Thesis exploring spirituality, interconnectedness, and concern for global crises wins award

Congratulations to Ayla Lyons who has been awarded the 2022 Psychology Thesis Award for her thesis “We’re in This Together: Spirituality, Interconnectedness, and Concern for Global Crises.”

“Having the opportunity to work on a thesis project at King’s was a great experience. My classmates, professors, and advisor provided excellent feedback and support that helped shape my project and helped me grow as both an academic and a person. I’m so grateful for my experiences with the thesis course at King’s. Thank you to everyone who helped along the way,” says Lyons.

“We’re in This Together: Spirituality, Interconnectedness, and Concern for Global Crises” explores the relationship between spirituality, interconnectedness, and concern for global crises. Participants, including 95 people from the King's University College Psychology 1000 participant pool, the Consciousness Club, and the Finders Course alumni, completed a demographic questionnaire, consisting of written and multiple-choice questions.

Imants Barušs, Professor, Department of Psychology, who served as Lyons’ Thesis Advisor, says that thesis was “exemplary in all respects.”

Lyons will also be presenting her research at the American Psychological Association Convention in August.

Every year, Psychology faculty are asked to nominate deserving Psychology 4891E students. A department subcommittee reviews nominations to select the winner. The winner is selected based on the overall quality of the thesis, including the overall quality of writing, student initiative, as well as conceptualizing an innovative and scholarly research question and design, using appropriate data collection methods and analyses and farming the study results in context of relevant theory and research.

“All of our thesis students are outstanding, so it is hard to select just one,” says Dr. Wendy Ellis, Associate Professor of Psychology.