Contact
Biography
Professor Amanda Griffiths BA MSc PGCE PhD CPsychol AFBPsS FAcSS FFOM (Hon) is a Fellow of the UK's Academy of Social Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (Royal College of Physicians), Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and Chartered Psychologist, a Health & Care Professions Council practitioner health psychologist, and Registered Europsy Psychologist. She is a Professorial Fellow of the Institute of Mental Health (Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and the University of Nottingham).
She was awarded the world's first Chair in Occupational Health Psychology and was a founder member of the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology. Amanda has served on research committees for the UK's Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and the British Occupational Health Research Foundation, and advised and produced commissioned reports for the European Commission, International Commission on Occupational Health, European Agency for Safety & Health at Work, World Health Organisation, International Labour Organization, British Government Health & Safety Executive, public and private sector employers, charities and trades unions.
Research Summary
Amanda's research and consultancy interests focus on the management of work-related health and wellbeing. She is interested in helping employers and other stakeholders manage and support diverse… read more
Current Research
Amanda's research and consultancy interests focus on the management of work-related health and wellbeing. She is interested in helping employers and other stakeholders manage and support diverse workforces, and in exploring the impact of policy and guidance on everyday practices in the workplace.
Her research over the past 15 years on women's experience of the menopause has been influential in breaking the taboo about menopause and work; it featured in a University of Nottingham case study of research impact in 2022. She was an invited contributor for the UK's Chief Medical Officer's Annual Report in 2015 which led to the publication of guidance for women and employers by the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (Royal College of Physicians) in 2016, lead author of European guidance on workplace conditions for menopausal women in 2016, a contributor to global consensus recommendations in 2021 and to recommendations for a menopause curriculum for healthcare professionals. Her research and advice has also been influential in guidance produced by the Royal College of Nursing and the Trades Union Congress.
Research projects included a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effects of a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) based intervention designed to assist women deal with troublesome menopausal symptoms and the development, and evaluation of a training programme about menopause for managers (funded by the charity Wellbeing of Women). She is currently working on a project with colleagues from Lancaster University and Kings College London to develop and evaluate a toolkit to support for working women with problematic menopausal symptoms (also funded by Wellbeing of Women).
Amanda also led an exploration of employers' needs with regard to knowledge about working age dementia (funded by Public Health England), an investigation into the prevention and management of common mental health disorders in Police Service employees (commissioned by Police Mutual), and contributed to a randomised control trial about facilitating successful return to work for National Health Service employees who have been on sick leave with common mental health disorders (funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Other projects concerned workforce issues in the provision of services for people with dementia in rural communities and in the care of people with dementia in acute hospitals, funded by the Alzheimer's Society and NIHR respectively.
Her early research on preventing work-related mental ill-health was at the forefront of developing an evidence base for tackling the organisational causes of work-related stress. She and colleagues were commissioned by the UK Government's Health & Safety Executive to work with employers to develop a risk management approach to the control of psychosocial risks to health at work. This paved the way for the British Government Health & Safety Executive advice to employers about how to avoid this largest cause of work-related ill-health and sickness absence today and has influenced the development of subsequent national and organisational level policies in the UK, the European Union and other countries around the world. This approach has proved effective in terms of both health and economic impact and featured in a published case study of research impact. She has acted as Expert Witness in the English courts for both claimants and defendants in work-related stress cases.
In addition to the funding bodies listed above, her work and that of her PhD students and researchers has been supported by the Economic & Social Science Research Council, British Government's Health & Safety Executive, European Commission, World Health Organisation, Shell International Exploration & Production, BBC World Service, Ford of Europe, British Medical Association, Royal College of Nursing, British Occupational Health Research Foundation, Colt Foundation, UNISON, British Association for Women in Policing and Age UK.