Contact

• workYang Fujia Building
  Jubilee Campus
  Wollaton Road
  Nottingham
  NG8 1BB
  UK
• Stavroula.Leka@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

Stavroula Leka is Emeritus Professor of Work & Health Policy at the University of Nottingham. She is also Professor of Organisations, Work & Health at Lancaster University and Director of the Centre for Organisational Health & Well-being. Stavroula is Chartered Psychologist, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and the Higher Education Academy and Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine. She studied Psychology at the American College of Greece, followed by postgraduate studies in Occupational Health Psychology at the University of Nottingham.

Stavroula is President of the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology (EAOHP). She is also member of the Board of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) and past Chair of its scientific committee 'Work Organization & Psychosocial Factors'. Her main research interests are the translation of occupational health and safety knowledge into policy and practice, psychosocial risk management and the promotion of mental health in the workplace. She led the development of ISO45003, the first international standard on psychological health and safety in the workplace.

She has been invited as a keynote speaker to a number of international conferences and is expert advisor to the European Commission, the WHO, the ILO, the European Agency for Safety & Health at Work and the European Parliament. She has also been awarded an early career achievement award by the American Psychological Association for outstanding contribution in occupational health psychology and the study of work-related stress.

Expertise Summary

• Translation of occupational health and safety knowledge into policy and practice
• Psychosocial risk management
• Work-related stress
• Mental health and well-being in the workplace
• Occupational health and safety regulation
• Business and societal sustainability
• Corporate social responsibility and occupational health and safety

Teaching Summary

Professor Leka is co-editor (with Dr Jonathan Houdmont) of the first textbook in Occupational Health Psychology

Read more about the Occupational Health Psychology textbook at Blackwells bookshop

Research Summary

Professor Leka's expertise lies in the translation of occupational health and safety knowledge into policy and practice. More specifically, Professor Leka's research focuses on the evaluation of… read more

• Horizon Europe. SYNCLUSIVE: System approach to close the gap and create a more inclusive labor market for vulnerable groups. 2023-2027. €2,998,755 (Led by TNO - WP3: Leka, S., Crowley, F. & Doran, J.)
• ETUI. Conceptualising work-related psychosocial risks. 2023-2024. £55,000 (Leka, S. & Jain, A.)
• ESRC. Mental health and well-being practices, outcomes and productivity: A causal analysis. 2022-2025. £1,664,520 (Ropper, S., Wishart, M., Thomson, L., Hassard, J., Blake, H., Bourke, J. & Leka, S.)
• Italian Workers' Compensation Authority (INAIL), New challenges to the management of psychosocial risks at work in times of rapid economic and technological changes in Europe, 2020-2022, €501,601 (Dragano, N., Leka, S., & Nielsen, K.)
• New Zealand Work Safe & Health Research Council, Evaluating a multi-level participatory psychosocial risk intervention, 2020-2023, $NZ890,000 (Tappin, D., Bentley, T., Dollard, M., Leka, S., Jain, A.)
• International Social Security Association (ISSA), Development of proactive leading indicators for safety, health and wellbeing. 2018-2020, €85,000(Zwetsloot, G., Leka, S., & Kines, P.)
• IPSOS-MORI and Department for Work & Pensions, International comparison of occupational health systems, 2018, £30,000 (Hassard, J., Jain, A., & Leka, S.)
• University of South Australia, Visiting Distinguished Researcher Award, 2016, £20,000 (Leka, S.)
• Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, Work-related stress and musculoskeletal disorders in Cypriot firefighters, 2014-2015, €119,834 (Spanoudis, G., Leka, S., & Kales, S.)
• IOSH, Social attitudes towards occupational health and safety, 2013-2015, £20,000 (Leka, S. & Jain, A.)
• European Commission, Competitiveness & Innovation Framework Programme, Developing a multi-stakeholder corporate social responsibility platform, 2013-2015, €199,756 (Chiucconi, B., Jain, A., Leka, S., Demircan, E., Crets, S., & Marconato, A.)
• European Commission, Review and evaluation of the policy context in relation to mental health in the European Union, 2013-2014, €336,326 (Van de Broeck, V., Wynne, R., Leka, S., Jain, A., Houtman, I., & McDaid, D.)
• Integrating Global Society Initiative, University of Nottingham, Integrating psychosocial risks in strategic risk management for business and policy development, 2012, £8,000 (Leka, S., Cox, T., Diacon, S., Fenn, P., Jain, A., Cope, S., Stafford, B., Tsang, S. & Wu, B.)
• IOSH, The changing landscape of occupational health and safety regulation in the UK: Achieving the right balance in policy and practice, 2011-2013, £196,066 (Leka, S. & Jain, A.)
• SESI (Brazilian social security association), Adapting the European framework for psychosocial risk management in the Brazilian context, 2011-2012, £40,437 (Leka, S. & Jain, A.)
• European Commission, Grundtvig Programme, Improving educators' resilience to stress, 2010-2012, €340,000 (Brandao, S., Krejci, M., Leka, S., Poulas, K., Pilate, S., Polzin, M., & Pregl, O.)
• European Agency for Safety & Health at Work, European Enterprise Survey on New and Emerging Risks: Secondary analysis, 2010-2011, €79,000 (Leka, S.)
• European Commission, Leonardo Da Vinci Agency, Psychosocial risk management - education and training, 2009-2011, €330,000 (Leka, S., Ertel, M., Iavicoli, S., Houtman, I., Pahkin, K., & Vartia, M.)
• British Council - DelPHE (Developing Partnerships in Higher Education), Corporate social responsibility and occupational safety and health: A potent contrivance to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, 2009-2012, £70,000 (Puplampu, B., Jain, A., Leka, S., & Kamuzora, P.)
• European Agency for Safety & Health at Work, European Enterprise Survey on Psychosocial New and Emerging Risks, 2007-2009, €99,000 (Leka, S., Griffiths, A. & Cox, T.)
• European Commission Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency, Promotion of active European citizenship, 2007-2008, €55,000 (Sophia Spiliotopoulou & Leka, S.)
• European Commission FP6, Psychosocial risk management: European framework (PRIMA-EF), 2006-2009, €750,000 (Leka, S., & Cox, T.)
• Institution of Occupational Safety & Health, Exploration of training needs among safety and health professionals, 2006-2007, £8,398 (Leka, S., Khan, S. & Griffiths, A.)
• SALTSA, Towards the development of a psychosocial risk management toolkit (PRIMAT), 2005-2006, £41,500 (Leka, S. & Cox, T.)
• New Lecturers Fund, University of Nottingham, Exploring the integration of occupational safety and health with corporate social responsibility in small and medium-sized enterprises, 2005-2006, £8,640 (Leka, S.)
• Learning & Teaching Development Fund, University of Nottingham, Evaluation of e-learning to support education in occupational health psychology: a case study, 2004-2006, £34,420 (Leka, S. & Cox, T.)
• European Commission, Leonardo Da Vinci Programme, Stress Prevention at Work, 2004-2006, €335,000 (Sophia Spiliotopoulou & Leka, S.)
• European Commission, Leonardo Da Vinci Programme, Career development of older workers through e-learning support, 2004-2007, €365,000 (Zucconi, A. & Leka, S.)
• European Social Fund, Managing chronic hidden health conditions at work: Facilitating effective coping for employees and organizations, 2004-2005, £60,896 (Munir, F., Griffiths, A., Leka, S., Cox, SJC. & Haslam, C).

