You are here

  1. Home
  2. Dr Helena King

Dr Helena King

Profile summary

Web links

Professional biography

I am a Lecturer in Management and Health in the Department for Public Leadership and Social Enterprise (PuLSE), within the Open University Business School.   My PhD, post-doc and UKRI-funded internship were in the area of environmental psychology, applying an ecosystem services approach to evaluate psychosocial benefits of nature.  Following this I worked in the third sector gaining insights in health and social care practice and frontline community services.   Roles included a partnerships manager in a regional hospice supporting children and adults with life limiting conditions, senior manager in a social enterprise helping people experiencing homelessness, and consultancy for a charity supporting people living with HIV.   In these roles I collaborated with health and welfare practitioners/clinicans, applied for grant and corporate funding, monitored project impacts and wrote reports for public sector and philanthropic funders.   I returned to higher education in 2017 as a project manager in the Faculty of Business and Law with diverse responsibilities including research portfolio and funding pipeline management, data collection, textual output creation, webdesign, direction/production of videos, event management and evidence into practice activities.  I have been a lecturer since 2019, in PuLSE and in the School of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care.           

Research interests

I am an interdisciplinary researcher, interested in salutogenic socio-environmental determinants of health, with particular focus on:

  • Creating conditions to support self-regulation of health
  • Understanding relationships between social justice and health 
  • Identifying distinct contributions of charities that support people with longterm conditions

I am a member of the following research networks: 

Psychology of Health and Wellbeing 

New Materialisms Study Group

Teaching interests

I have a Post-Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice, and am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Current teaching:

  • B875 MBA project: leaders of change (MA Business Administration)
  • B894 Dissertation (HRM) (MSc Human Resource Management)
  • BXY130 Professional practice (BA (Hons) Management Practice)

Past teaching

  • K240/3 Mental health and society (BA (Hons) Health and Social Care)
  • K314 Approaches to mental health (BA (Hons) Social Work; BSc (Hon) Public Health & Wellbeing)
  • BXY132 Concepts and theories in policing (BSc (Hons) Professional Policing Practice)

Publications

Prevalence of HIV in mental health service users: a retrospective cohort study. (2023)
Heslin, Margaret; Jewell, Amelia; Croxford, Sara; Chau, Cuong; Smith, Shubulade; Pittrof, Rudiger; Covshoff, Elana; Sullivan, Ann; Delpech, Valerie; Brown, Alison; King, Helena; Kakaiya, Mina; Campbell, Lucy; Hughes, Elizabeth and Stewart, Robert
BMJ Open, 13, Article e067337(4)


The importance of landscape characteristics for the delivery of cultural ecosystem services (2018-01-15)
Ridding, Lucy E; Redhead, John W; Oliver, Tom H; Schmucki, Reto; McGinlay, James; Graves, Anil R; Morris, Joe; Bradbury, Richard B; King, Helen and Bullock, James M
Journal of Environmental Management, 206 (pp. 1145-1154)


Biodiversity and cultural ecosystem benefits in lowland landscapes in southern England (2017-11)
King, Helen; Morris, Joe; Graves, Anil; Bradbury, Richard B.; McGinlay, James and Bullock, James M.
Journal of Environmental Psychology, 53 (185 - 197)


Working with nature (2013-07)
King, Helena
The magazine of the Mineral Products Association, 13(7) (pp. 8-9)


Counteracting complex intersectional self-stigmatisation through empathetic group work (2024)
King, Helena
In : Conference of the Association of European Qualitative Researchers in Psychology 2024 (26-28 Jul 2024, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy)


HiVitality Retreats: an effective peer-led intervention for empowering adults living with HIV (2023-06)
King, Helena and Witney, Thomas
In : The 15th AIDSImpact Conference 2023 (12-14 Jun 2023, Stockholm, Sweden)


Acknowledging ethical complexity in peer-led coproduced research (2023)
King, Helena
In : Faculty of Wellbeing Educations and Language Research Day (05 Jul 2023, Open University, Milton Keynes)


