International Relaxation Day Conference Speakers
International Relaxation Day Conference Speakers
Conference co-ordinators
Professor Stephen Palmer PhD and Dr Siobhain O’Riordan PhD are the conference co-chairs. Both are speaking the event.
Prof Stephen Palmer PhD CBiol CPsychol CSci CPsychol FIHPE (Hon) FISMA (Hon) is a Chartered Scientist, Chartered Biologist, Chartered Coaching Psychologist, Registered Health Psychologist and APECS Accredited Executive Coach and Supervisor. He is a BABCP Accredited Cognitive Behaviour Therapist and AREBT Accredited Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapist and Coach.
He is President and Fellow of the International Society for Coaching Psychology, Vice President and Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Health Promotion and Education, former President and Honorary Fellow of both the the International Stress Management Association (UK) and Association for Coaching. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management and Royal Society of Biology. He is Co-Editor of International Journal of Stress Prevention and Wellbeing, former editor and now Consulting Editor of the International Journal of Health Promotion & Education. He has written/edited 60 books including How to Deal with Stress (with Cooper), and Handbook of Coaching Psychology (with Whybrow). He has had a long-term interest in relaxation techniques. In 1993, he authored a book, Multimodal Techniques: Relaxation and Hypnosis and has regularly written about relaxation techniques in books and articles over 30 years.
His university posts include being Adjunct Professor of Coaching Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark, Hon Professor of Practice at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and currently a PhD Supervisor and Director of Studies. Previously he has been a Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit, City University London; Honorary Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil, and BABCP London Branch Co-chair.
Dr Siobhain O’Riordan PhD CSci CPsychol FISCP MIHPE Hon is Chartered Scientist and Chartered Coaching Psychologist. She has full divisional membership of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers in Psychology (DARTP) and is a member of the BPS Psychobiology Section. She is Course Co-Director on the stress management and coaching programmes and a trainer at the Centre for Coaching. She is an Honorary Member of the Institute for Health Promotion and Education, Fellow of the International Society for Coaching Psychology and Accredited Coaching Psychologist and Supervisor. From 2013-2015 she was Editor of the International Journal of Health Promotion & Education. Currently, she is Founder Chair of the International Society for Coaching Psychology, Editor of the International Journal of Coaching Psychology, Consulting Editor of The Coaching Psychologist and Editor of Coaching Psychology International. Her other roles include supervising doctorate students at the Wales Academy for Professional Practice and Research, University of Wales Trinity Saint David where she is a Research Fellow. She is also a Director of the International Academy for Professional Development Ltd. She has published research and practice papers and her latest book is Introduction to Coaching Psychology (2021, with Palmer).
Conference Speakers
Yumna Ali is currently a doctoral researcher in psychology at Hazara University, Pakistan. She completed her General Certificate of Secondary Education from the University of Cambridge and holds a TEFL certificate from City University of New York. Recently, she has been awarded the ISCHP grant from the University of Galway, Ireland, on the topic of smog’s impact on mental health and with Duke School of Medicine, USA on a similar theme. Another grant she received was from the University of Sydney, Australia, on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Association. Her contribution of conference papers is with Hamburg University, Germany, on the theme of teaching multicultural attitudes and gender health with the University of California, USA and with University College London on the theme of sports education from the Global South. Further contributions have been with the Serbian Western Academy of Applied Science and the University of Belgrade, which have been published on their website. She has completed her research training at the Saudi National Institute of Health. Her publications are 30+ in the university journals of Iran, Romania, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Netherlands, Azerbaijan and Spain. She is a lifetime member of the Pakistan Psychological Association (PPA) and a member of the American Psychological Association (APA). Recently, she has been mentioned in the Song Book from Sama School of Music for literary assistance for over 13 years. She regularly publishes with her research group, REACH-GLOBAL. Her peer review record is of 130+ articles in high-impact-factor journals.
Liz Hall is a certified mindfulness teacher, leadership coach, editor of Coaching at Work, and author of books including Relational Mindfulness for Coaches (with Dr Emma Donaldson-Feilder, Routledge, 2025), Coach the Team (Penguin, 2019) and Mindful Coaching (Kogan Page, 2013). She has been practising mindfulness since 2004, including in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh. She lives in southern Spain where being in nature, dancing with friends, painting, meditating, and eating healthy food helps her relax.
Dr. Richard MacKinnon is a Chartered Coaching Psychologist, Chartered Occupational Psychologist and Chartered Scientist. The founder of WorkLifePsych, he supports clients at all levels seniority to boost and maintain their wellbeing, productivity and interpersonal effectiveness. Richard has over twenty of years experience as a practitioner psychologist and has worked with employees in contexts as diverse as creative studios, food production, pharmaceuticals, major fashion brands and airlines. He’s the host of the fortnightly podcast ‘My Pocket Psych’.
Dr Karen E. Neil is a public health consultant and mindfulness teacher, with over 30 years of experience across mental health, pharmacy, health promotion, and wellbeing. Her work blends clinical expertise with a holistic, evidence-based approach, empowering individuals and communities to take ownership of their health. Karen contributes regularly to the Institute of Health Promotion and Education (IHPE), co-authoring position statements and rapid responses to the British Medical Journal, advocating for positive health promotion. Through her organisation, Mindful Medicine, she offers mindfulness-based health coaching and courses rooted in inclusive, person-centred practice.
Dr. Qing Wang is an educational psychologist, chartered psychologist, accredited coaching psychologist and a passionate lifelong learner. She completed PhD from University of Bristol and currently works as Associate Professor in Educational and Coaching Psychology at the School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University (ECNU). She established Educational Coaching Research Group (ECRG) at ECNU focusing on coaching psychology research and practice in the field of education. She is Fellow of International Society for Coaching Psychology (ISCP), Associate Fellow and Chartered Psychologist of British Psychological Society (BPS) and Chartered Member of International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP).
This session premieres TBC
Judit Varkonyi-Sepp CPsychol, CSci, AssocMISCP is a Chartered Psychologist and Health and Care Professions Council-registered practitioner Health Psychologist, a chartered member of the British Psychological Society.
This conference is supported by the International Academy for Professional Development Ltd who are providing the Zoom Webinar facilities.
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