Current Research

Professor Leka's expertise lies in the translation of occupational health and safety knowledge into policy and practice. More specifically, Professor Leka's research focuses on the evaluation of occupational health and safety regulation and policy and its associated infrastructures and supporting systems at different levels (international, European, national and organisational). Her research has a strong applied focus and aims at facilitating effective occupational health and safety management in different organisational contexts, with a particular emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises. Key themes in her research are work organisation and the management of the psychological and social (psychosocial) work environment for business and societal sustainability; the management of psychosocial risks and work-related stress; and the promotion of mental health and well-being in the workplace. As part of her interest in policy implementation she has been conducting research on the promotion of occupational health and safety through a corporate social responsibility framework. She is author of the first textbook in occupational health psychology and technical author of the first standard on the management of psychosocial risks in the workplace. She is also author of several other books in the area of psychosocial risk management and the editor of two book series. She chaired the working group that developed an ISO guidance standard on psychological health and safety in the workplace (ISO 45003).

PhD supervision

Bayan Alqurashi: Labour market segmentation and change: A case study of female workers in the higher education labour market in Saudi Arabia

Lorraine Dillon: An investigation into how team resilience emerges in the modern workplace

Danai Serfioti: The benefits of competitive motorsport on injured armed forces veterans and troops

Vlad Dediu: Investigating the relationship between determinants of employee wellbeing, innovation and organisational performance: A policy and practice perspective

Shweta Anand: Positive psychological capital and role of perceived organizational support in determining mental health/psychological wellbeing among bank employees in the UK and India

Tarisayi Gwenzi: Work-related stress in the banking sector in Zimbabwe

Catherine Smith: The effects of optimism in the workplace

Kelly Sivri: Investigating the relationship between job insecurity and health in Europe: A focus on cardiovascular disease

Ioanna Karaoulani: Mental health and wellbeing in Greek employees

Tolulope Fadipe: Exploring the use of knowledge management for the management of psychosocial risks at work

Jiaoyang Yu: The possible moderating effect of overtime control and rewards for overtime, on the relationship between overtime and psychological health in the context of China

Layla Ho: Developing a computer-based intervention for the treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Stephen Kumako: Workplace bullying and its impact on employee well-being in Ghana's oil and gas industry

Emma Rushton: Exploring a social cognitive perspective of leadership: The impact of a scenario-based leadership training intervention within healthcare settings

Linn Iren Vestly Bergh: Developing a psychosocial risk management system in the Oil and Gas industry

Luis Torres: New forms of gender discrimination at work: Corporate social responsibility as a framework for equality

Hussam Al-Nusair: Perceived work-related stress, job performance, social support and intention to stay among immigrant nurses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Chris Leather: The role of the line manager in promoting well-being and capability in specialist unit ambulance personnel

Nicholas Andreou: The motivation behind engaging in occupational health and safety: An enterprise perspective

Juliet Hassard: Gender differences in work-related stress, well-being and health: differential exposure or vulnerability?

Evelyn Kortum: Perception and management of psychosocial risks and work-related stress in developing countries

Kwesi Amponsah-Tawiah: Work design, work organisation and employee well-being in the mining sector in Ghana

Jessica Tang: The psychosocial work environment of teachers in Hong Kong

Nizam Zacck: Occupational Health & Safety Practices in the Petrochemical Industry in Malaysia