Addressing the impacts of internalised stigma (2021-12)
King, Helena and Witney, Thomas
In : Mental Health and Wellbeing Conference (1-2 Dec 2021, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK)


Charity sector wellbeing support for UK police (2021)
King, Helena; Harrison, Virginia and Pike, Graham
In : Conference of the Association of European Qualitative Researchers in Psychology 2020 (EQuiP) (16-19 Jun 2021, Online)


Discourse, the shaping of environments and cultivation of the self (2021)
King, Helena
In : Conference of the Association of European Qualitative Researchers in Psychology (16-19 Jun 2021, Online)


Emergency Responders Mental Health & Wellbeing Project (2020)
Sharp, Marie-Louise; Harrison, Virginia; Soloman, Noa; King, Helen; Fear, Nicola and Pike, Graham
In : Emergency Responders Research Symposium: Mental Health & Wellbeing (30 Jan 2020, London)


Exploring charity sector wellbeing support for police (2019-09-10)
King, Helen; Harrison, Virginia and Pike, Graham
In : 2019 Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Conference: A civil society for the future: setting the agenda for the voluntary sector and volunteering research in the 2020s (10-11 Sep 2019, Aston University, Birmingham, UK)


Developing a methodology for cultural ecosystem services research (2014)
King, Helena; Stojanovic, Tim and Church, Andrew
In : 2014 BESS Science Meeting (1-2 Apr 2014, York, UK)


Biodiversity and Cultural Ecosystem Service Indicators Workshop (2013-06)
King, Helena and Graves, Anil
In : EKN Cultural Ecosystem Services Conference (1-2 Jul 2013, Exeter, UK)


Woodland freedoms and individualism: nature situated self-development as a precursor to Cultural Service creation (2011)
King, Helena and Burgess, Paul
In : Woods and Forests in British Society:progress in research and practice (13-15 Apr 2010, Edinburgh, UK) (pp. 9-24)


The therapeutic impact of HiVitality retreats (2022-10)
King, H. P.
The Open University


HIV Stigma (2022-06)
The Open University, ; King, Helena and Hudson, Andrew
The Open University, OU Connect.


Shiellah's story - Amazing People Living with HIV (2022-06)
The Open University, ; King, Helena and Hudson, Andrew
The Open University, OU Connect.


Mel's story - Amazing People Living with HIV (2022-06)
The Open University, ; King, Helena and Hudson, Andrew
The Open University, OU Connect.


Maurice's Story - Amazing People Living with HIV (2022-06)
The Open University, ; King, Helena and Hudson, Andrew
The Open University, OU Connect.


Assessing the mental health and wellbeing of the Emergency Responder community in the UK (2020-06)
Sharp, Marie-Louise; Harrison, Virginia; Solomon, Noa; Fear, Nicola; King, Helen and Pike, Graham
Open University and Kings College London, London.


A glimpse into the realm of police wellbeing charities (2020-01)
King, Helen; Harrison, Virginia and Pike, Graham
The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.


Implementing the Transformation of Police Learning and Development. Dream: the vision for the project. (2018-07)
Centre for Policing Research and Learning, ; King, Helena and Hartley, Jean
The Open University Business School


Implementing the Transformation of Police Learning and Development. Deliver: the outcomes of the project. (2018-07)
Centre for Policing Research and Learning, ; King, Helena and Hartley, Jean
The Open University Business School


Implementing the Transformation of Police Learning and Development. Design: the approach taken by the project. (2018-07)
Centre for Policing Research and Learning, ; King, Helena and Hartley, Jean
The Open University Business School


Implementing the Transformation of Police Learning and Development. Dialogue: engaging with the project. (2018-07)
Centre for Policing Research and Learning, ; King, Helena and Hartley, Jean
The Open University Business School


What On Earth Are Cultural Ecosystem Services? (2014-06)
King, Helena
Wessex Bess


Introducing an Ecosystem Approach to Quarry Restoration (2013-07)
King, Helen
Cranfield University