Dr Amy Beardmore

• Qualifications:DPhil, MSc, BA Hons, PG Cert
• Position:Programme Lead and Senior Lecturer in Public Health
• Department:HAS - Applied Sciences
• Telephone:+441173287153
• Email:Amy2.Beardmore@uwe.ac.uk
• Social media:

About me

Amy joined UWE in May 2013 as a Research Officer in the Faculty of Business and Law, working on a range of research projects within Bristol Social Marketing Centre (later Bristol Centre for Leadership and Change). These included evaluations of initiatives such as the Golden Key programme (a citywide intervention for adults with multiple complex needs), and patient and public involvement group The Healthcare Change Makers. She also worked on various other projects focusing on social prescribing, behaviour change and youth homelessness.

Amy completed her MSc in Public Health at UWE in January 2018 and subsequently moved to the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences where she worked for three years as a Research Associate and later Research Fellow. She is now a Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Programme Lead for the MSc Public Health. She also teaches on the BSc Apprenticeship in Public Health and the Specialist Community Public Health Nursing programmes, specifically on the Qualitative Health Research, Introduction to Global Public Health, Principles of Evidence Based Public Health and Health Promotion modules. She also supervises Masters dissertation students and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and recently gained her PGCert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

In September 2024 Amy successfully defended her thesis entitled 'an exploration of community development initiatives as a tool for promoting social connectedness', passing with minor corrections. The thesis showcases a range of projects which share a symbiotic relationship across a range of community approaches, all of which have the potential to promote social connectedness within communities and therefore reduce social isolation and loneliness. The findings demonstrate how processes of social connectedness can be enhanced and supported through attention to the wider components of community development initiatives, such as social prescribing and microgrant funding schemes. They also emphasise the need for collaboration across community organisations and highlight the importance of including members of the public – particularly the seldom heard – in participatory and decision-making processes. Within the context of the pandemic, the thesis also considers the impact of social upheaval on community development initiatives by exploring alternative ways of maintaining social connections and supporting resilience in the wake of the crisis. Lastly, the findings also highlight the need to develop and utilise appropriate methodologies for the evaluation of community development initiatives which consider the importance of context within dynamic and complex public health systems.

Amy continues to be an active researcher and her interests here include community development, social justice, health promotion, public health evaluation, and health and wellbeing at different stages of the life course. 

Area of expertise

Qualitative research and public health evaluation. Strong fieldwork skills, particularly interviews, evaluations and focus groups. Community development, social prescribing, older people, health promotion, wellbeing interventions.

Publications

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