Dr Hannah Slack is a dedicated and accomplished researcher at King's College London, having joined in 2023. She is an integral part of the U-Belong project, which focuses on understanding loneliness, social connection, and belonging in students transitioning to university life.

Her commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion is evident through her active involvement in various initiatives. She serves as a mentor for the King's Womxn in STEM program, a committee member for the Proudly King's Staff LGBTQIA+ network, a representative for the Department of Psychology Early Career Researcher group, and a co-lead for the SMaRteN Early Career Researchers and PhD group. She has also delivered an awareness talk on asexuality for King's staff, led a social media campaign for International Asexuality Day, and given a talk on inclusive and mindful survey design for the Department of Psychology, which is now included in teaching materials for the Contemporary Issues and Approaches in Quantitative Methods in Psychology (6PAHCIAQ) module.

Before joining King's, she earned her PhD in Psychology (2019-2023), MSc in Social Science Research Methods (Psychology; 2018-2019), and BSc in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience (2015-2018) from the University of Nottingham, where she was awarded the BPS Undergraduate Psychology Prize for achieving the highest average grade three years in a row.

With robust expertise in quantitative research methods, she excels in psychometric scale development and validation, inclusive survey design, and online behavioural experiments, including remote webcam-based eye-tracking. Her advanced statistical analysis skills include linear mixed effects models, social network analysis, structural equation models, exploratory/confirmatory factor analysis, Bayesian learning/decision models, and rise-two-threshold choice models. She is proficient in coding languages such as R, Python, MATLAB, and JavaScript, which she leverages for experiment design, data collection, data analysis, and visualisation. In addition to quantitative research techniques, Dr Slack also has demonstratable experience in qualitative research tools, such as focus groups and reflexive thematic analysis.

During her time at Nottingham, she served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, Seminar Tutor, and Laboratory Demonstrator for both undergraduate and postgraduate-level modules across the School of Psychology, the School of Sociology and Social Policy, and the Nottingham Graduate School. Her dedication to teaching was recognized with the British Psychology Society DART-P/PsyPAG Teaching Award in 2021. She also holds the title of Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).

Dr Slack's published works address topics such as the impact of online assessments on student wellbeing, identity management, agency and wellbeing among Graduate Teaching Assistants, and best practices for teaching open and reproducible scholarship. She is passionate about providing advice on inclusive survey design and approaches to research, as well as effective public engagement and social media campaigns.

Research interests

• Mental Health, Loneliness and Agency in Young People and Emerging Adults
• Childhood and Adolescent Adversity
• Clinical Perfectionism and Fear of Failure
• Pedagogical research
• Open science

Expertise and public engagement

• Podcast Co-Developer for the “Building Belonging at University” podcast, developed in collaboration with the All Things Mental Health team (2024).
• Public Engagement and Social Media Consultant for the Festival of Social Science (2024).
• Co-Lead of the SMaRteN Early Career Researchers and PhD group (2023-present).
• Scientist at I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here student-led STEM enrichment activity (2021; 2023; 2024-present).
• Co-Guest Editor for Educational Sciences (2023-2024).
• Invited Speaker at St John Rigby College (2024).
• Podcast guest on “Psyched to Be With You” podcast (2023).
• Member of the Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training (FORRT; 2021-present).

Extended list available at: https://hannahslack.com/publicengagement/