Mrs Kristina Risley

Mrs Kristina Risley


Kristina is a Visiting Lecturer and Doctoral Researcher at the University of Westminster, investigating a state of Flow for leadership development using serious games. 

Her qualifications include a BSc in Psychology, an MSc in Human Resource Management and a PG-Cert in Learning and Teaching.

Before moving to academia, Kristina spent 10 years in senior HR roles, primarily in the NHS, up to and including board level. Her main career focus was leadership and organisational development, particularly how people initiatives add value to organisations.

Kristina is certified in the facilitation of a number of psychometric tools and an experienced coach, with a keen interest in data-driven HR and the impact of people initiatives in business.


Kristina is an active contributor to the Flow Leadership Global Research Program.

Her research interest include:

  • Gamification and serious games for leadership development
  • Soft skills development in leadership
  • Psychometric tools for leadership development
  • The use of immersive simulations in learning and development
  • A psychological state of flow and its benefits to learning
  • Applications of people analytics tools and methodologies in business



Sustainable Development Goals
In brief

Research areas

Immersion in serious games, Psychometrics and Leadership development

Skills / expertise

Technology enabled learning, Qualitative interviewing and analysis and Innovations in pedagogy

Supervision interests

Leadership development, Innovations in HR and HR for organisational performance