Profile

I am lecturer in Health Inequalities in the Division of Health Research at Lancaster University. My research utilises qualitative approaches to understand how adult users of social care services, including people with learning disabilities and those living with dementia, can be more effectively included in decisions that affect their health and everyday lives. In exploring these issues, I have developed expertise in the use of creative and participatory methodologies to elicit the views and experiences of people who may be considered marginalised or whose narratives often go unheard. I have been involved in funded projects on learning disability, dementia, young people’s mental health and place-based health inequalities and have published my research in leading international journals in the fields of disability studies, public health and qualitative health research.

Current research:

• NIHR Three Schools Dementia Research Programme, Social farms in England for people with dementia
• SHI Foundation, Capacity, context, and consent: a co-designed exploration of ‘capacity’ through the provision of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC)
• NIHR School of Public Health Research, A focused review of the mechanisms by which school-based interventions may widen or reduce inequalities in children and young people’s mental health
• NIHR RDS / DHR Career development award: Valuing people now? The impact of personalisation on the lives of adults with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities
• ESRC, Reclaiming social care: Adults with learning disabilities seizing opportunities in the shift from day services to community lives (Post-doctoral Research Fellow)