Dr Jenny Smith
Innovation Lead, Reader in Performance Psychology
About
Jenny a Reader in Performance Psychology, a member of the Occupational Performance Research Group (OPRG), and a visiting researcher at Kings College London (KCL).聽 She has 13 years experience in applied occupational research working with water safety organisations. She is research active (REF 2014 [ECR], REF 2021) focused in the area of drowning prevention. She has been the principal investigator for numerous research projects including for organisations such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK). Jenny has recently led studies exploring the 10:20 system of bather observation and well as quantifying the interventions performed by pool-based lifeguards.
Jenny is also an HCPC registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist who specialises in optimising performance and wellbeing. She works with a range of clients helping them to achieve their full potential through scientifically-informed; needs analyses, case formulation, intervention planning and delivery, and monitoring and evaluation processes.
Jenny is acting programme coordinator for the British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited and British Association of Sports and Exercise Sciences (BASES) endorsed MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology. She supervises undergraduate and postgraduate research projects and is currently supervising two PhD students and five sport and exercise psychology trainees. Jenny has active research collaborations with colleagues at other Universities, Industry and National Governing Bodies in the UK and overseas.
Professional
Education:
- 2005 – 2009聽聽聽聽 PhD, University of Liverpool,
- 2003 – 2004聽聽聽聽 MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology, 香港六合论坛,
- 2000 – 2003聽聽聽聽 BSc (Hons) Sports Science, 香港六合论坛
Teaching:
- Applied Sport Psychology Delivering mental strategies (level 6)
- Applied Sport Psychology Professional Practice (level 6)
- Professional Practice in Sport and Exercise Psychology (level 7)
Professional activities, roles and memberships:
- British Psychological Society (BPS) Training Committee member
- British Psychological Society (BPS) Register of Applied Psychology Practice Supervisors
- Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist
- British Psychological Society (BPS) chartered psychologist
- British Association of Sport and Exercise Science (BASES) accredited Sport and Exercise Scientist
- Higher Education Academy (HEA) fellow
- Expertise and Skill Acquisition Network (ESAN) member
- Journal reviewer:
Key Publications
Research and scholarly output:
Sharpe, B.T, Smith, M., Williams, S., Talbot, J; Runswick, O., & Smith, J (in press). An Expert-Novice Comparison of Lifeguard Specific Vigilance Performance. Journal of Safety Research
Smith, J., Long, G., Dawes, P., Runswick, O., & Tipton, M., (2020). Changes in lifeguards鈥� hazard detection and eye movements with experience: Is one season enough? International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education
Omrani, A., Wakefield-Scurr, J., Smith, J., & Brown, N. (2019). Survey development for聽adolescents aged 11鈥�16 years: A聽developmental science based guide. Adolescent Research Review. 4, 329-340.
Graham, G., Sauer, J., Smith, J., Hillstrom, A.P & Akehurst, L (2018). CCTV observation: The effects of event type and instruction on fixation behaviour in an applied change blindness task. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 32 (1), 4-13.
Brown, N.T., Smith, J., Brasher, A., Risius, D., Marczyk, A & Scurr, J. (2018). Breast health education for schoolgirls; why, what, when and how? The Breast Journal, 24, (3), 377-382.
Brown, N.T., Smith, J., Brasher, A., Omrani, A., & Wakefield-Scurr, J. (2018) Breast cancer education for schoolgirls: an exploratory study. European Journal of Cancer Prevention. 27(5), 443-448
Scurr, J., Brown, N.T., Smith, J., Brasher, A., Risius, D & Marczyk, A. (2016). The Influence of the Breast on Sport and Exercise Participation in School Girls in the United Kingdom. Journal of Adolescent Health.58, 167-173.
Szpilman, D., Doyle, B., Smith, J., Griffiths, R., & Tipton, M. (2017). Challenges and feasibility of applying reasoning and decision making for a lifeguard undertaking a rescue. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience, 9,1-9.
Page, J., Bates, V., Long, G., Dawes, P. & Tipton, M. (2011). Beach lifeguards: visual search patterns, detection rates and the influence of experience. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, 31, 216鈥�224.
Page, J. (2009). Delivering educational workshops for age-group Rugby League Players: Experiences of a trainee Sport Psychologist. In B. Hemmings and T. Holder.聽Applied sport psychology: A case-based approach.聽Chichester UK, Wiley-Blackwell.
Industry reports
Smith, J., Birch, P., Jewiss, M., Kearney, P., Turner, M & Tipton, M. (2015) Examining lifeguard expertise: The impact of shift duration and rotation times on the effectiveness of hazard detection. Royal Lifesaving Society
Page, J., Long, G., Lunt, H., Dawes, P. & Tipton, M. (2014a). The impact of a priori instructions and communication on surveillance and detection rates of beach lifeguards that are working together. Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Page, J., Long, G., Dawes, P. & Tipton, M. (2014b). Towards an understanding of the differences in hazard detection and associated responses of experienced and less experienced beach lifeguards. Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Page, J., Long, G., Dawes, P., & Tipton, M. (2012). Enhancing detection rates of beach lifeguards: determining the best scanning technique. Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Page, J., Long, G., Dawes, P., & Tipton, M. (2011). The impact of the number and distribution of swimmers in the water on beach lifeguard surveillance and detection. Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Page, J., Bates, T., Long, G., Dawes, P., & Tipton, M. (2010). Surveillance and detection rates of beach聽lifeguards. . Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Conference papers
Page, J. (2015) Beach Lifeguarding and Surveillance: An overview Royal Lifesaving Society (RLSS). Kenilworth, UK
Page, J. (2015) Beach Lifeguarding and Surveillance: An overview. Surf Lifesaving (SLSGB). Okehampton, UK.
