Dr Susan Birch

Group Co-Director; DECPsy Co-Programme Director and DEdPsy Programme Co-Director MA, PGCE, MSc, DEdPsy, C. Psychol, SFHEA, HCPC Registered Psychologist (Reg. No. PYL23162) Room: 223 Email: s.birch@ucl.ac.uk

Susan joined the educational psychology group at UCL as a tutor on the CPD doctorate course (DEdPsy) in 2008, becoming Programme Co-Director in September 2012. She was appointed as Co-Director of the Educational Psychology Group and Co-Director of the DECPsy in 2023.

Susan qualified as an educational psychologist at UCL in 1997 and worked as an EP, in two Local Authority educational psychology services, for more than twenty years, as a main scale EP, as a specialist EP for looked after children and as a Senior EP. Susan completed her Doctorate at UCL in 2005, focusing on using a resilience framework to explore the experiences of looked after children in education.

Susan has a wide range of professional interests, including working with schools to support the emotional health and well-being of children and young people, inclusion and bullying. Susan is also interested in ethical practice and interprofessional collaboration. She is currently working with colleagues at NatCen on a project funded by the EEF and YEF to explore school behaviour policies, school climate and student exclusions and engagement.