About
Professor Kate Smith holds a Personal Chair at the University of Aberdeen within the School of Education, specifically leading the Department of Counselling, Well-being, and Educational Psychology. She actively supervises PhD students in Psychology and Education and maintains a clinical-practitioner role alongside her academic work.
- PhD Psychology (2016) - University of St Andrews
- PGCert Higher Education Teaching (2014) - Abertay University
- BSc Psychology (2010) - Open University
- PGDip Counselling (2009) - Abertay University
- PGCert Counselling Skills (2007) - Abertay University
- MA Natural Sciences (2003) - University of Cambridge
Kate's research focuses on enhancing therapeutic effectiveness through pluralistic approaches, emphasizing client responsiveness, demographic influences on therapy outcomes, and digital mental health delivery. Her recent work examines pluralistic therapy's process and outcomes, training methodologies, and online therapy perceptions.
Key trends in her 15 most recent publications include pluralistic practice development, digital therapy modalities (2024: BJGC review), and therapeutic process metrics like speech rhythm analysis (2022: AMCSS). She contributes to training frameworks (2021: PCCS Books) and social justice in research (2021: Frontiers in Psychology).
Professor Smith oversees the Bounds counselling clinic and collaborates with the TRACCS group on therapy process-outcome studies. Her funded projects include validating non-verbal emotion indicators (DASA £99,753), BACP diabetes counselling grants, and ATLEF digital learning environment assessments.
