I undertook my PhD at Bangor University, and my research focused on self-attribution of facial appearance as an early predictor of improvement in depressive mood state. This is in line with my previous clinical research involvements (led by Prof David Linden, Cardiff University) that aimed to understand the behavioural and neural activity that related to mood disorders.
After completing my PhD in 2016, I worked predominantly in the Older Adults Psychology Services at Betsi Cadwaldr University Health Board (BCUHB) as an Assistant Psychologist (AP). In this role, I conducted neuropsychological assessments to support dementia diagnosis and worked with the Community Mental Health Teams. I also had the opportunity to work in the Adult Mental Health teams to assist with assessment for Autism Spectrum Conditions and shadow Clinical Psychologist in the Stroke Unit at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd. These opportunities to support people also allowed me to apply and learn further about clinical and neuropsychology. As an AP, I also had the rare opportunity to undertake a mapping exercise on the non-educational needs of pupils with statements in the Isle of Anglesey (2015-2016), led by Dr Susan Hamilton, Clinical Director Children’s Services West, BCUHB, and report to the Welsh Assembly Government.
Before embarking on my PhD, I worked as the Data Manager at Bangor Clinical Trials Unit. In this role, I coordinated and supervised the data management of various multi-centred trials in the UK and developed standard operating procedures for data management for the unit. Besides these, I have had a range of work experiences in the UK and in India, including teaching, public relations and journalism.
I support charities, including working with people who are homeless by offering practical support and upskilling. I enjoy reading and learning new skills, whether DIY or dancing. More recently gardening has become a real interest of mine and helps me feel grounded.
In my spare time, I enjoy reading and baking banana bread but nature/coastal walks are on the cards when the weather is nice. Of all my activities, I enjoy walking and playing with my dogs the most.
Research Projects
| Title |
Role |
Description |
From/To |
| Pet-therapy using dogs to manage stress and anxiety in university students |
Principal Investigator |
We have been using pets for complementary therapy historically and it was formally acknowledged since the 1960s. Since that time there has been a formal recognition of its value in managing emotional distress of individuals, pet therapy has been researched as an intervention for stress relief, managing anxiety, and supporting to trauma. Stress is a common denominator in life, but significant among university students who are aiming for higher education whilst managing life as an adult. So this research has implications on Wales and the Well-being Future Generations Act because Wales measures prosperity not just in wealth, but in social well-being. There is the implication on supporting students in reducing their stress and improving wellbeing, which offers them a better chance to engage with their academic work to the best of their abilities. This is also about finding novel and simpler ways to improve student wellbeing. This study investigated the experience of engaging with therapy-dogs for university students. Therapy dog Nationwide charity volunteered for this study with their volunteers and brilliant therapy dogs. There were some inclusion criteria for this study, that participants needed to meet. • Participants had to be a current student at Wrexham Glyndwr University • Participants to be aged 18 or over There are some exclusion criteria and if the participants meet those criteria, they could not participate in this study. • Fear of dogs • Being allergic to dogs or dog hair We measured participants wellbeing relating to their positive and negative experiences, their state and trait anxiety, and perceived stress before and after attending a pet-dog therapy session. The session with therapy-dogs were offered in groups up to five for 15 -20 minutes. The study findings shows significant reduction in both state and trait anxiety, improved positive experience and reduced negative experience relating to their wellbeing. Their perceived stress is also significantly reduced after the pet-therapy session. This findings, we hope will provide innovative and accessible ways to support a more fulfilled students going though higher education. |
01/12/2022 - 31/12/2023 |
| Self-attribution of facial appearance: correlates of depression and early intervention response |
Principal Investigator (PhD research) |
