Dr Lucy Ryan

Dr Lucy Ryan was the first Master's student on the UEL MAPP programme in 2007, graduating in 2009 with distinction. Lucy is proud to 'return home' as a part-time Senior Lecturer on the Masters in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP).

Her PhD specialised in understanding the lived experience of female leaders over 45 years in organisations and Lucy is an Honorary Research Associate with the University of Liverpool. Lucy is also a Master Practitioner Coach with the EMCC and an EMCC global volunteer for the development of young female entrepreneurs. 

Lucy’s consultancy work spans 22 years, and she is the Managing Director of Mindspring, a leadership and coaching organisation. As such, Lucy leads positive consultancy approaches for global blue-chip companies in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors and acts as an Executive Coach for Board and Exco leaders. She specialises in working with leaders in transition and has trained and coached thousands of leaders across 29 countries. 

Lucy is passionate about the practical application of positive psychology to business and coaching, and how this can aid positive transformation. She regularly addresses professional conferences highlighting the practice of positive psychology within organisations and has led masterclasses at every international coaching body, including the SGCP (Special Group in Coaching Psychology), the Association of Coaching and the ABP (Association of Business Psychology). Her clients include UNICEF, BBC, Bauer Media, British Heart Foundation, Ingeus, Arval and the Independent Cinema Organisation. 

For students, Lucy is dedicated to helping them connect positive psychology theory and organisational practice in a stimulating way. To facilitate this, she has developed a range of tangible positive psychology tools and is particularly interested in the areas of Strengths, Energy, Resilience, Motivation, Self-Efficacy and Emotional awareness.

In 2010, Lucy co-developed the SPARK Resilience Programme with Professor Ilona Boniwell (which has now been adopted by the global charity, Partnership for Children as their mental health strategy for 11–15-year-olds). Together, Ilona and Lucy also co-authored the book Well Being Lessons for Secondary Schools (Oxford University Press, 2012).

In 2021, Lucy's book Lunchtime Learning for Leaders (Kogan Page) enabled leaders to use positive psychology concepts in a user-friendly format. Her forthcoming book, Revolting Women (Practical Inspiration Publications, 2023) places the emphasis on female professionals at midlife.