Professor Eva Selenko

PhD, MSc, FRSA

  • Professor in Work Psychology
  • Head of the Work and Organisation academic group

Expertise: job insecurity; unemployment; wellbeing; the meaning of work; social identity

Eva Selenko holds an MSc in Social and Organisational Psychology from the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, the Netherlands, and a Doctorate in Psychology from Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Austria. Prior to joining Loughborough in July 2016, Eva was at the Institute of Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield and at the Johannes-Kepler University of Linz, Austria. Eva acts as Associate Editor for Applied Psychology: An International Review (ABS list ranked 3) and is a member of several professional societies (e.g. EAWOP, EAOHP, the German DGPS, the Austrian OeGP). Her academic achievements are recognised in her ‘Habilitation’ at the Johannes-Kepler University of Linz and in a Fellowship to the Royal Society of Arts.

Eva’s research focuses on precarious employment situations and how these affect wellbeing, identity and behaviour. Work is part of who we are – but what happens to our sense of self (and associated attitudes, behaviours and values) when work becomes insecure, difficult to get, or changes dramatically? Eva’s research shows this has dramatic consequences not only for wellbeing and health, but also for work performance and even political behaviour.

Eva publishes her research in leading academic journals, such as the Journal of Vocational Behavior, Journal of Organisational Behavior, Current Directions in Psychological Science, and European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology among others and regularly presents at academic conferences. Outside academia Eva has served as policy advisor for Cumberland Lodge, the German BAUA and the World Bank and gets regularly invited as a keynote speaker at international events.

Eva’s research focuses on precarious, insecure employment situations and how they affect people’s well-being, job performance, but also behaviour outside the work context. Starting from the premise that work is closely related to who we are, Eva explores what happens if work suddenly becomes insecure, unattainable, or lost.

Work means more than just providing a financial income alone – it can offer social contacts, the opportunity to do something useful, it structures time, it activates people. However, not all forms of work can provide these functions equally well, and some classic work-related functions might nowadays be satisfied outside paid work.

To investigate these questions in modern (often precarious) work settings provides the stage for Eva’s research interests.

If you are interested in these issues from an academic, practitioner, or policymaking angle, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Eva is open to supervise PhD students with interests in her research.

  • Associate Editor – Applied Psychology: An International Review
  • Editorial board member – Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology
  • Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts
  • Habilitation ad personam, Johannes-Kepler University of Linz (2016)
  • Selenko, E., Bankins, S., Shoss, M., Warburton, J., & Restubog, S. L. D. (2022). Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work: A Functional-Identity Perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 31(3), 272-279.
  • Selenko, E., Mäkikangas, A., & Stride, C. B. (2017). Does job insecurity threaten who you are? Introducing a social identity perspective to explain well‐being and performance consequences of job insecurity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(6), 856-875.
  • Klug, K., Selenko, E., & Gerlitz, J. Y. (2021). Working, but not for a living: a longitudinal study on the psychological consequences of economic vulnerability among German employees. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 30(6), 790-807.
  • Selenko, E., & De Witte, H. (2021). How job insecurity affects political attitudes: Identity threat plays a role. Applied Psychology, 70(3), 1267-1294.