• BA (Hons) Psychology
• PhD
• Reader in Psychology, Dept Behavioural Sciences
• Associate Fellow British Psychological Society
• Membership of editorial board:
  Personal Construct: Theory and Practice (2005-present),  Slayage (2005-present)

Teaching & Academic Responsibilities

• Curriculum/subject interests: social psychology, social constructionism, Personal Construct Psychology; gender; the psychology of media and popular culture cultural.
• Module leader for HHB1002 Alternative Psychologies
• HHS Director of Graduate Education
• HHS Director of Postgraduate Research
• Chair of HHS Research Degrees Committee

• social psychology
• social constructionism
• Personal Construct Psychology
• gender
• the psychology of media and popular culture
• qualitative methods.

Projects in progress

I have just written a chapter for a book on reflexivity in Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) practice edited by Richard Butler. With Prof Nigel King, I am currently engaged in a research project funded by the HEA exploring the uses of 'reality TV' in teaching research ethics to undergraduates. We are also engaged in a project to explore women's identities through footwear using PCP methods. 

2013

Budds, K., Locke, A. and Burr, V. (2013) ‘Risky Business: Constructing the ‘choice’ to ‘delay’ motherhood in the British press’ Feminist Media Studies . ISSN 1468-0777

2012

Jarvis, C. and Burr, V. (2012) ‘The transformative potential of popular television: the case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Journal of Transformative Education . ISSN 1541-3446

Burr, V. and King, N. (2012) ‘You’re in cruel England now!: Teaching research ethics through reality TV’ Psychology Learning and Teaching . ISSN 1475-7257

2011

Budds, K., Locke, A. and Burr, V. (2011) ‘Being a ‘good’ older mother’. In: 31st Annual conference of the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology (SRIP), 14th - 15th September 2011, Nottingham, UK

Burr, V., Giliberto, M. and Butt, T. (2011) ‘Walking like an Italian, speaking like an English person: Construing the cultural other and the self’. In: 19th International Congress on Personal Construct Psychology PCP2011, July 19-22, 2011, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Budds, K., Locke, A. and Burr, V. (2011) ‘“I really think I would make a better mum now”: Constructions of ‘good mothering’ in interviews with ‘older’ first-time mothers’. In: BPS Psychology of Women Section Annual Conference 2011, 13th - 15th July 2011, Windsor, UK

Burr, V. and King, N. (2011) ‘Teaching research ethics through reality TV’. In: Paper presentations of the 2010 University of Huddersfield Annual Learning and Teaching Conference. Huddersfield: University of Huddersfield. pp. 4-8.

2010

Budds, K., Locke, A. and Burr, V. (2010) ‘'It's not like I was just sat at home waiting to have a baby for ten years.' Constructing the timing of pregnancy as a woman's choice: Implications for the 'older mother'’. In: Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section (QMiP) Annual Conference 2010, 23rd - 25th August 2010, University of Nottingham

Jarvis, C. and Burr, V. (2010) ‘TV teacher: how adults learn through tv viewing’. In: Looking back, looking forward: learning, teaching and research in adult education past, present and future. Proceedings of 40th Annual Standing Conference on University Teaching and Research in the Education of Adults. University of Sussex: Centre for Continuing Education, in conjunction with SCUTREA. . ISBN 978-0-904242-68-3

Jarvis, C. and Burr, V. (2010) ‘TV teacher: how adults learn through tv viewing’. In: SCUTREA 2010 Proceedings. : SCUTREA. . ISBN 9780904242683

Burr, V (2010) ‘Buffy as role model: her significance for female viewers’. In: The Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses 4, June 3-6 2010, St Augustine, Florida, USA

Burr, V. and King, N. (2010) ‘Teaching research ethics through reality tv’. In: PLAT2010: The fifth biennial Psychology Learning and Teaching Conference, 30 June - 2 July 2010, Edinburgh Napier University , pp. 1-7

Burr, V (2010) ‘Constructions of the family in popular culture’. In: Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour . London, UK: Hodder Education. . ISBN 9781444108316

Burr, V. and King, N. (2010) ‘Exploring personal identities through constructions of footwear’. In: 10th European Personal Construct Association (EPCA) Conference on Personal Construct Psychology, 9-12 April 2010, Belgrade, Serbia