Human faces are naturally captivating and display a variety of facial cues that can be accurately identified as mood state or inherent traits. This process of giving meaning to behaviours or signals that we observe, is called attribution. When this is directed to self, we make self-attributions and when directed at others, we make social-attributions. Previous research demonstrates that attributions are affected by mood and wellbeing states, and personality traits. This work included a series of research, one of which was a collaboration that demonstrated reduced accuracy for facial cues following tryptophan depletion. The rest of the research series conducted as part of my PhD includes the following. 1) Exploring the predictors of depression. 2) Developing an attribution task using self and others’ face. 3) Reliability of the new attribution task: Measuring attributions of facial appearance using self and others’ face, is a new approach. It was important that the self and social attributions were meaningfully measured and easily comparable. 4) Investigate the association of self and social attributions of facial appearances, with individual’s mood, wellbeing and neuroticism. Participant’s increasing severity of depressive symptoms, decreasing hedonic wellbeing and increasing neuroticism, relate to misattributions of self and others, but does not affect independent observers’ attributions. Participants also displayed classic social projection based on the similarities between their self and social attributions. A triangulation of the self, social and observer attributions demonstrated that misattributions displayed by participants experiencing depression were specifically for positive attributions, whilst maintaining consistent negative attributions as the independent observers. Self-attributions, however, are more sensitive to mood, wellbeing and inherent traits than social attributions. Discrepancies between basic self-attributions were calculated to demonstrate increasing self-negativity related to increasing severity of depressive symptoms, neuroticism, and decreasing hedonic wellbeing, as well as increasing self-discrepancy with decreasing hedonic wellbeing. 5) Investigate the longitudinal changes (11 weeks) of self-attributions in participants who are clinically depressed. Study findings indicated decreasing severity of depressive symptoms overlapping with decreasing self-negativity and self-discrepancy, and increasing self-positivity. It also showed that an increase in self-positivity and decrease in self-negativity in the first week, predicts reduction in the severity of depressive symptoms at week 11. 6) Investigate change in self-attribution after 8-weeks mindfulness practice. The study findings showed an increase in self-positivity after eight weeks of mindfulness practice; a practice that focus on non-judgemental self-referential processing to increase self-positivity. |
01/10/2012 - 30/09/2016 |
| Exploring changes in reading confidence of primary school children: using reading dogs, robotic dogs, and reading as usual |
Principal Investigator |
Developing strong literacy skills in children is one of the key targets of the Welsh Curriculum, with an emphasis on using innovative learning techniques to improve reading skills in children. This study explored the experience of children and their teachers from seven primary schools across North Wales when using a reading dog, a robotic dog, and reading as usual for improving reading skills. The study aim was to explore whether the three scenarios used for reading offered different experiences for a child, when they are learning to read. A selection criterion was applied for children to be eligible to participate in the study and included baseline reading scores to fall between 85-90. Eligible children were allocated to specific the reading scenario and were expected to read for 10 minutes a day for three days per week. The intervention was planned to continue for one academic year. To capture experiences of reading, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of six children and six teachers who engaged with reading activities in each of the three scenarios. Thematic analysis highlighted themes of improved confidence and wellbeing, and a general enjoyment for reading in all scenarios. Children reading to a dog and robotic dog noted feeling confident about trying to read books that they would not have attempted otherwise. Children also enjoyed reading all three scenarios, and have that one-to-one time with teachers as well. Teachers had some reservations about children’s comprehension when they go uncorrected whilst reading but appreciates the benefits of children feeling confident to try reading. Further quantitative investigation is required to accurately evaluate improvement in reading skill. |
01/06/2019 - 30/09/2020 |
| A systematic review of decolonising process within neuropsychological research |
Principal Investigator |
Decolonising is about dismantling the influence of colonial structures. There is growing awareness about the need to decolonise psychology to ensure relevance of theory and practice. In this context, decolonising could mean being inclusive of otherwise marginalised or unrepresented theoretically and empirically. Neuropsychology relies on assessments that can be influenced by language and cultural background. The assessments and practice are currently understood to further marginalise and create a narrative of individuals from minoritised backgrounds as ‘inferior’. To change such perspectives and be more inclusive of all backgrounds, there needs to be a change in the process of approaching, conducting and communicating neuropsychological assessments. This research aims to systematically review neuropsychological journals to understand the progress of decolonising process. Inclusion criteria are research articles, using neuropsychological assessments, and published between 2020-24; which reflects the period with greater interest for decolonisation. The review considers five factors: 1) Sample origin, 2) Study language, 3) Participant’s first/preferred language, 4) Demography, 5) Cultural background. The conclusions may prompt researchers/practitioners to consider the influence of language and cultural background on neuropsychological assessments, and revise the process of conducting and interpreting outcomes. |
