Dr Jen Pink

I have worked at the Open University since 2020.  I have been in my current post as Lecturer in Psychology since December 2024.  Prior to this, I was an Associate Lecturer, teaching across core undergraduate and postgraduate psychology modules as well as a final year undergraduate forensic and counselling module (DD310). 

I hold a PhD in Psychology, two MScs (Abnormal and Clinical Psychology, Research Methods in Psychology) and two BScs (Psychology, Mathematics with Linguistics) and I am a fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I am a forensically focused quantitative psychology researcher exploring dark personality traits and offending-related behaviours.

Research interests

My main research interests focus on psychopathy and related concepts such as narcissism and sadism.  I am especially interested in exploring the implicit psychopathic self-concept and its relation to offending-related behaviours and attitudes.  I also enjoy collaborating more broadly in the field of implicit cognition and alongside my psychopathy research, I am also researching implicit attitudes towards the police.  Additionally, I have an interest in mental health/wellbeing research.  I have collaborated on several projects in this field including a sizeable multi-survey Wales-wide project with the NHS to gauge the psychological impact of COVID-19 on the Welsh population and pupillometry as a tool to index psychological trauma.  In my work I predominantly employ quantitative methods, both experimental and survey.

Teaching interests

I am co-chair of our Investigating Psychology 2 (DE200) module, on its February presentation.  This is one of our core psychology 60-credit modules and features in several of our BPS accredited programmes.  I am also part of the production team for a new optional 60-credit psychology module (D250).

External collaborations

I have active research collaborations with academics at Cardiff and Swansea universities.  Additionally, I am involved with two non-profit organisations.  I am on the committee of the Welsh Branch of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a member of Aftermath: Surviving Psychopathy Foundation, which is an organisation providing information and support for victims of psychopathy across Europe, the US and Canada.