Maria Karanika - Deputy External Relations Officer

After completing her undergraduate studies in Applied Psychology, Maria studied occupational health psychology (OHP) at the University of Nottingham. Her doctoral work focused on the application of connectionism and nonlinearity to modelling the relationships between work characteristics and health outcomes and exploring the practical implications for risk assessment and management.

Maria’s research interests fall within three main areas: (1) risk and risk assessment for occupational health and safety (OHS), (2) the management of OHS and its evaluation, and (3) interdisciplinarity. These areas are embedded within a framework that consists of: (a) research methods and non-linear dynamic systems theory, (b) advancing research in OHS and its management, and (c) focus on the practical applications of knowledge.

She is currently involved in research funded by the UK’s Health and Safety Executive, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, the University of Nottingham, and a number of industry collaborators. She has co-founded the University’s Cross-disciplinary Research Group, which aims to promote and facilitate research dialogue across the disciplines. Maria also contributes to teaching and related educational activities at the Institute in her specialist areas.

Maria has been involved in the European Academy, in various roles, since 2003. In her role as a Deputy External Relations Officer, with Amanda Griffiths, Maria is particularly interested in developing national networks of individuals and focal institutes and organisations involved in OHP. These networks will be an avenue for bringing together practitioners and researchers from the industry and academia, in order to share their experiences in OHP at the national, European and international levels. This work can be achieved in collaboration with the Academy’s membership officer and the chairs of the three Fora. Finally, Maria is also especially interested in developing a survey and a database of research and practice expertise in OHP.