Dr Susan Rasmussen
Reader
Psychology
Personal statement
I joined the School of Psychological Sciences and Health as a lecturer in September 2008, having previously worked as a Research Fellow at Stirling University (with Professor Rory O'Connor).聽I am a Chartered Psychologist and my research is in the area of Health Psychology. My work is characterised by an interdisciplinary focus (e.g., psychology, health services research, social policy, primary and secondary care, epidemiology) and aims to address key health issues; However, I focus primarily on suicide and self-harm. My main research interest is to understand how self-harm and suicidal thoughts and behaviour begin, why they might be repeated, and how we can eventually stop these. I am particularly interested in understanding the trajectory of these thoughts and behaviours and how this can influence help seeking. I focus on the application of theoretical models to enhance our understanding of the aetiology of suicidal behaviours and psychological well-being across the lifespan, but I am dedicated to examining these experiences for high-risk groups in particular (e.g., adolescents, older adults, and LGBTQ+). I have a track record of obtaining funding for this work (including Wellcome Trust, Chief Scientist Office, ESRC). I am a Centre for Health Policy Fellow in the Centre for Health Policy at 海角论坛 University. I am also an affiliate member of the Suicidal Behaviour Research Lab at the University of Glasgow. My secondary interest is the understanding of vaccine hesitancy in high-risk groups including those who lived with a chronic health condition.
Prize And Awards
- Recipient
- 5/3/2026
- Recipient
- 2026
- Recipient
- 2026
- Recipient
- 8/2025
- Recipient
- 2025
Qualifications
Education:
BA Hons in Psychology (University of 海角论坛)
PhD in Health Psychology (University of Stirling)
PG Certificate in advanced academic studies (university of 海角论坛).
Professional memberships:
- Registered with the Health Professions Council (CPsychol)
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
- Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS).
- Member of the International Academy for Suicide Research.
- International Affiliate of the American Psychological Association.
- Member of the American Association of Suicide.
- Member of the British Psychological Society, Division of Health Psychology.聽
- Affiliate member of the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory, University of Glasgow, Scotland.
- Affiliate member of the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Research Lab, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA.
Publications
- , , Chau Yvonne Chin-Van, , , Anderson Tony, , Flynn Colin, , Zhao Helin, Tang Zhun
- British Journal of Guidance and Counselling (2026)
- , , , ,
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology (2026)
- , , , , Thomson Scott,
- 21st European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour (2026)
- Nielsen Emma, Bird Katherine, Williams A Jess, Lockwood Joanna, Jobes David, Brausch Amy, Wadman Ruth, Bilello Delfina, Babbage Camilla M, Cassidy Sarah, del Carpio Laura, French Blandine, MacDonald Carol, Newell Victoria, Pelton Mirabel, , Townsend Ellen
- BMC Psychiatry (2026)
- , Tucker Raymond P, Keinonen Katariina, Hill Ryan M, Prowten Skyler, Cramer Robert J
- Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology (2026)
- Souza Kenvil, Sosu Edward M, Zortea Tiago, O'Connor Rory,
- Archives of Suicide Research, pp. 1-17 (2026)
Teaching
I teach across the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum and I currently lead two undergraduate classes on individual differences and Introduction to Mental Health Difficulties. I am the Associate Dean Undergraduate for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and I am particularly interested in how we support our students' well-being. I run induction sessions for the incoming and continuing students on the faculty's BA degree, and I also contribute to open days.
Research Interests
I am a health psychologist with in interest in health behaviours. My primary research interest focusses on conducting research which will inform and create suicide prevention opportunities. The work includes the testing and adaptation of theoretical models of suicide with a focus on identifying unique suicide resilience and risk factors across diverse populations, and across the lifespan. My work specifically attempts to understand why someone might start to feel suicidal, when those thoughts are translated into suicidal behaviours, and to identify opportunities to stop these thoughts and behaviours. My second research interest is understanding the barriers and facilitators of vaccination behaviours, as well as behaviours during disease epidemics. This research has focussed on understanding the factors which impact key health protective behaviours such as handwashing, as well as to understand the psychological processes involved in individual decision making in relation to getting vaccinated against e.g. the flu or COVID-19.
