Dr Helena King

Professional Biography

Dr Helena King is a Senior Lecturer in Management and Health at the triple‑accredited Open University Business School, where she leads the MBA module Leaders of Change and the MiM module Fundamentals of Management. Her academic career began with UKRI‑funded roles as a postdoctoral researcher and as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership intern.  Following this she held management roles in third‑sector organisations, managed interdisciplinary applied research portfolios, then taught on professional degrees in human resources, public health and public protection.

Helena is committed to social justice and inclusive, values‑led practice. Following a two‑year co‑produced group coaching intervention project with a UK peer-led charity, she was inspired to pursue training and accreditation in coaching and psychology. She became a pro‑bono coach for the Cranfield Trust in 2024 and works 1:1 with health and welfare charity leaders. Her coaching interests centre on integration, reflection and positive emotion in complex environments, and on the potential for coaching to improve outcomes for marginalised people- both through direct practice and through equipping organisational leaders to create more inclusive cultures. 

Research Interests

Broadly, Helena’s theoretical research explores relationships between mental and physical health, and the interconnectedness of socio‑spatial settings and internal experience. She draws on contemplative science, coaching, social psychology, environmental psychology and organisational studies literatures. Her PhD, postdoctoral fellowship and KTP internship all focused on the wellbeing benefits of biodiversity, and the role of land‑use policy in shaping engagement with nature. Helena’s current research examines issues of identity in complex biopsychosocial contexts (including emergency responders and people living with HIV), particularly the impacts of health stigma. Her applied work focuses on group coaching interventions as a means of leveraging peer interactions, increasing the scalability of coaching and improving its cost‑effectiveness.

Affiliations

CABS Certified Management and Business Educator 

HEA Fellowship

BPS student member

Psychology of Health and Wellbeing member

Research into Employment and Equitable Futures member

Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership member

Centre for Policing Research and Learning member

Education 

MSc Psychology (underway), Open University
Professional Diploma Coaching & Mentoring (underway), Institute of Counselling
Certificate in Coaching, Institute of Counselling
Post-Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice, Open University
APM Project Management Qualification, Association for Project Management
Diploma in Arts and Humanities, Open University
PhD Environmental Psychology, Cranfield University
BA Business Organisation, University of Hertfordshire 

 Open University teaching 

Current modules

• B877 Fundamentals of Management (MiM Master in Management)
• B875 MBA Project: Leaders of Change (MBA Master of Business Administration)

Past teaching

• B894 Dissertation (HRM) — MSc Human Resource Management
• BXY130 Professional Practice — BA (Hons) Management Practice
• K240/3 Mental Health and Society — BA (Hons) Health and Social Care
• K314 Approaches to Mental Health — BA (Hons) Social Work; BSc (Hons) Public Health & Wellbeing
• BXY132 Concepts and Theories in Policing — BSc (Hons) Professional Policing Practice