Dr Nina Smyth

I completed a BSc. (Hons) Psychology in 2008 at the University of Manchester and a MSc in Health Psychology in 2009 at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London. I completed a PhD with the Psychophysiology and Stress Research Group (PSRG), awarded by the University of Westminster in 2013 for my thesis entitled ‘Cortisol secretion in saliva and hair: methodological considerations and relationships with state and trait well-being’. I then secured a Post-Doctoral Research post with the PSRG (funded by the Bial Foundation and the British Academy). I completed my Postgraduate Certificate of Higher Education and became a Fellow of Higher Education Academy in 2014. In late 2015 I became a Lecturer in the Dept. of Psychology at the University of Westminster, I was awarded Senior Lecturer in summer 2016 and I was awarded Reader in August 2020. 

I lead the Psychophysiology and Stress Research Group (PSRG). My research primarily focuses on the impact of well-being and stress on health and illness, and clarification of the physiological pathways involved. I use different methods of measuring cortisol such as saliva and hair. I am interested in the methodological issues associated with measurement of cortisol, particularly the impact of delayed saliva sampling on assessment of the cortisol awakening response. Another stream of my research is developing and evaluating strategies to minimise the deleterious effects of stress in vulnerable groups. 

For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.