Dr Kalina Stamenova

Biography

I am an academic, researcher, and organisational consultant whose work integrates psychoanalytic theory with practice in education, organisational life, and research. Over the past two decades, my scholarship has focused on unconscious processes—particularly the ways in which emotions, group dynamics, and unspoken influences shape individual and collective behaviour. My doctoral research at the University of Essex examined the role of envy in learning, employing psychoanalytic observational methods to illuminate the interplay between emotional states and group processes in educational contexts. This work has since extended to the study of unconscious processes in virtual environments, addressing the psychological and organisational challenges inherent in digital communication. At the University of Essex, I developed The Unconscious in Individuals, Groups and Society module, now integrated into Understanding People and Society. The module combines psychoanalytic concepts with experiential learning and group relations approaches to enhance conceptual understanding and reflective capacity among undergraduate students. I have substantial training and leadership experience in group relations, encompassing social dreaming, large group dynamics, and systemic organisational analysis, with contributions to conferences at institutions including Birkbeck and Essex Universities. My consultancy work spans educational, corporate, and non-profit sectors, including delivering group dynamics workshops for Cambridge University Press and leadership training on virtual working for The Social Change Agency. I also facilitate reflective and work discussion groups for students and educators, fostering deeper engagement with the emotional and relational dimensions of their professional practice. I contribute to the international psychoanalytic and organisational studies community as Book Review Editor for the Journal of Organisational and Social Dynamics, as a doctoral supervisor, and as a regular presenter at academic and professional conferences. My work seeks to advance understanding of unconscious dynamics in both physical and virtual domains, with the aim of informing more thoughtful, ethical, and effective practice in education and organisational life.

Qualifications

• PhD University of Essex, (2012)