Marco Ferrara

Marco is a Lecturer in Psychology and Counselling.

His background sits at the interface between developmental psychology, organisational studies, community art, social justice and well-being promotion, involving individuals, families, occupational environments and communities.

Marco is also a social scientist, with experience as a counsellor and as a psychologist with a whole system approach. His interests include community art, well-being and resilience of children, families, workers, LGTQIA+ communities, NHS, teachers, and people facing multiple challenges.
Marco's expertise lies in the use of quantitative and qualitative methods within a (critical) constructivist methodology. He encourages his students to use co-productive and creative methods, including community theatre, to promote well-being, resilience, academic resilience, equity, and equality for children, young people and minorities (including gender studies, low-income, SEN, LGBTQIA+, and ethnic minorities).

2008 BSc in Development and Child Psychology Universidad Autonoma De Madrid and University of Turin, thesis project in collaboration with Prof Jose Linaza and Prof Jerome Bruner

2008 Placement in Counselling with People who have been victims/survivors of Crime

2011 MSc in Health Psychology 

2012 Licensed Psychologist and Psychological Therapist (European Federation of Psychologist’s Association AIP-EFPA) 

2015 Visiting research fellow University of Neuchâtel 

2016 PhD In Psychology, Anthropology and Educational Sciences, University of Turin, thesis project in collaboration with the University of St Mary (Canada) 

2019 - Visiting Researcher at BoingBoing and Hourly Paid at Centre of Resilience for Social Justice - University of Brighton

2022 - Lecturer in Psychology and Counselling at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences 

2023 - Fellow of the Higher Education Academy - AdvanceHE, University of Brighton

Marco has delivered multiple papers, symposiums and oral presentations, including contributions to the Work, Health and Stress Conference (Los Angeles 2013), European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology (London 2014), Work, Health and Stress - Sustainability (Atlanta 2015) and the International Resilience Revolution Conference (Blackpool, 2022)

Marco will be delighted to supervise students in the area of well-being promotion, counselling, community art, whole system approach, and resilience of children, families, workers, NHS stakeholders, and teachers.

He is interested in supervising transformative research projects using creative and new approaches, including resilient therapy, community theatre, and compassion-focused therapy. He has supervised postgraduate researchers in projects promoting well-being, stress prevention, resilience, academic resilience, equity, and equality for children and minorities (including gender studies, low-income, SEN, LGBTQIA+ communities, ethnic minorities, and people facing multiple challenges).

He would be happy to support his dissertation students in the different phases of their research:

- Research preparation: developing a co-productive research design, co-productive bid writing (UKRI and European funding),

- Conducting research:  data collection with marginalised groups, research-action for individuals and organisations (including NHS and councils), mixed methods analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, ground theory, leadership (PI), ethnography, decision making, and risk management in research.

- Research dissemination: public speaking, community coordination (community theatre, health promotion projects, art therapy), creative methods of dissemination.