Lab Founder and Director
Dr Nejra van Zalk is a developmental psychologist whose work focuses on human-technology interaction and the development of psychopathology.
Nejra received a BA(Hons) in music in 2004, MSc in psychology in 2005, and PhD in psychology in 2009 from Örebro University, Sweden. She was a Lecturer at School of Law, Psychology and Social Work at Örebro University (2009-2013), a Visiting Scholar in the Applied Developmental Psychology Research Group at the Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge (2013-2016), and a Senior Lecturer in psychology at the University of Greenwich (2016-2018). Since 2018, she has been based at the Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London.
Nejra founded the Design Psychology Lab in 2018, shortly after starting her academic position at Imperial College London. Her vision was to create a multidisciplinary research group that would help promote the use of psychological insights in the process of technological innovation, fuelled by the idea that mental health should be an important consideration in the design process of technologies, services, and interventions rather than just an afterthought. Much like physical safety of users has long been in focus for innovators, Nejra believes that mental health safety should be considered from ideation through to end product.
At Imperial College London, Nejra leads the Human Behaviour and Experience Research Network of Excellence. She also leads the MSc in Design with Behaviour Science, an innovative new master’s programme at the Dyson School of Design Engineering, starting in autumn 2024.
Outside of academia, Nejra collaborates with governing bodies and organisations to consult on critical problems involving human-technology interactions and development of anxiety.
Nejra is a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) and Associate Fellow (AFBPsS) with the British Psychological Society (BPS).