Prof. Stavroula Leka, Chair of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) Scientific Committee “Work Organization&Psychosocial Factors”, has joined the International Organizing Committee
Prof. Stavroula Leka, Director of the Center for Organizational Health and Development, Chair of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) Scientific Committee “Work Organization&Psychosocial Factors”, Professor of Work, Health&Policy, has joined the International Organizing Committee of the Congress.
Stavroula is Chair of the Division of Psychiatry&Applied Psychology Postgraduate Education Committee. She has taken the roles of Academic Lead for Internationalisation of postgraduate taught education in the School of Medicine, as well as Academic Lead for Work, Health&Wellbeing. She is Chartered Psychologist, member of the International Commission on Occupational Health, the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology and the European Association of Work&Organisational Psychology, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health. Stavroula is member of the Executive Committee of the WHO Network of Collaborating Centres in Occupational Health and manager of the WHO programme of work on ‘Protection and Promotion of Workers’ Health’, member of the Executive Committee of the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology (EAOHP).
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.
Professor Leka’s expertise lies in the translation of occupational health and safety knowledge and policy into effective 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 (such as 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 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.
One of the main research programmes Professor Leka has been managing since 2004 is the PRIMA-EF programme that focuses on the management of psychosocial risks in the workplace. She also teaches on Organisations, Stress and Health; Research Methods; Applied Research Project and Occupational Health Psychology modules.