Graham, G., Hillstrom, A.P., Sauer, J., Page, J & Akehurst, L (2015). Do you see what I see? Investigating eyewitness memory and oculomotor behaviour during CCTV observation. SARMAC (Society of Applied Research in Memory & Cognition). Victoria, Canada.
Graham, G., Hillstrom, A.P., Sauer, J & Page, J. (2014). Do you see what I see? Investigating eyewitness memory and oculomotor behaviour during CCTV observation. Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) Conference. Newcastle, England.
Graham, G., Hillstrom, A., Sauer, J., & Page, J. (2013). Investigating the role of event structure and task goals on oculomotor behaviour and change blindness when observing CCTV footage. 17th European Conference on Eye Movements (ECEM). Sweden.
Graham, G., Hillstrom, A., Sauer, J., & Page, J. (2013). Investigating the role of event structure and task goals on oculomotor behaviour and change blindness when observing CCTV footage. Vision Sciences Society Conference, Florida.
Ramm, H., Page, J., & Tipton, M. (2013). The effect of expertise on the attention and performance of small boat coxswains. Faculty of Science Research Degree Students Poster Presentation Day, University of Portsmouth.
Page, J. (2012). Beach lifeguards 鈥� Visual search patterns, detection rates, and the influence of experience. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), Birmingham.
Journal reviewer for:
Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, Journal of Sports Sciences, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, Sport and Exercise Psychology Review, International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology.
Research
Jenny鈥檚 primary research area is drowning prevention. She is a Reader and active member of the Occupational Performance Research Group (OPRG) at the 香港六合论坛. She is an HCPC registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist and BPS accredited chartered psychologist.聽 She has recently conducted studies into the identification of cognitive factors that underpin hazard detection by lifeguards, decision-making process employed by lifeguards, and observation strategies used by lifeguards. She is currently leading research investigating differences in brain volume, brain function, and brain pathway connectivity between experienced and novice lifeguards as well as using MRI to determine the mechanisms that underpin improvements in hazard detection in collaboration with KCL. She is also currently the principal investigator for a project determining the efficacy of the 10:20 system of bather observation and well as quantifying the interventions performed by pool-based lifeguards. For such projects, we have achieved over 拢200,000 in funding. Jenny has provided research for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK).
Research Output
Articles
Sharpe, B. T. and Smith, J. (2024) Europe's journal of psychology. pp. 1-31. ISSN 1841-0413 (In Press)
Sharpe, B. T., Smith, M. S., Williams, S. C. R., Hampshire, A., Balaet, M., Trender, W., Hellyer, P., Talbot, J. and Smith, J. (2023) Applied Cognitive Psychology, 38 (1). pp. 1-15. ISSN 1099-0720
Sharpe, B. T., Smit, M. S., Williams, S. C. R., Talbot, J., Runswick, O. R. and Smith, J. (2023) Journal of Safety Research, 87. pp. 416-430. ISSN 0022-4375
Szecsi, D., Gunning, S., Howells, K. and Smith, J. (2023) Journal of Sport Psychology in Action. pp. 1-12. ISSN 2152-0712
Smith, J., Long, G., Dawes, P., Runswick, O. R. and Tipton, M. J. (2020) International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, 13 (1). ISSN 1932-9997 (In Press)
Omrani, A., Wakefield-Scurr, J., Smith, J., Wadey, R. and Brown, N. (2020) Frontiers in Public Health. ISSN 2296-2565 (In Press)
Omrani, A., Wakefield-Scurr, J., Smith, J. and Brown, N. (2019) American Journal of Health Education, 50 (6). pp. 374-389. ISSN 1932-5037
Omrani, A., Wakefield-Scurr, J., Smith, J. and Brown, N. (2018) Adolescent Research Review. pp. 1-12. ISSN 2363-8346
Graham, G., Sauer, J., Akehurst, L., Smith, J. and Hillstrom, A. (2018) Applied Cognitive Psychology, 32 (1). pp. 4-13. ISSN 1099-0720
Szpilman, D., Doyle, B., Smith, J., Griffiths, R. and Tipton, M. (2018) International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience, 19 (4). pp. 1-9. ISSN 1522-4821
Brown, N., Smith, J., Brasher, A., Risius, D., Marczyk, A. and Wakefield-Scurr, J. (2017) The Breast Journal, 24 (3). pp. 377-382. ISSN 1075-122X
Brown, N., Smith, J., Brasher, A., Atefeh, O. and Wakefield-Scurr, J. (2017) European Journal of Cancer Prevention. ISSN 0959-8278
Scurr, J., Brown, N., Smith, J., Brasher, A., Risius, D. and Marczyk, A. (2016) Journal of Adolescent Health, 58 (2). pp. 167-173. ISSN 1054-139X
