Dr Jenny Groarke is a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Galway, and a Chartered Psychologist and full member of the British Psychological Society Division of Health Psychology. She completed her PhD at NUI Galway (now University of Galway) on the adaptive functions of music listening, following a BA and Higher Diploma in Psychology. Prior to her current role, she was Lecturer in Health Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast, where she holds an Honorary Lectureship.

Her research sits at the intersection of music psychology and health psychology, with a focus on understanding and improving health and wellbeing - particularly in relation to loneliness, psychological distress, and the use of creative and digital interventions. She has published over 35 peer-reviewed articles and contributes as a co-investigator to several large-scale interdisciplinary projects funded by Horizon Europe and national agencies.

Jenny holds editorial and advisory roles with a number of organisations, including as Associate Editor for Psychology of Music, the ALONE Loneliness Taskforce Research Network, and the National Association of Social Prescribing Link Workers (UK).

Research Areas:

• Emotions and affective experiences (stress, distress, loneliness)
• Creative activities, everyday music listening, group singing
• Psycho-Oncology, cancer-related loneliness, post-traumatic growth
• Mental Health and Wellbeing

Research Methods:

• Qualitative methods
• Creative methods and Participatory Action Research
• Psychometrics
• Scale development
• Experience Sampling
• Quantitative modelling
• Experimental/RCT designs
• Systematic reviews (qualitative evidence synthesis and mixed-methods)