Biography
I am a Lecturer in Health and Social Care Sciences. I am a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow with the British Psychological Society (highest standards of knowledge and experience in the field of psychology). I have strong theoretical knowledge and skills around applying behavioural, psychological and social sciences to health. My work and subject expertise has attracted local, national and international attention through my conferences, speaker invites, international symposia, and as visiting scholar.
I am a specialist methodologist with wide expertise in Qualitative research and evaluation (discourse analysis; thematic analysis; IPA; grounded theory; thematic synthesis for evidence synthesis).
I am a member of various BPS associated groups including the Division of Academics, Teachers and Researchers in Psychology; Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section; Division of Health Psychology. I am a member of the International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP); European Qualitative Methods in Psychology Society (EQUIP); British Psycho-Oncology Society; Behavioural Research UK (BR-UK) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
My research interests and expertise are focused on working with hard-to-reach, vulnerable groups using behavioural, psychological and science theories especially for public health issues including:
1) Leading the Vaccine Hesitancy and Confidence Research programme over the past 12 years in SHSC
2) Qualitative Research and Evaluation
3) Professional roles and service evaluation
4) Psycho-oncology for rare cancers
I previously worked as a postdoctoral research fellow for 5 years at ENU in cancer and public health where I developed my own interests/expertise in vaccine uptake and confidence/hesitancy on a range of childhood vaccines e.g. for MMR, HPV, H1N1 and for COVID-19 vaccine amongst Health & Social Care professionals during the pandemic. I worked as a research assistant for QMU and taught widely in psychology. I have previously worked as a psychology research assistant in the NHS on a range of research projects. I have been involved in service evaluation and consultancy for the NHS and charitable sector (Attention Fife, Macmillan Cancer Support). I worked at the Open University teaching Social Psychology.
I have over 15 years' experience of working in Higher Education and have taught widely across undergraduate and postgraduate provision for Nursing (all branches), Psychology and Business school students. I have taught at ENU, Queen Margaret University and the Open University.
During 2019-2022 I was the School Research Degrees Lead for over 50 research degrees students in the SHSC. I lead and monitored the development and overall progress for students and provided support for supervisors.
I have presented widely at national and international conferences. I am active in pursuing research funding and in publishing in peer-reviewed journals. I have been sought out to join funding bids/collaborations as a result of my expertise on large and international bids. I have been successful as PI or main contributor for bodies including Carnegie University Trust, Macmillan, Royal Society for Edinburgh.
I have successfully supervised PhD students (four completions - one of these subject to revisions). I have chaired two Vivas and am an independent panel chair for two students.
I am open to supervising new PhD students and MRes in vaccine hesitancy/confidence and other areas within my expertise.