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Biography

Dr Nicola Byrom joined KCL in 2016 to support the developing BSc Psychology programme. She has two primary areas of research expertise and interest; learning theory and student mental health.  

Nicola completed DPhil with Dr Robin Murphy in Experimental Psychology at Oxford University examining individual differences in associative learning. She was awarded an MRC centenary award to continue this research, prior to working with Dr Rachel Msetfi examining the interaction between mood and judgements of control. At KCL, Nicola has continued my work in experimental psychology, teaching modules in individual differences and associative learning. She is always interested to hear from potential PhD students, interested in developing research in this area. 

Nicola founded Student Minds, with the ambition of changing the way we talk about mental health in Higher Education. Today Student Minds is the UK’s student mental health charity and has been instrumental in developing a whole-university approach to mental health and implementing a University Mental Health Charter. Building on my own experience of mental health difficulties, Nicola has always been passionate about nurturing peer and informal levels of support for mental health. She believes we need to do much more to focus efforts on prevention.  

After running Student Minds for 6 years, Nicola stepped back from the day to day operations in 2015. She is currently the chair of the board of trustees. Her work with Student Minds was recognised by the Queen, when she was one of the first people in the UK to be awarded the Queen's Young Leader Award. At KCL Nicola has developed a research portfolio focusing on student mental health.  

Research Interests: 

  • Individual differences in associative learning  
  • Student mental health 

Teaching: 

  • Psychology and the Individual  
  • Clinical Applications of Learning Theory