Dr Eileen Cunningham CPsychol MSc DipCG BSCH

Students and recent graduates are my main research interest and I carried out research into ‘regional graduate migration and mobility’ a mixed methods project in collaboration with my colleague Dr Fiona Christie and the Careers & Employability team at the University of Salford. We secured funding of £5k through the Higher Education Careers Service Unit (HECSU) and co-developed an online careers resource for students and graduates which was based on our research and contemporary career theory.

My PhD research is a qualitative study of the lived experience of students’ unpaid work such as internships and voluntary placements, exploring the opportunities and barriers they face. The participants studied at north-west universities and many were from a ‘widening participation’ or international background. I used a qualitative, phenomenological approach and the findings are interpreted through a Heideggerian lens. Through foregrounding student and new graduate voices, the research informs how they access and mobilise opportunities and also how higher education institutions, opportunity providers and practitioners can best support them.

During lockdown (as well as completing my PhD, working full-time and home-schooling) I undertook research about ‘Working mums and lockdown’ – a longitudinal, qualitative research project which explored experiences of working women during the Covid pandemic.

I have been teaching and training for around twenty years, mainly specialising in psychology, social policy, professional and career development, research methods and study skills. I am a personal tutor for Level 5 Business Psychology students and year tutor for Level 6. I always endeavour to be approachable and enthusiastic!

I have also been a tutor and academic coach for the Senior Leadership MA degree apprenticeship and graduate management programme in the NHS at Manchester Foundation Trust hospitals. 

I have supervised BSc and MSc students though their dissertations and placements, many of which have recently focused on the effects of Covid-19 on the psychological wellbeing and motivation of workers. I supervised an international MRes student in Global Health which explored and evaluated the value of a ‘one stop’ health care facility for HIV and cervical cancer screening in rural Uganda.  

Publications & blogs

Antoniadou, M., Crowder, M. & Cunningham, E. (2024).  Parallel lives: exploring the experiences of students who work.  In K. Wilkinson & H. Woolnough (Eds). The Work-Life Interface across the Life-Course.  Bingley: Emerald, pp 27-40.

Cunningham, E., Christie, F. & Antoniadou, M. (2022) Using phenomenology in careers research. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling. 50 (3)

PhD thesis: Cunningham, E. (2021) Working for Nothing: How do students and graduates utilise unpaid work experiences for career mobilities. http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/61475

Cunningham, E. (2020) ‘Working mothers and lockdown’, Career Guidance for Social Justice blog https://careerguidancesocialjustice.wordpress.com/2020/08/06/working-mothers-and-lockdown/

Cunningham, E. & Houston (2018) ‘Waiting for a career epiphany’ London School of Economics blog https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2019/01/09/waiting-for-a-career-epiphany/

Houston, K. & Cunningham, E. (2018) ‘Waiting for a Career Epiphany: a barrier to decision making?’ Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling pp. 25-32

Houston, K. & Cunningham, E. (2015) ‘How to succeed at Assessment Centres’ Palgrave Macmillan (authored chapters on numerical and verbal assessments)

Thwaites, G.; Walker, F.D.; O’Brien, V.; Cunningham, E. (2015) ‘Developing Leadership Potential in Undergraduates’Chartered Association of Business Schools  https://charteredabs.org/developing-leadership-potential-in-undergraduates/

Conference presentations

National Centre for Careers Education & Guidance (NICEC) network meeting (online) May 2020 ‘Decent work and career development’

National Centre for Careers Education & Guidance (NICEC) conference 2019 – ‘No place like home: graduate attitudes toward place and mobility’ presentation & paper based on HECSU research

ASET Work-based placements conference 2018– presented a research paper ‘Compromise and capitals’ and a poster on evaluation of ethical global health student placements with ‘Salford Knowledge for Change’

Salford Business School ‘Work, Careers & Employability’ colloquium (July 2018 forthcoming) – invited presentation ‘The lived experience of students in the world of work’

International Centre for Career Education and Guidance (iCEGS - 2018) – ‘Waiting for a career epiphany – a barrier to career decision- making’ interactive workshop

Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) Research conference 2017 – Poster presentation ’21 days to career success: an evidence-based graduate support blog’

Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC) 2016 ‘Experiences of work as opportunity or obstacle to future success: students’ perspectives’. Won ‘Best Pecha Kucha presentation’ award for presentation of PhD research methodology

ASET Research group symposium 2016, Aston University - Invited presentation ‘Issues in Employability’