Senior Lecturer in Public Health | Programme Lead, BSc Public Health Practitioner Degree Apprenticeship | Honorary Assistant Professor, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Department:
College of Health, Science and Society School of Health and Social Wellbeing
I am a social scientist with degrees in Geography (UCL) and Sociology as Applied to Medicine (KCL).
Before joining UWE Bristol in 2023, I worked at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine as Assistant Professor (2017–2023) and previously as Research Fellow (2013–2017) within the Faculty of Public Health, where I retain an honorary appointment. There I conducted collaborative postdoctoral public health research on four major studies funded by the NIHR, Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust on mental health, HIV, Hepatitis C and cold weather-related morbidity and mortality.
I previously completed my PhD and conducted research within the NIHR-funded SAPPHIRE Programme (IoPPN, KCL), examining stigma and discrimination related to mental illness (2010-2013). Before commencing my PhD, I was a Senior Research Executive at a private research consultancy, leading and contributing to approximately 25 qualitative studies funded by central and local government, public agencies, charities, unions, private companies and the EU.
Research Interests
My research examines how social, cultural, material, and organisational conditions shape mental health, care practices, and experiences of distress. I develop novel, empirically grounded conceptualisations of mental health and stigma, engaging with continental and realist theoretical traditions concerned with practice, materiality, and social processes. With almost 20 years’ experience as a qualitative researcher, I specialise in innovative qualitative, arts-based and mixed‑methods designs. I take an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on sociological, human geographical, and anthropological perspectives. My work is guided by principles of co‑production and partnership with people who have lived and living experience of distress.
I also have broad interests in public mental health and applied public health research, and have enjoyed productive collaborations with partners across the UK, Europe and Africa.
Current Research
As of 2026, I am currently funded by the NIHR on a Researcher‑in‑Residence Fellowship across NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB and Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. This fellowship explores how willingness to incorporate nature‑based practice in specialist mental health services emerges from the way services, relationships and systems are organised and sustained in practice.
I lead the UWE Mental Health Research Network, which brings together researchers, practitioners, people with lived experience and community partners to strengthen mental health research capacity, foster collaboration, and support impactful, co‑produced research.
From 2024–2025, I was Co‑Principal Investigator and lead applicant on the multi-institutional NIHR Mental Health Research Development Award, West of England collaboration to prioritise local mental health research. Working with people with lived experience, NHS partners, and VCSE organisations, we identified priority areas for mental health research across the region. I am now developing follow‑on grant applications focused on perinatal mental health; substance use, self‑harm and suicidality; the wider determinants of mental health; and workforce development.
Prior to this, I held a prestigious Wellcome Trust Fellowship in Humanities and Social Science (2017-2022) examining resistance to depression-related stigma at multiple scales (local, national and global). With support from an internal UWE research award (2023-2026), I am developing additional outputs from this work, including conference papers for British Sociological Association and European Society of Health & Medical Sociology events (2026).
Teaching & Programme Leadership
I have taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels for around 15 years.
I currently serve as Programme Lead for the BSc Public Health Practitioner Degree Apprenticeship (PHPDA) at UWE, where I also lead Introduction to Health Promotion (Year 1) and End Point Assessment (Year 3) modules. I further contribute to teaching across the PHPDA Programme on public health issues and practice, research methods, ethics, and applied social science.
I additionally teach on the BA Philosophy programme, contributing to the Philosophy of Mental Health and Psychiatry(Year 3) module.
In terms of postgraduate teaching, within UWE's MSc Public Health, I supervise postgraduate dissertations and teach on the Qualitative Health Research and Global Public Health modules. I also teach on the Global Perspectives on Healthcare Policy and Practice module of the MSc Healthcare Management & Leadership.
I currently co-supervise two doctoral students within the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's DrPH programme:
Karen Wen (2022-2026)
Sophia Monaghan (2024-2030)
I welcome doctoral enquiries from prospective students whose interests align with my own.
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