School of Education

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David Murphy

Professor of Psychology and Education, Faculty of Social Sciences

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Biography

David Murphy, PhD., CPsychol., AFBPsS., is Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Nottingham and member of the Centre for Research in Human Flourishing. David is author of Person-Centred Experiential Counselling for Depression 2nd edition (2019), Sage. His book contributions include Editor of the official BPS-Wiley Counselling Psychology: A textbook for study and practice (2017); Co-editor of Relational Depth: New Perspective and Developments (2012, with Rosanne Knox, Sue Wiggins and Mick Cooper), Palgrave MacMillan and, Trauma and the therapeutic Relationship (2013, with Stephen Joseph) Palgrave MacMillan. He was an editor of the international journal Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies for 10 years and published around 75 peer-reviewed journal articles.

Teaching Summary

David is currently working on the development of person-centred experiential pedagogy as a way of facilitating students exploring how and under what conditions optimal learning occurs and the ways in… read more

Research Summary

David's research interests are situated at the interface of psychology and education. David 's research is focused on the development of therapeutic pedagogy and experiential learning for human… read more

Selected Publications

David is currently working on the development of person-centred experiential pedagogy as a way of facilitating students exploring how and under what conditions optimal learning occurs and the ways in which learning leads to knowledge of subject matter, personality change and growth. This takes place through his facilitation of the module: Personal Power and Social Change (EDUC4131).

David's work is positioned as the facilitation of learning through experience. It is informed by the philosophies of John Dewey and Carl Rogers. Classes are typically unstructured and subject matter is co-constructed. Learners are considered self-directed agents who are supported to identify and work towards the development of skills and knowledge that will help them to reach their goals for learning.

Current Research

David's research interests are situated at the interface of psychology and education. David 's research is focused on the development of therapeutic pedagogy and experiential learning for human flourishing. Currently, he is researching the use of independent day/boarding schools as a social-pedagogical intervention for looked after and vulnerable children in England. This builds on earlier work in this area researching the use of boarding schools for children that are looked after or are in need of a safe and secure environment to help them flourish. David is also collaborating with colleagues and students researching the process and effectiveness of person-centred counselling in a community setting.

David is currently supervising 11 doctoral students completing PhDs on a range of topics including parental facilitation of children's motivation and autonomy for learning from home during the COVID19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia; relationship satisfaction, wellbeing and authenticity; teacher authenticity; person-centred experiential counselling for people who have experienced traumatic events; and the process of learning to become a person-centred counsellor and educator; the role of hope in conductive education; the role and links between the concept of experiencing and emotional intelligence; adverse childhood experiences and person-centred education, and the mediating effects of tutor-student relationships on cultural belonging and wellbeing in education.

Future Research

David is open to hearing from potential doctoral research students or practitioners with an interest in applications of person-centred psychology and theory, therapeutic pedagogy, psychology and education and their links with wellbeing.

School of Education

University of Nottingham
Jubilee Campus
Wollaton Road
Nottingham, NG8 1BB

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