Staff profile

Mini-Biography

Marisa joined Durham University Business School in 2012 and is a research assistant in the Policing Research Unit led by Professor Les Graham. Over the past 11 years, she has conducted local and national level collaborative research with police forces across the UK and Ireland, as well as with the international hairdressing conglomerate Toni&Guy. Alongside her work with the Policing Research Unit, she is now a part-time PhD student in Management, with a research focus on workplace stressors.

 

Marisa joined Durham University Business School in 2012 as a research assistant while completing her undergraduate degree in human geography. Following her graduation, she joined full-time in 2015 and helped Professor Les Graham establish the Policing Research Unit within the Centre for Leadership and Followership in the Business School.

Over the past 11 years with the team, she has helped conduct local and national level collaborative research with over 40 police forces across the UK and Ireland. This includes the National Policing Wellbeing and Inclusion Survey 2019 and the National Policing Wellbeing Surveys in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2023 across England and Wales, collaborative research with Police Scotland in 2021, and the An Garda Síochána Culture Audit in 2022. She was also heavily involved in the team’s contribution to the Home Office Front Line Review of Policing in 2018-2019, which has for instance helped lead to the establishment of the Police Covenant across England and Wales. With the research unit, Marisa has also conducted collaborative research with the international hairdressing conglomerate Toni&Guy on leadership, service delivery and the service environment.

In recognition of her contribution to Durham Constabulary and to policing nationally, she was awarded a Certificate of Commendation by Chief Constable Jo Farrell in 2019. She has also received a Faculty of Business Research Award from Durham University Business School in 2022 in recognition of the research impact of the collaborative work with police forces. The Policing Research Unit as a team won an Impact and Engagement Award from Durham University in 2018.

Alongside her work with the Policing Research Unit, she is now a part-time PhD student in Management, with a research focus on workplace stressors, coping, job crafting, and the impact of leadership on these.

 

• Occupational Stress
• Wellbeing
• Leadership and Followership
• Job Crafting
• Recovery

Journal Article

• Legate, N., Weinstein, N., Graham, L., & Plater, M. (2023). Anti‐bias training and perceived force climate: Links with prejudiced attitudes in United Kingdom policing. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 33(4), 929-939. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2682
• Weinstein, N., Legate, N., Graham, L., Zheng, Y., Plater, M., Al-Khouja, M., & Moller, A. C. (2023). The Role of Perceived Autonomy-Supportive Communications for Motivating Prejudice Reduction and Avoiding Defiant Backlash Within the Police Force Workplace. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 53(5), 443-454. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12953
• Zheng, Y., Epitropaki, O., Graham, L., & Caveney, N. (2022). Ethical Leadership and Ethical Voice: The Mediating Mechanisms of Value Internalization and Integrity Identity. Journal of Management, 48(4), 973-1002. https://doi.org/10.1177/2f01492063211002611
• Lockey, S., Graham, L., Zheng, Y., Hesketh, I., Plater, M., & Gracey, S. (2022). The impact of workplace stressors on exhaustion and work engagement in policing. Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles, 95(1), 190-206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032258x211016532