Meet our Team - Dr Zoe Lucock

I’m Dr Zoe Lucock, Co-Director and consultant at PACT and I’m hoping that this blog will help you to get a feel for who I am and how I got here. 

I’ve always found behaviour fascinating- why do people behave the way they do? I studied psychology at Bangor University to help me search for answers, and while I loved learning about the reasons for people’s behaviour, I realised it just wasn’t enough. Simply knowing why people behave doesn’t automatically translate to being able to help them to change their behaviour. Then, I found the science of Applied Behaviour Analysis, and everything fell into place. With ABA, I could actually help people with practical, effective, and person centered support to improve their lives. 

I completed two masters degrees in ABA - the first split between the UK and Poland, and the second in the USA. Behaviour change science is significantly more advanced over there, so it was amazing to see how it was considered gold standard treatment and available on health insurance. I loved my time in California, but I knew that my duty was to develop the science and therapy here in the UK. 

After working with children with autism for a few years, I realised that it was time for a new challenge. I went back to Bangor University and completed my PhD in behavioural gerontology and then passed the BCBA exam and became board certified. During my PhD research, I worked with older adults with Alzheimer’s, Vascular dementia, Mixed Type Dementia, and older adults with Down Syndrome and dementia, conducting assessments that informed quality of life interventions. During that time, I saw time and time again the benefit that behaviour change science could bring to supporting people with dementia who have challenging behaviour, need support with dressing, conversation, memory, apathy and the variety of other behavioural changes that are common for older adults.

Starting PACT has been a huge challenge. As the first provider of BCBA-led behavioural support in the UK (and possibly Europe), I want to ensure that we are setting the standards high and paving a way for behavioural gerontology to become gold standard support for older adults. Not only that, but having worked as care assistant myself, I know how draining it can be and how difficult it can be to do this job, and I think it’s vital that the way we support people with dementia takes this into account too. 

I believe strongly in dissemination of our science; I have multiple publications in scientific journals and have presented at conferences both national and internationally. I also get a real kick out of supervising and teaching the next generation of behavioural gerontologists. 

I can’t wait to see what the next few years have in store for us. I’ll be giving it everything I’ve got. 

I'm always happy to answer any questions about myself, my career, my journey here or our science. Please email me at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!

Dr Zoe Lucock, PhD., BCBA-D, FHEA.