2009

Budds, K., Locke, A., Burr, V. and King, N. (2009) ‘"Nowadays, women feel they can schedule pregnancy into their diary like they would a dentist appointment." Perspectives on delayed motherhood in British newspapers’. In: Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology conference, 8th - 9th September 2009, The Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

Burr, V. and King, N. (2009) ‘In these shoes? Exploring women¹s identities through footwear.’. In: The XVIIIth International Congress on Personal Construct Psychology, July 20-24 2009, Venice, Italy

King, N. and Burr, V. (2009) ‘Exploring personal identities through constructions of footwear’. In: The XVIIIth International Congress on Personal Construct Psychology, July 20-24 2009, Venice, Italy

Butt, T. and Burr, V. (2009) ‘Making the most of methods: the future for PCP?’. In: The XVIIIth International Congress on Personal Construct Psychology, July 20-24 2009, Venice, Italy

Burr, V (2009) ‘Sex and Censorship: The Case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Feminism & Psychology , 19 (1), pp. 123-127. ISSN 0959-3535

2008

Burr, V (2008) ‘‘Oh Spike you’re covered in sexy wounds!’ The Erotic Significance of Wounding and Torture in Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. In: Sex, violence and the body: the erotics of wounding. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 137-156. ISBN 9780230549340

Hearn, J. and Burr, V. (2008) ‘Introducing the erotics of wounding: sex violence and the body’. In: Sex, violence and the body: the erotics of wounding. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1-14. ISBN 9780230549340

Burr, V. and Hearn, J. (2008) Sex, violence and the body: the erotics of wounding . Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan . ISBN 9780230549340

Burr, V (2008) ‘"Bunches of grapes and bananas": unconstruing the human body in life drawing’ Journal of Constructivist Psychology , 21 (4), pp. 321-327. ISSN 1072-0537

Burr, V (2008) ‘The contribution of feminist research to the rise of qualitative methods : soft data instead of hard facts’. In: Metateorijske osnove kvalitivnih istrazivanja. Belgrade: Zepter book world. pp. 119-128.

Blyth, E., Burr, V. and Farrand, A. (2008) ‘Welfare of the child assessments in assisted conception: A social constructionist perspective’ Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology , 26 (1), pp. 31-43. ISSN 02646838

2007

Burr, V. and Jarvis, C. (2007) ‘Imagining the Family: Representations of Alternative Lifestyles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Qualitative Social Work , 6 (3), pp. 263-280. ISSN 1473-3250

2006

Burr, V (2006) ‘‘Bunches of grapes and bananas’: un-construing the human body in life-drawing.’. In: The VIIIth Biennial Conference of the European Personal Construct Association, 8th to 11th April 2006 , Kristianstad, Sweden

Burr, V (2006) ‘Becoming a singer: PCT and voice’. In: Creative Construing: Personal Constructions in the Arts. Gießen, Germany: Psychosozial-Verlag. pp. 120-127. ISBN 9783898064385

Burr, V (2006) ‘Bad Girls Like It Rough (-And Good Girls Don’t?): Representations of BDSM in Buffy the Vampire Slayer ’ Phoebe , 18 (1), pp. 45-57. ISSN 1045-0904

Burr, V (2006) ‘Narrative and storytelling’. In: Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses 2, 25th - 28th May 2006, Gordon College, Georgia, USA

2005

Jarvis, C. and Burr, V. (2005) ‘'Friends are the family we choose for ourselves': Young people and families in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Young , 13 (3), pp. 269-283. ISSN 1103-3088

Burr, V (2005) ‘The Big Group Sing: academic and fan identities at the Slayage Conference on Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. In: “Bring Your Own Subtext”: Social life, human experience and the works of Joss Whedon, 29 June - 1 July 2005, University of Huddersfield

Burr, V (2005) ‘Scholar/'shippers and Spikeaholics: Academic and fan identities at the Slayage Conference on Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ European Journal of Cultural Studies , 8 (3), pp. 375-383. ISSN 1367-5494

