Research

Professor Hanna Zagefka is a psychologist with expertise in intergroup relations, social identity, acculturation, prejudice, and behaviour change in relation to intergroup helping. Hanna studies situations in which group identities are important drivers of behaviour. For example, her research shows how donations to victims of humanitarian disasters can be encouraged, drawing on social identity principles. She has co-edited a book on the topic (‘Intergroup Helping’, Springer).

Hanna is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol). She has a track record of publishing in leading academic journals and her work has featured in national print media (e.g., BBC, Economist). Her empirical research spans Europe, Asia, and North and South America, and has attracted UKRI (ESRC) and Leverhulme Trust funding.

External leadership & service to the field

Prof. Zagefka’s record of leadership and service to the field includes several contributions, for example

• Chief Editorship of the British Journal of Social Psychology
• Service on the Editorial Boards (e.g., International Journal of Psychology)
• Chair of a Research Council Grants Assessment Panel at the FWO (Flanders)
• Panel Membership of a Grant Assessment Panel at the ESRC
• Panel Membership of Grants Assessment Panel at the National Science Centre, Poland
• Panel Membership of Grants Assessment Panel at the Latvian Council of Science
• Invited Visiting Professorship with a mentoring/coaching brief for global majority staff (University of Northampton)
• External Examining on several Undergraduate Programmes (Asia Pacific University at Kuala Lumpur; Goldsmiths University of London; University of Kent)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Committee Membership of the BPS Social Psychology Section

Academic leadership

Prof. Zagefka has held several leadership roles in the psychology department at Royal Holloway, for example:

• Head of Department (since August 2022)
• Director of MSc programme in Applied Social Psychology
• Director of Ethics
• Director of Student Recruitment
• Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes
• Director of Teaching and Learning
• Member of the College’s Academic Board

Teaching & PhD supervision

Prof. Zagefka enjoys teaching at both UG and PGT level, with a focus on social psychology and related topics such as organisational and health psychology. She is experienced in supervising both home and overseas PhD students to completion. She is open to enquiries from prospective students. Past theses have investigated questions such as these: why do people donate more to victims of some disasters over others? Why do some people see multiculturalism as a good thing and others as a threat? How do group memberships (such as your nationality or ethnicity) affect how you see the world, and how you are treated by others?