarded Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (2013) and the Institute of Leadership and Management Level 5 Award in Leadership and Management (2016).   

Previous to beginning her PhD, Allison was awarded a First Class Distinction in the MSc in Applied Psychology: Mental Health from Ulster University (2010; Northern Ireland).  Simultaneously, Allison was awarded the Level A (Ability Tests) Certificate of Competence in Occupational Testing from the Psychological Testing Centre (2010; British Psychological Society) and is on the Register of Qualifications in Test Use, while also completing a Basic Therapeutic Counselling Skills Course.  Allison completed her BSc (Hons) in Psychology at the University of Stirling (2005-2009; Scotland).   

Professional Memberships 
Allison holds the following Professional Memberships: 
•  Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society. 

•  Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. 

•  Graduate member of the Psychological Society of Ireland. 

•  Member of the Northern Irish Branch and Developmental Section of the British Psychological Society. 

•  Member on the Psychological Testing Centres Register of Qualifications in Test Use (Level A [Ability Tests] and Level B [Personality Tests] Certificate of Competence in Occupational Testing), British Psychological Society. 

•  Member on the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (EFPA).

Research Interests 
Allison's research interests focus mainly on the areas of child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing.  Allison is particularly interested in the areas of coping mechanisms, impulsivity, bullying and cyberbullying, personality, psychological vulnerability and resilience.  Allison conducts research both with community based populations and clinical populations.  Allison mainly focuses her research on the prevalence, predictors and mediating factors of self-harm with adolescents aged from 11 years to 18 years.  Allison has extensive skills both of a quantitative and qualitative nature, as her PhD adopted a mixed methods approach.  Allison has expertise in utilising data manipulation and analyses packages such as Mplus, SPSS and Nvivo.

Supervision of Research Students
•  Primary Supervisor of Chloe Cox, for Chloe's fully funded PhD under the HigherEd4All Project: "Provision of full-time online education to maximise access, participation, and success for students who cannot attend on campus" (Successfully defended thesis with no amendments 17/05/2024).

•  Primary Supervisor of Kelley Hester, for Kelley's fully funded PhD under the iNOTE Project: "An evaluation of the effectiveness of online support regarding students mental health and wellbeing from under-represented groups" (October 2020-present).

•  Primary Supervisor of Deborah Doherty, for Deborah's fully funded MRes under the N-TUTORR Project: "Flourishing at Atlantic Technological University: Promoting education for sustainability" (June 2023-present).