2004

Burr, V (2004) ‘Performing the Imaginative Variation: Using Buffy to Teach Sartre’. In: SC1: The Slayage Conference on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 28 - 30 May 2004, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Burr, V (2004) ‘Bringing Your Own Subtext: Individual Differences in Viewers' Responses to Buffy’. In: Slayage Conference on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 28 - 30 May 2004, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Jarvis, C. and Burr, V. (2004) ‘"Friends Are the Family We Choose for Ourselves": Young People and Families in BtVS ’. In: Slayage Conference on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 28 - 30 May 2004, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Butt, T. and Burr, V. (2004) Invitation to personal construct psychology 2nd ed. . London, UK: Wiley . ISBN 978-1-86156-387-3

2003

Burr, V (2003) ‘'It all seems so real': intertextuality in the Buffyverse’ Refratory: a journal of entertainment media , 2. ISSN 1447-4905

Burr, V (2003) Social constructionism . London: Routledge . ISBN 9780415317603

Burr, V. and Butt, T. (2003) ‘Psychological distress and postmodern thought’. In: Ethically challenged professions: enabling innovation and diversity in psychotherapy and counselling. Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books. pp. 75-93. ISBN 1 898059 61 6

Burr, V (2003) ‘Buffy and the BBC: moral questions and how to avoid them’ Slayage: the online international journal of Buffy studies , 8.

Burr, V (2003) ‘Making sense and the ambiguity of the lived world’. In: Psychological constructivism and the social world. Milan: Franco Angeli. pp. 59-66. ISBN 9788846448125

Burr, V (2003) ‘Constructivism’. In: The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. . ISBN 9780761923633

Burr, V (2003) ‘Ambiguity and sexuality in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A Sartrean analysis ’ Sexualities , 6 (3/4), pp. 343-360. ISSN 1363-4607

2002

Burr, V (2002) ‘Judging gender from samples of adult handwriting: accuracy and use of cues ’ The Journal of Social Psychology , 142 (6), pp. 691-700. ISSN 0022-4545

Burr, V (2002) The person in social psychology . London, UK: Taylor & Francis . ISBN 978-1-84169-181-7

2000

Burr, V (2000) ‘Gender Identity and Handwriting’. In: Understanding the Social World: Constructions and Identity, September 3rd-6th 2000, University of Huddersfield Department of Behavioural Sciences Centre for Constructions & Identity

Burr, V. and Butt, T. (2000) ‘Making a difference’. In: Ninth Biennial Conference of the North American Personal Construct Network, July 12-16 2000, New Paltz State University of New York

Burr, V (2000) ‘The extra-discursive in social constructionism’. In: Ninth Biennial Conference of the North American Personal Construct Network, July 12-16 2000, New Paltz State University of New York

Burr, V. and Butt, T. (2000) ‘Psychological Disorders: Discovered or Invented? ’. In: Ninth Biennial Conference of the North American Personal Construct Network, July 12-16 2000, New Paltz State University of New York

1999

Burr, V. and Butt, T. (1999) ‘Psychological distress and post-modern thought’. In: Pathology and the Postmodern: mental illness as discourse and experience. London, UK: Sage. pp. 186-206. ISBN 9780761952527

1998

Burr, V (1998) ‘Realism, relativism, social constructionism and discourse’. In: Social Constructionism, Discourse and Realism. London, UK: Sage. pp. 13-26. ISBN 9780761953760

Burr, V (1998) Gender and social psychology . London, UK: Routledge . ISBN 978-0-415-15815-2

1997

Butt, T., Burr, V. and Epting, F. (1997) ‘Core construing: self discovery or self invention?’. In: Advances in Personal Construct Psychology. London, UK: Elsevier. pp. 39-62. ISBN 9780762300839

Butt, T., Bell, R. and Burr, V. (1997) ‘Fragmentation and the self’ Constructivism in the Human Sciences , 2 (1), pp. 12-29. ISSN 1520-2984

Burr, V. and Butt, T. (1997) ‘Interview methodology and PCP’. In: Sharing understanding and practice. Farnborough: EPCA. pp. 98-105. ISBN 9780953019809

1995

Burr, V (1995) An introduction to social constructionism . London, UK: Routledge . ISBN 978-0-415-10405-0

1992

Burr, V. and Butt, T. (1992) Invitation to personal construct psychology . London, UK: Whurr Publishers . ISBN 1870332482

• Attitudes towards violent and sexual material on TV  and TV censorship
• Audience reception of  'reality TV' shows
• Uses of popular culture in teaching
• The psychology of artistic and/or creative activities.
• Gender and identity
• The psychology/social psychology of relationships between people and non-human animals