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Dr Lauren Smith

Lecturer

Lauren is a Lecturer in Psychology. Their PhD research looked at how people made decisions about and communicated sexual consent during substance-involved sexual experiences. Lauren's overarching interest is in the prevention of sexual harm in all of its forms.

Lauren is a mixed-methods researcher and has expertise in systematic reviewing, the social ecological approach, and conducting large online research projects. Lauren is a member of the Stigmatised Sexualities and Sexual Harm Research group and the Genders and Sexualities Programme of the Centre for Psychological Research. Lauren is also the current lead for the QUALitative Methods Support (QUALMS) network.

Lauren has also worked as an Assistant Psychologist in the area of developmental trauma and attachment and a Research Assistant at Leeds Beckett University. They have previously volunteered for Support After Sexual Violence Leeds (SARSVL) as an emotional support worker and have a Level 3 qualification in Supporting Survivors of Sexual Violence.

Current Teaching

Lauren has taught across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules since joining the psychology department. Modules they have recently taught on include:

Forensic Psychology
Research Methods and Analysis
Advanced Research Methods

Lauren also supervises MSc and BSc students in their areas of interest.

Research Interests

Lauren's research interests include sexual consent; sexual violence; sexualised drug-taking; sex, gender and sexuality; mixed and creative methods.

Lauren's recent projects:

Making and communicating decisions about sexual consent: A comparison of sober, alcohol, and drug-involved sexual experience (doctoral research): This project utilised an ecological framework and mixed methods to explore the person-level, situational, and socio-cultural factors that were associated with sexual consent at sober, alcohol and drug-involved sexual experiences.