Lara Zibarras

Dr. Lara Zibarras is a Senior Lecturer in Organisational Psychology at City St George's, University of London, where she has been a faculty member since 2008. She previously served as Programme Director for the MSc in Organisational Psychology and currently acts as admissions tutor for the course. Dr. Zibarras joined City in 2004 as a research assistant before beginning her PhD studies in 2005, during which she maintained teaching and dissertation supervision responsibilities.

Her research interests focus on selection processes, innovation, and sustainability in the workplace. Dr. Zibarras' PhD research examined applicant perspectives in selection and determinants of application fairness perceptions in high-stakes settings. She has led research programs focused on high-stakes selection and assessment (2011-2012), psychometric questionnaire revalidation (2014-2015), and psychometric assessments for loan underwriting (2017-2020). Her work on pro-environmental workplace behavior, funded by the Richard Benjamin Trust, explores psychological theories explaining employee engagement in sustainable practices.

Her extensive publication record includes the 2025 article 'Applicant Perceptions of Selection Methods: Replicating and Extending Previous Research' and numerous studies examining medical selection processes, psychometric assessment, and workplace innovation. Her research demonstrates consistent focus on selection methodology validity, applicant perceptions across diverse contexts, and practical applications of psychological theory in organizational settings.

Dr. Zibarras has received recognition as a Chartered Occupational Psychologist (HCPC registered), Associate Fellow of the BPS Division of Occupational Psychology, and member of the Society of Industrial and Organisational Psychology.

She has supervised PhD students including Natalia Mladentseva (researching alternative psychometric measures for micro-lending assessment) and Antonio Pangallo (exploring resilience measurement in palliative care workers). Her consultancy work spans diverse projects from developing patient outcome measures with Imperial College to creating innovative selection methods for fintech companies. Notably, she leads City University's partnership with Oakam to apply psychometric data and behavioral science in financial risk decisioning.

Dr. Zibarras directs research examining unconscious bias during recruitment to support diversity and inclusion practices in leading law firms and management consultancies (2014-ongoing), and has developed measurement tools for social housing organizations, medical/dental deaneries, and multinational corporations.