Dr Anastasia Economou

Professional biography

I joined the OU in 2002. I have worked as Research Fellow, Associate Lecturer, Student Services Manager and  Senior Lecturer and Staff Tutor in Counselling and Psychology. I am also a BACP accredited psychotherapist.  In addition to managing staff I have played leading roles in the production, development and delivery of the psychology and counselling curriculum as well as in student support:

• Associate Director of Student Support (2026 - Present)
• Presentation Chair and MRP Chair of DD310 (since 2022J)
• Qualifications Lead for Q84 BSc (Hons) Psychology with Counselling (2020-2022).
• Leading the development of the tuition strategy for the counselling curriculum (D240, DD310 and D241).
• Member and Lead Cluster Manager in the D241 Production Module Team (2018 – 2020). 
• Chair of D240 and Chair of the MRP (2019J).  Lead Cluster Manager (2015 -2019) and Module Team Member and Exam Board Member (2011-19). 
• Lead Cluster Manager and Module Team Member for DD310 (17J and 18J).
• Lead Cluster Manager (2017-18) and Module Team Member (2015-2017) in DE300.
• Chair of D171 (16J and 16D presentations) and EAB Chair for D171 (15J and 16D Presentations); Module Team Member and Exam Board Member between 2011-2014).
• Exam Board Chair for DSE212 15J presentation.
• Lead Staff Tutor and member of the production team for DE100 (2012-14)
• Module team member and Exam Board Member in the DSE141 module (2012 -2014).
• Lead of the counselling sub team in the SST (2015-2016)
• Lead of the Open Programme in the SST (2014-2015)
• Co-lead of the Level 1 sub team in the SST (2013-2014).
• Chair of the Staff Development Group in R02 overseeing the staff development of 900 ALs (2012-2014).
• Senate member for FASS (2011 – 2018).

Qualifications

2015   MBDA FE/HE Accredited Dyslexia Assessor, British Dyslexia Association (BDA)

2014   Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Studies in Education – Difficulties in Literacy                            Development

2009   Accreditation by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

2005   PG Dip. Counselling (Birmingham University)

2001   DPhil (Oxford University)

1994   MPhil (Cambridge University)

1990   BEd. 2.1 (National and Capodistrian University of Athens, Greece)

Professional memberships

• Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (AdvanceHE), SFHEA
• Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP Accred.)
• Accredited Member of the British Dyslexia Association (MBDA FE/HE Accred.)

Research interests

My scholarship interests are in the wellness, support and learning of students with additional requirements.

Teaching interests

My interests are in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in counselling and psychology; in student engagement, progression, retention and success. I have been member of the production teams in DE100 and D241 and member of various module presentation teams (DSE141, D171, D240, DE300, DD310) as well as presentation module Chair of  DD310. D240 and D171, Exam Board Chair for DSE212, D171; Module Results Panel Chair for D240 and DD310; Pscychology and Counselling CEAB Internal Examiner; Academic Reviewer for the BSc (Hons) and MSc Psychology, American College of Thessaloniki (ACT) and Anatolia University. 

Impact and engagement

2025 - Present: Academic Reviewer for the BSc (Hons) and MSc Psychology, American College of    Thessaloniki (ACT) and Anatolia University

2021 - Present: Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

2015 - Present: Accredited Member of the British Dyslexia Association

2009 - Present: Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

Publications

Economou, Anastasia (2021). The other pandemic: Obesity.  DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/3rf4a

 Economou, Anastasia (2020). Eating for wellness: Development, analysis, comparison and discussion of meal plans based on the Mediterranean and vegetarian dietary patterns. DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/2qesf 

 Bhagwat, Shonil A.; Economou, Anastasia and Thornton, Thomas F. (2016). The Idea of Climate Change as a Belief System: Why Climate Activism Resembles a Religious Movement. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 25(2) pp. 94–98.

Economou, A. (2014): Student support staff’s perceptions of literacy difficulties and support they provide to students with literacy difficulties in higher education distance learning. Open University Scholarship Exchange [Online: https://openuniv.sharepoint.com/sites/units/lds/scholarship-exchange/SitePages/Home.aspx]

Bennett, Nigel; Newton, Wendy; Wise, Christine; Woods, Philip A and Economou, Anastasia (2003). The role and purpose of middle leaders in schools. National College for School Leadership.

Phillips, David; Dahl, Bettina; Economou, Anastasia and Ertl, Hubert (2003). Interpreting EU Educational Policies: The Cases of the European Dimension in Education and the Socrates and Leonardo Programmes. Cadernos Prestige: Final Series, 7. Lisbon: Educa.

Economou, Anastasia (2003). A comparative study of the European dimension in education in England, Scotland and Wales. In: Phillips, D and Ertl, H (eds): Implementing European Union education and training policy: a comparative study of issues in four member states. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 117–126.

Phillips, David and Economou, Anastasia (2001). Conducting research into EU education and training policy: some theoretical and methodological considerations. In: Watson, Kevin (ed.) Doing comparative education research: issues and problems. Wallingford, UK: Symposium Books.