Dr Derek Roger
Dr Derek
Roger qualified originally in Clinical Psychology. He completed his
Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Exeter in England, and was
appointed to the Psychology Department at the University of York in
1977. The Department of Psychology at the University of York is
internationally recognised as a highly prestigious centre of research
excellence, and the Stress Research Unit which Derek directed there was
one of the foremost specialised stress research centres in the UK.
Derek
initiated an innovative programme of research on stress and health at
York in 1980, drawing on his expertise in personality and psychometrics
as well as his clinical experience. The research was funded over the
years by grants totalling £240,000 (NZ$700,000), awarded by a range of
European funding bodies. The findings have been published in over 120
journal articles, books and conference papers, including a number of
invited keynote presentations and a chapter in the Encyclopedia of
Stress (2000 - Academic Press). The Stress Research Unit funded
programmes for a number of Research Fellows as well as attracting
visiting researchers from the USA, Canada, Spain, Germany, Norway,
Sweden and Russia. Derek has supervised more than 25 Ph.D. students,
and was Visiting Professor in Psychology at the University of Palma in
2000.
Derek left the University of York as Reader in
Psychology in 2003, when he and his wife moved to New Zealand. The
research programme is ongoing, and he currently holds an Adjunct
Associate Professorship at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch
as well as a Visiting Research Fellowship at the University of York in
England.
Derek's research findings contradicted much of the received wisdom about
stress and stress management, and in the early 1980s he began to work with
the Police Force in the North of England to develop a practical training
programme based on his work. This resulted in a unique and revolutionary
system for managing stress entitled the
The
Challenge of Change. Having a research programme running in parallel
meant that the effectiveness of the new training could be rigorously tested,
and evidence from carefully controlled studies have shown significant changes
in health, performance and sickness-absence that have been sustained over
18-month follow-ups.
In 1992 the
Work Skills
Centre (WSC) consultancy was established to provide a
vehicle for marketing the training. The Centre operates as a
partnership, and has a number of accredited associates. The WSC quickly
established itself as a major provider of stress management expertise
in the UK, and the training has been implemented in a wide range of
public and private sector companies there. For example, the WSC is a
Preferred Provider of training to the BBC across the UK, and forms part
of core training in the National Health Service in the Yorkshire
region, where it is given to all newly-appointed medical consultants.
Derek's work on stress and stress management has been reported on in
all of the major UK news media, and featured prominently in the BBC's
Radio 4 'Patient Progress' series on stress and health.
The
Work Skills Centre continues to operate in the UK under a European
license granted to a group of associates. It has also now been
established in New Zealand, and the Challenge of Change has been
implemented in a range of New Zealand companies, including Meridian
Energy, Caltex, Bridgestone NZ and Ravensdown Fertilizers.
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