Daljinder Chalmers

Biography

Daljinder has joined Keele as a chartered health psychologist registered with the HCPC. She has extensive experience working in academia (where she has had senior lectureships roles), working in the civil service (local, central government and the Ministry of Defence), the NHS (primary and secondary care), and third sector organisations. She has a wealth of knowledge and insight and this can be seen in her approach to designing and developing her research. Daljinder's approach to research is very much collaborative and encourages engagement with peers across faculties.

Daljinder has also served with the British Army as a combat medical technician where she was attached to the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment (PWRR), Portsmouth for 7 years.

She gained her BSc in psychology from Bedfordshire university, her MSc in health psychology (stage I) from Derby university and her MPhil/PhD from Portsmouth University. She has also completed her stage II professional doctorate in health psychology from the University of West of England (Bristol).

Daljinder's research encompasses how acute and chronic conditions affect an individual's sleep using sleep diaries, actigraphy or polysomnography in her research.

Daljinder is the new scientific chair for the Division of Health Psychology (DHP) and will be taking on this role from June 2025.

Research and scholarship

I am a mixed methods researcher and I am currently keen on using methods such as 'Think aloud' and working collaboratively across disciplines (art, music and design) to assist in both understanding a problem and providing different perspectives as part of a solution. My research also focuses on working with historically, persistently or systemically marginalised (HPSM) groups. My current research and scholarly activities can be grouped using the following themes:

Sleep
I am interested in exploring the vital role that sleep plays in good health and well-being from a lifelong perspective. I am interested in understanding how sleep changes across the lifespan and as well as understanding how chronic lack of sleep (poor quality sleep) increases the risk of health problems.

Transgender health
I welcome ideas and discussion in understanding the needs of an ageing transgender population.

Sleep and nocturia
This is an ongoing piece of work focussing on understanding why symptoms of nocturia are under reported amongst women. This work has established that the mechanisms for reporting nocturia amongst patients is non existent and the impact that this has on sleep is detrimental. Furthermore, research has shown that nocturia is not just a symptom associated with getting older.

Reproductive health in pubescent girls and women
This is a new area of research whereby the focus will be primarily exploring and understanding under represented and under researched areas in pubescent girls and women's reproductive health.

Military psychology
I welcome ideas and discussion on and around military mental health.

Using psychology for sustainability and climate justice
I welcome discussions on and around addressing climate change and for exploring how to unpack barriers to become sustainable, environmentally-just and supporting climate healing action by generating ideas for a more inclusive and sustainable future.

Teaching

Programme co-leader - MSc in Health Psychology

Supervision

I have successfully supported postgraduate students in completing their research projects since the beginning of my academic career. I have also offered advise and guidance to doctoral level supervisory teams.

I supervise within the area of health psychology using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

I am open to supervising and supporting new students within the area of health psychology and military health. Please do get in touch if you would like to have an informal discussion.

Collaborations and grants awards

Healthcare emergency preparedness and response in major incidents
I have been working on a long-term NIHR funded project in collaboration with colleagues from the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) formerly Public Health England (PHE) and Kings College London in understanding how organisations learn. This has been led by Professor Richard Amlot and Dr Elena Skryabina.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and fatigue
This is an ongoing collaborative project with colleagues from Kings College London led by Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan funded by Crohn's and Colitis UK.

Transgender health
I am currently working with colleagues from Kings College London and Kings College Hospital on a project funded by NIHR, understanding how current models of healthcare affect the ageing transgender population.