01/05/2024 |
Publications
| Year |
Publication |
Type |
| 2023 |
Jump Girls-Female Jockey's Unique Stressors and Coping Strategies, [DOI]
Losty, Ciara;Sreenivas, Shubha |
Peer Reviewed Journal |
| 2019 |
Meditation on the Soles of the Feet Practice Provides Some Control of Aggression for Individuals with Alzheimer's Disease, Mindfulness, 10. [DOI]
Singh, Nirbhay N.;Lancioni, Giulio E.;Medvedev, Oleg N.;Sreenivas, Shubha;Myers, Rachel E.;Hwang, Yoon-Suk |
Peer Reviewed Journal |
| 2018 |
Meditation on the Soles of the Feet Practice Provides Some Control of Aggression for Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease, [DOI]
Singh, Nirbhay N.;Lancioni, Giulio E;Medvedev, Oleg N;Sreenivas, Shubha;Myers, Rachel E;Hwang, Yoon-Suk |
Peer Reviewed Journal |
| 2017 |
The role of serotonin in personality inference: tryptophan depletion impairs the identification of neuroticism in the face, Psychopharmacology. [DOI]
Ward, Robert;Sreenivas, Shubha;Read, Judi;Saunders, Kate, E. A.;Rogers, Robert, D. |
Peer Reviewed Journal |
| 2011 |
Emotional faces and the default mode network, Neuroscience letters. [DOI]
Sreenivas, S.;Boehm, S. G.;Linden, D. E. J. |
Peer Reviewed Journal |
Honors and Awards
| Date |
Title |
Awarding Body |
| 2020 |
Chartered Psychologist |
British Psychological Society |
| 2012 |
Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership |
British Psychological Society |
| 2020 |
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy |
Advance HE |
| 2025 |
Associate Fellow |
British Psychological Society |
Professional Associations
| Association |
Function |
| British Psychological Society |
Chartered member |
| Early Career Researcher |
Member |
Committees
| Name |
From/To |
| Learning Society of Wales Early Career Researcher Colloquium Committee |
04/2025 - 07/2025 |
Employment
| Employer |
Position |
From/To |
| Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board |
Assistant Psychologist |
2016 - 2018 |
| Bangor University |
Research Project Support Officer and Teaching Assistant |
2013 - 2017 |
| NWORTH, Bangor Clinical Trials Unit, Bangor University |
Data Manager |
2010 - 2015 |
| Bangor University |
Research Assistant |
2008 - 2009 |
Education
| Institution |
Qualification |
Subject |
From/To |
| Bangor University |
MSc Foundations of Clinical Psychology |
Clinical Psychology |
2007 - 2008 |
| Mother Teresa Women's University |
MSc Psychology |
Psychology |
2004 - 2006 |
| University of Calicut |
MA Sociology |
Sociology |
1998 - 2000 |
| Barathiya Vidya Bhavan |
Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism |
Journalism |
1995 - 1996 |
| University of Calicut |
BA English |
English Literature and British History |
1992 - 1995 |
| Bangor University |
PhD |
Self-attribution of facial appearance: correlates of depression and early intervention response (Psychology) |
2012 - 2016 |
Languages
| Language |
Reading |
Writing |
Speaking |
| Tamil |
No Proficiency |
No Proficiency |
Elementary Proficiency |
| Welsh |
Limited Working Proficiency |
Elementary Proficiency |
Elementary Proficiency |
| English |
Native / Bilingual Proficiency |
Native / Bilingual Proficiency |
Native / Bilingual Proficiency |
| Hindi |
Limited Working Proficiency |
Limited Working Proficiency |
Limited Working Proficiency |
| Malayalam |
Professional Proficiency |
Limited Working Proficiency |
Native / Bilingual Proficiency |
Journal Reviewer or Editor
| Journal Name |
Activity |
From/To |
| Sage |
Peer Reviewer |
12/2021 - 12/2021 |
Consultancy & Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
| Client |
Description |
From/To |
| Aparito |
I supported qualitative data analysis and reported the findings for a study exploring the unmet needs of people with a rare genetic condition and their carers. Two UG psychology students conducted this analysis under my supervision. My consultancy time was supported with KTP fund. |
2019 - 2019 |
Outreach Activities
| Title |
Description |
Organisation |
| Brymbo Fossil Forest |
Volunteer at the Brymbo Fossil Forest. |
Brymbo Heritage Trust |
Other Professional Activities
| Title |
Dates |
| External Examiner for Canterbury Christ Church University |
2022 - 2026 |
| External Examiner for Liverpool John Moors University (for Partnership Nelson and Colne College) |
2021 - 2023 |
| External Examiner for Oxford Brookes University |
2024 - 2029 |
Programs/ Modules Coordinated
| Title |
Subject |
| Biological Psychology |
PSY755 |
| Cultural and Community Psychology |
PSY774 |
| Research in Psychology 1 |
PSY772 |
| Forensic Psychology |
PSY609 |
| Introduction to qualitative research methods and analysis skills for psychology |
PSY422 |
| A Mini Project in Psychology |
PSY330 |
| Introduction to Psychology 1 |
PSY332 |
| Biological Psychology |
PSY511 |
| Research Project |
PSY775 |
| Research Project |
PSY619 |
| Research Project |
PSY744 |
| Cognitive Psychology |
PSY762 |
| Research Methods |
PSY750 |
| Psychopathology Across the Lifespan |
PSY767 |
| Intermediate Research Methods |
PSY508 |
| Introduction to study skills for Psychology |
PSY419 |
| Assessments in Psychological Practice and Research |
PSY770 |
| Introduction to quantitative data analysis and reporting skills for Psychology |
PSY418 |
| Study Skills for Psychology |
PSY406 |
| Biological Psychology |
PSY503 |
| Developmental Psychology |
PSY754 |
Current Postgraduates
| Name |
Degree |
| Katherine Rowlands |
PH |