Dr Susan Lagdon is a Lecturer in Psychology (Mental Health) at Ulster University.  Susan is a graduate of Ulster, having completed both BSc and PhD in the School of Psychology.  Whilst working as a post-doctoral research fellow at Queen’s University Belfast, Susan completed a project looking at Health and Social Care Professionals' Family Focused Practice with Parents who have Mental Illness, their Children and Families in Northern Ireland. During 2018/19 Susan was also the Trial Manager for The JACK Trial, a NIHR-funded Cluster RCT of a film-based sexual health intervention taking place in post-primary schools across the UK. 

Susan’s core research interests centre on experiences of domestic and sexual violence and abuse, particularly the mental health implications of such interpersonal trauma for victims as well as impacts on children.  Susan completed her PhD during 2016 which focused on intimate partner violence, mental health and service experience in Northern Ireland. This work included the publication of “Every Voice Counts”, a research report which looked at the Northern Ireland policing response to victims of intimate partner violence. 

More recently, Susan has worked in partnership with the IMHS, Northern Health and Social Care Trust and QUB colleagues on assessing Public Understanding of Coercive Control in Northern Ireland and Young Peoples Understanding of Coercive Control. Susan is a mixed methods researcher using both quantitative and qualitative research approaches in her work.