Kate Williams

Background

Dr Kate Williams (CPsychol) is a BPS Chartered Psychologist and Psychology Portfolio Programme Manager at UWTSD.

Kate obtained a BSc (Hons) in Psychology, MSc in Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology, and PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Swansea University.

She then worked on a Welsh Government funded project as a database administrator and GP Engagement assistant. Her role involved liaising with Local Health boards and Authorities, third sector organisations, and charities to map the health and social care datasets that exist in Wales. She then went on to become a Research Support Assistant at the ADRC-Wales.

Kate joined the Psychology and Counselling department at UWTSD in September 2015. Her teaching areas are in cognitive and biological psychology and her research focuses on aspects linked to experimental and applied cognition.

Specialist Subjects

Experimental and Applied Cognitive Psychology
Memory and Forgetting
Perception and Object Recognition
Attention and Decision-Making
Quantitative Research Methods

Professional and/or Research Experience

Kate brings over a decade of experience in teaching, research, and academic leadership in HE. She contributes to Quality Enhancement, Research Ethics, Welsh Language, and Special Cases committees, whilst overseeing Curriculum Design, Assessment Coordination, Accreditation, and student outcomes across a suite of programmes. She teaches UG/PG Psychology modules and leads on employability initiatives.

Her research focuses on experimental and applied cognitive processing, disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and national/international conferences. She supervises UG/PG/PhD projects, and examines Professional Doctorate research. She's received BPS URAS mentor funding for research on perceptions of prosthetic limbs and decision-making, and University mentor funding for research on vehicle auditory warnings on arousal.

Her CPD focuses on issues in HE (e.g., AI in teaching), and public engagement (e.g., Psychologist magazine interview and Seren Project outreach).

Qualifications

PG Cert - Teaching in Higher Education (UWTSD)
PhD - Cognitive Psychology (Swansea University)
MSc - Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology (Swansea University)
BSc (Hons) - Psychology (Swansea University)

Languages Spoken

English
Welsh

Professional Membership or Roles

British Psychological Society (BPS) - Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol)

British Psychological Society (BPS) - Associate Fellow (AFBPsS)

British Psychological Society (BPS) - Cognitive Psychology Section - Full Member

British Psychological Society (BPS) - Welsh Branch - Full Member

British Psychological Society (BPS) - Division of Academics, Researchers & Teachers in Psychology (DARTP) - Full Member

Higher Education Academy - Fellow (FHEA)

Academic Teaching

External Recognition or Rewards

British Psychological Society (BPS) Undergraduate Research Assistantship Scheme (2022):
To supervise a student research project exploring perceptions of prosthetic limbs and the impact on social interaction decision-making processes.

Interview published in The Psychologist (BPS) magazine – Spotlight on Swansea (April, 2024)

Link to Orcid Profile

ORCID Research profile

Professional Publications

Williams, K. E., Hutchings, P. B., & Phelps, C. (2022). Beyond learning in higher education: an evaluation of the ‘Life Design’ initiative to improve student employability. Studies in Higher Education, 47(6), 1184-1198.
Reppa, I., Williams, K. E., Greville, W. J., & Saunders, J. (2020). The relative contribution of shape and colour to object memory. Memory & Cognition, 1-18.
Reppa, I., Williams, K. E., Worth, E. R., Greville, W. J., & Saunders, J. (2017). Memorable objects are more susceptible to forgetting: Evidence for the inhibitory account of retrieval-induced forgetting. Acta psychologica, 181, 51-61.
Balbuena, L. D., Middleton, R.M., Tuite-Dalton, K., Pouliou, T., Williams, K. E., Noble, G. J (2016). Sunshine, Sea, and Season of Birth: MS Incidence in Wales. PLoS ONE 11(5): e0155181. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155181.
Presentation - British Academy’s Southwest Research Café, Online - Zoom (2024) How could presenting your research through a visual image help tell its story?
Presentation - BPS Cognitive Section Conference, Swansea, UK (2024) Exploring prosthetic limb cover design on Approachability and Social Interaction Decisions
Presentation - BPS: Psychology of Education Section, Manchester, UK (2019) Beyond learning in higher education: An evaluation of the ‘Life Design’ initiative to improve student employability
Presentation - Nexus, Swansea, UK (2017) An Evaluation of the Life Design initiative at UWTSD
Poster - Colour in concepts: Representation and processing of colour in language and cognition workshop, Düsseldorf, Germany (2014) The role of colour in object memory: Evidence from a recognition-induced forgetting paradigm
Poster - Psychonomic Society annual meeting, Toronto, Canada (2013) The role of colour in object memory: Evidence from a recognition-induced forgetting paradigm
Presentation - BPS Cognitive Section Conference, Glasgow, UK (2012) The role of colour in object recognition: Evidence from a retrieval-induced forgetting paradigm
Co-authored presentation - International Conference of Memory, York, UK (2011) Retrieval competition in long-term memory for object shape and colour
Poster - BPS Annual Conference, Stratford upon Avon, UK (2010) Competition in memory between Shape and Surface object properties

Available to Supervise Doctoral Students

Yes