Professional Activities
- Contributor
- 28/8/2026
- Contributor
- 26/8/2026
- Contributor
- 26/8/2026
- Chair
- 2022
- Member
- 2022
- Contributor
- 24/6/2021
Projects
- Stephen, Susan (Principal Investigator) Rasmussen, Susan (Co-investigator) McGeachan, Cheryl (Co-investigator) Kirkpatrick, Ruth (Co-investigator)
- This is a pilot project to investigate if archived data can be used ethically to produce fictionalised stories about the counselling process. We hope this will be the first step towards a larger engagement with the research clinic archive across the life cycle of the counselling process as well as the experiences of different client groups, so we must demonstrate that this method works and can have impact. Our goals are to develop: a method of practice that supports the ethical use of counselling archives to support community-based research; a collection of counselling stories that showcase the power of counselling in society; and a set of resources using a variety of storytelling methods that can be shared to promote a more nuanced understanding of counselling and its use as a tool for wellbeing.
- 01-Jan-2026 - 30-Jan-2027
- Ahuja, Hardik Singh (Academic) Rasmussen, Susan (Principal Investigator) Graham, Christopher Darryl (CoPI)
- Through my doctoral research, I am studying the Narrative Crisis Model of Suicide (NCM), exploring the mediation of trait vulnerabilities, suicidal narrative and suicide crisis syndrome leading to suicide outcomes. Currently, I am working on a scoping review to map the existing literature on NCM. My focus area in the model is the influence of stressful life events resulting in the onset of a suicidal narrative.
- 01-Jan-2023
- Rasmussen, Susan (Principal Investigator) Russell, Kirsten (Co-investigator) Cogan, Nicola (Co-investigator) Heap, Daniel (Research Co-investigator)
- The aim of the project is to more fully understand the link between employment and financial instability and experiences of suicidal thinking and behaviour for people living in Scotland. In line with the tender, and as a result of adopting a mixed methods approach to the project we are proposing to focus our research questions on exploring what the links are between employment and
financial instability and, importantly, why these links exist. More specifically we wish to explore the following questions:
路 What are the experiences of employment and financial instability in Scotland, and do those experiences link to suicidal thinking and behaviours?
路 What are the temporal dynamics of the experiences of suicidal thinking and behaviours for individuals living in Scotland who experience employment and financial instability?
路 Can we use the risk and protective variables specified by a key theory of suicidal thinking and behaviour to understand how employment and financial instability is linked to suicidal thinking and behaviours? - 01-Jan-2023
- Hafford-Letchfield, Trish (Co-investigator) Karastoyanova-Gibson, Konstantina (Co-investigator) Rasmussen, Susan (Co-investigator) Sledmere, Maria (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2028
- Rasmussen, Susan (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2028
- McGeown, William (Principal Investigator) Mavroeidi, Alexandra (Principal Investigator) Parra Rodriguez, Mario (Co-investigator) Brown Nicholls, Louise (Co-investigator) Rasmussen, Susan (Co-investigator) Robertson, David (Co-investigator) Tse, Dwight (Co-investigator) Kirk, Alison (Co-investigator) Hafford-Letchfield, Trish (Co-investigator) Rattray, Nicholas (Co-investigator) Bushell, Trevor (Co-investigator) Gould, Gwyn (Co-investigator) GANGANNAGARIPALLI, Jaheedabegum (Co-investigator) Carswell, Hilary (Co-investigator) Tate, Rothwelle (Co-investigator) Kurdi, Amanj (Co-investigator) Lennon, Marilyn (Co-investigator) Moshfeghi, Yashar (Co-investigator) Roper, Marc (Co-investigator) McConnell, Gail (Co-investigator) Kerr, Andy (Co-investigator) Li, David (Co-investigator) Thomson, Avril (Co-investigator) Campbell, Gerard (Co-investigator) Vourganas, Ioannis (Co-investigator) Clark, Ruaridh (Co-investigator) Macdonald, Malcolm (Co-investigator)
- HaSS Bridging Disciplines.
Successfully funded for access to UK Biobank:
The overarching aim of the application is to investigate the predictors (e.g., lifestyle, neuroimaging metabolic and genetic) of healthy ageing (e.g., cognitive, physical and mental health in older age).
Our objectives are to identify the contribution of predictors (lifestyle, medication-related, neuroimaging, metabolic, and genetic) of the following outcomes, that occur at greater frequency in older age:
1) Cognitive impairment (e.g., due to normal ageing or neurological disorders such as Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, stroke)
2) Poor physical health (e.g., osteoporosis, diabetes, falls and fractures)
3) Poor mental health (e.g., anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation) - 08-Jan-2023 - 09-Jan-2025