Aarti Iyer, PhD
Dr. Aarti Iyer is an affiliate/adjunct faculty member at SIT Graduate Institute. She worked as an academic since 2009, most recently as a professor of social psychology at the University of Sheffield (U.K.). Her research investigates the causes and consequences of challenges to social inequality by individuals (e.g. political attitudes and behavior) and organizations (e.g. diversity, equity, and inclusion policies). Dr. Iyer also taught quantitative research methods and statistics courses to undergraduate, master’s, and PhD students. During the 2021-22 academic year, she took a leave of absence to work as a Congressional Fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (Ohio), where she was part of the health policy team. This experience convinced her to change careers, and she then worked as a social scientist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for three years. Since December 2025, Dr. Iyer has been an independent consultant working on projects related to artificial intelligence, program evaluation, and social science research methods.
Graduate Courses Taught
Research Methods 4: Advanced Qualitative and Quantitative Data Analysis
Select Publications
Webster, R. K., & Iyer, A. (2025). Perceived discrimination in healthcare settings is associated with medication side effects and adherence: A cross-sectional survey representing the four largest ethnic groups in the U.K. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-025-02403-y
Iyer, A., & Pryce, G. (2024). Theorising the causal impacts of social frontiers: The social and psychological implications of discontinuities in the geography of residential mix. Urban Studies, 61(5), 782-798.
Leach, C. W., & Iyer, A. (2024). Moral improvement of self, social relations, and society. Annual Review of Psychology, 75, 295-310.
Iyer, A., & Jetten, J. (2023). Disadvantaged-group members’ experiences of life transitions: The positive impact of social connectedness and group memberships. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 32(2), 91-97.
Iyer, A. (2022). Understanding advantaged groups’ opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies: The role of perceived threat. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 16, Article e12666.
Orellana, L., Totterdell, P., & Iyer, A. (2020). The association between transgender-related fiction and transnegativity: Transportation and intergroup anxiety as mediators. Psychology & Sexuality, 13(2), 228-239.
Kutlaca, M., Radke, H. R. M., Iyer, A., & Becker, J. C. (2020). Understanding allies’ participation in social change: A multiple perspectives approach. European Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 1248-1258.
Education
- Graduate Certificate, Higher Education, University of Queensland (Australia)
- PhD, Social Psychology, University of California – Santa Cruz (U.S.)
- BA, Psychology and Sociology/Anthropology, Swarthmore College (U.S.)
