Ailish King

Ailish graduated with a BSc in Psychology at the University of Leeds in 2014, and an MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Loughborough University in 2019.  Ailish worked in a custodial setting within the field of forensic psychology from 2014-2017.  Between 2017-2018, Ailish worked as a Research Associate at the University of Birmingham where she undertook two projects commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee. 

In addition to her University Teacher role, Ailish works as a National Trainer for UK Anti-Doping and carries out consultancy work with athletes and teams.

Research Title: Irrational Beliefs and Dysfunctional Behaviours in Sport

Ailish’s research seeks to explore the links between irrational beliefs and dysfunctional behaviours in sport that impact athlete well-being.  The research also aims to develop and test a Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy informed intervention and explore how this impacts athlete wellbeing over time.

• King, A. M., Turner, M. J., Plateau, C. R., & Barker, J. B. (2022). The socialisation of athlete irrational beliefs. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-022-00460-4
• Kavussanu, M., Hurst, P., Yukhymenko-Lescroart, M., Galanis, E., King, A., Hatzigeorgiadis, A., & Ring, C. (2020). A moral intervention reduces doping likelihood in UK and Greek athletes: Evidence from a cluster randomized control trial. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2019-0313
• Kavussanu, M., Hurst, P., Barkoukis, V., Skoufa, L., King, A., & Ring, C. (2018) Preventing doping in sport: the VIRTUES project. In: Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology Annual Conference 2018, 3-4 December, Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Unpublished)
• Brown, C., Frowd, C., Portch, E., Nunn, H., & King, A. (May 2012). Applied issues in Facial Composite Construction: The effects of verbal recall, post-encoding delay and encoding conditions on the quality of facial composites. Oral Presentation at the Fifth International Investigative Interviewing Conference, Toronto, Canada.