Personal statement

I am a Research Associate at the University of Strathclyde. Since February 2024 I have worked on the Wider Social Determinants of Mental Health programme, as part of the SIPHER Consortium. From March 2025 I will join the THRIVING Food Futures research hub. 

I submitted my PhD in December 2024, and will have my PhD viva in March 2025. My PhD was supervised by Professor Kat Smith and Dr Lisa Garnham. Before Lisa, Dr Gillian Fergie, Dr Clemmie Hill O'Connor, and Dr Anna Macintyre were second supervisors.

My PhD research focused on the approach taken by social and economic  policy teams in the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the Scottish Government (SG). I analysed a total of 30 policy texts from GMCA and SG between 2017-2022, and interviewed 33 policymakers, to explore how 'health', 'inequalities' and 'health inequalities' were conceptualised in different policy settings.

I recently contributed to a policy analysis and synthesis of relevant qualitative literature about the social determinants of mental health in Scotland, available here. I have written an editorial for the BMJ on IPPR's 'Healthy People, Prosperous Lives' report, an Info Pack about SIPHER, and contributed to a BMJ analysis of the UK government's Levelling Up white paper. I also contributed a section about health inequalities to an article about sport and physical activity policy in Scotland, here.

Prior to my PhD I wrote the Eating Not Feeding 2019 report for Obesity Action Scotland on primary school food provision for children in Scotland; and co-wrote the evidence review 'Socio-Economic Impacts of Covid-19 on Children' for the Data For Children Collaborative. 

Previously, I earned a first-class LLB in Scots Law, and an MPH Public Health with merit, both from the University of Edinburgh.