Dr Katie Cunnah

Dr Katie Cunnah

Research Tutor & Postdoctoral Researcher

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Health Sciences
  • School of Psychology and Social Work

Qualifications

  • BA (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)
  • PGCert
  • MSc (Leeds Beckett University)
  • PhD / DPhil (University of Hull)
  • MSc (Northumbria University)

Summary

Dr Katie Cunnah is a Chartered Psychologist who supports Clinical Psychology Trainees with the research aspects of their doctoral training on the Clinical Psychology Doctorate Programme at Hull.

A specialist in qualitative research methods and organisational and occupational psychology, Katie brings extensive experience from applied research, clinical, and business settings. She is currently collaborating with Dr Jo Bell and Dr Chris Westoby on research into safe social media use following a suicide, as well as suicide prevention work.

In addition to her academic role, Katie works for Lintstock, a London-based corporate governance advisory firm specialising in board evaluations for publicly listed companies globally. Her role there focuses on business development, outreach, and research.

Previously, Katie served as Senior Psychologist and Operations Director at the University of Hull’s Centre for Human Factors, where she gained expertise in human factors, organisational behaviour, and occupational health psychology. Her work addressed workplace challenges impacting the health and wellbeing of employees across sectors.

Her fieldwork, often conducted through consultancy or contract research, was carried out for both private and public sector organisations, including police, fire and rescue services, oil and gas, renewable energy, and local government. Katie also worked closely with the UK Health and Safety Executive and the Department for Levelling Up. Projects included occupational stress risk assessments, the impact of remote working on wellbeing after COVID lockdowns, organisational wellbeing gap analyses, and service evaluations. Alongside Professor Fiona Earle, she developed a scale to measure stress risk in remote and hybrid working contexts.

Before joining the Centre for Human Factors, Dr Cunnah worked as a Research Assistant on a Horizon 2020-funded pan-European dementia project and as an Assistant Psychologist in adult inpatient mental health services.

Katie has also founded and run three businesses, trained as a primary school teacher, and worked in management consultancy and recruitment in London. This varied background gives her deep insight into staff recruitment, leadership, and the challenges of both public and private sector organisations.

Her doctoral thesis explored relational and psychological aspects of chronic fatigue syndrome, and she has a strong interest in systemic approaches to mental and physical health challenges.

Dr Cunnah is qualified in Psychometric Personality and Ability (A & B) testing through Saville Assessment, is a member of the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology, and has undertaken ILM-accredited professional training in Coaching and Mentoring.

Dr Cunnah teaches on the Research aspects of the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Programme. She has also supported the delivery of qualitative aspects of research methods modules in psychology. She has previously delivered one-off sessions on occupational stress, mental health in the workplace and emotional coping skills internally and externally.

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Journal Article

Understanding impact and factors that improve postvention service delivery: findings from a study of a community-based suicide bereavement support service in England

Bell, J., Cunnah, K., & Earle, F. (online). Understanding impact and factors that improve postvention service delivery: findings from a study of a community-based suicide bereavement support service in England. Mortality, https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2024.2417299

The use of a bespoke website developed for people with dementia and carers: Users' experiences, perceptions and support needs

Wolverson, E., White, C., Dunn, R., Cunnah, K., Howe, D., Paulson, K., Platt, R., & Thorpe, J. (2022). The use of a bespoke website developed for people with dementia and carers: Users’ experiences, perceptions and support needs. Dementia, 21(1), 94-113. https://doi.org/10.1177/14713012211028495

Training people with dementia/cognitive impairment and their carers in the use of web-based supportive technologies (Innovative practice)

Cunnah, K., Howe, D., Thorpe, J., Dunn, R., Platt, R., White, C., Paulson, K., & Wolverson, E. (2021). Training people with dementia/cognitive impairment and their carers in the use of web-based supportive technologies (Innovative practice). Dementia, 20(2), 796–806. https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301219887592

The CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD Platform as an Online Informational and Social Support Tool for People Living With Memory Problems and Their Carers: An Evaluation of User Engagement, Usability and Usefulness

Howe, D., Thorpe, J., Dunn, R., White, C., Cunnah, K., Platt, R., Paulson, K., & Wolverson, E. (2019). The CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD Platform as an Online Informational and Social Support Tool for People Living With Memory Problems and Their Carers: An Evaluation of User Engagement, Usability and Usefulness. Journal of applied gerontology, 39(12), 1303-1312. https://doi.org/10.1177/0733464819885326

Other

Digital technologies and dementia - training guide

Wolverson, E., Paulson, K., White, C., Dunn, R., & Oxtoby, K. (2019). Digital technologies and dementia - training guide

Research interests

Dr Cunnah's research interests include:

Team and Board dynamics

Leadership & Entrepreneurship

Occupational wellbeing

Work-related stress

Work-related trauma

Suicide prevention and suicide bereavement

Dementia

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Social Media & Suicide Postvention Project

Funder

Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust

Grant

£9,807.00

Started

1 February 2021

Status

Complete

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