Dr Konstantina Karastoyanova-Gibson

Lecturer

Social Policy

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Personal statement

I am a Lecturer within the Department of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Strathclyde, delivering a range of content across the Social Policy, Social Work and Education and Social Sciences programmes and acting as Year 4 Undergraduate Social Policy coordinator. My research interests broadly touch on issues of social justice and social policy, with a particular focus on health inequalities within the UK; a subject that I have a deep passion for. Reflecting my commitment to social justice, I am the Athena Swan coordinator for this department.

I hold a PhD in Social Policy awarded by the University of Strathclyde. My thesis examined socioeconomic inequalities, social gradients, and biological mechanisms underpinning and emanating from socioeconomic disadvantage. This study employed innovative and novel approaches to data sampling amongst marginalised groups which allowed me to report on the impact of socioeconomic disadvantage upon hormonal response to social defeat.  This work adopted an interdisciplinary perspective which I have continued to apply to my scholarship, regularly collaborating with colleagues from diverse academic disciplines. This has contributed to me undertaking research in a wide number of fields including public health, social policy, epidemiology, behavioural neuroendocrinology, and suicide prevention in later life.

Methodologically, I am a strong advocate for mixed method approaches, with growing experience in both quantitative and qualitative research. My fluency in Bulgarian, Russian and English allows me to collaborate with colleagues from nations that have rarely been reached by UK Higher Education.

In recent years I have developed a keen interest in Knowledge Exchange and the opportunities to distil knowledge – of all kinds – from the academic sphere into the policy, practice and legislative fields.  The opportunity to aid the learning and understanding of social care and social work practitioners regarding the risk indicators and prevention of suicide amongst older people has been particularly rewarding, for example.  This adds to my previous work examining social isolation and loneliness amongst older adults.  Moreover, I was proud to be a co-programme organiser for the Social Policy Association Conference, hosted within the University of Strathclyde in 2024.  In this role I oversaw the curation of the programme, creating a very full and vibrant conference which brought colleagues from global sites and diverse viewpoints together.

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Professional Activities

Natalia Cadavid-Ruiz
Host
25/5/2026
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cali
Visiting researcher
9/6/2025
British Journal of Social Work (Journal)
Peer reviewer
11/2024
Older People Suicide Prevention Workshop
Speaker
2/10/2024
Suicide thoughts and behaviour in later life
Speaker
14/9/2024
Social Policy Association Annual Conference
Organiser
3/7/2024

More professional activities

Projects

Apoyo a la movilidad para conformación de redes. Mobility Award for Network Development. Office of Research and Development. Academic Affairs Office. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cali, Colombia.
Karastoyanova-Gibson, Konstantina (Visiting Academic)
Awarded funding to undertake knowledge exchange activity in Colombia (Mobility Award for Network Development; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cali, Colombia, March 2025, ~£1600) where I forged relationships with scholars in the fields of health and social inequalities.
09-Jan-2026 - 22-Jan-2026
Global Engagement Fund
Karastoyanova-Gibson, Konstantina (Principal Investigator) Sevilla, Teresita (Academic)
Awarded £1500 of funds to host academic partners from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia. The Mobility Award granted by Pontificia Universidad Javeriana to Konstantina Karastoyanova-Gibson in March 2025 facilitated in-person engagement between representatives of both institutions (June, 2025), enabling discussions on prospective research opportunities and wider institutional links. At present, partnerships have been consolidated with colleagues from the Department of Public Health at Edinburgh, Napier University. Beyond the research dimension, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana has also committed to hosting BA Education and Social Services students from the University of Strathclyde for a two-week immersion experience, supported by the Turing Fund.
25-Jan-2026 - 07-Jan-2026
Suicide prevention in later life
Hafford-Letchfield, Trish (Co-investigator) Karastoyanova-Gibson, Konstantina (Co-investigator) Rasmussen, Susan (Co-investigator) Sledmere, Maria (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2028
Happier Feet-Disrupting the vicious cycle of healthcare decline in Diabetic Foot Ulceration through active prevention: The future of self-managed care
Eccles, Andrew (Principal Investigator) Horn, Daniel (Co-investigator) Karastoyanova-Gibson, Konstantina (Researcher)
I was employed as a Research Associate on the project. This was done in collaboration with the Universities of Manchester, Southampton, Loughborough and Oxford Brookes. Furthermore, the project was conducted in conjunction with colleagues at Strathclyde Business School and Bio-Engineering. My responsibilities on the project involved analysing data for Self-management of digital health technologies and display of outcomes in an interdisciplinary format allowing industry partners and academic collaborators to critically engage with the findings. The team was closely engaged with knowledge exchange partnerships with multiple bodies such as Diabetes UK. Dissemination of findings across external bodies and academic collaborators has been delivered via oral presentations and reports.
30-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2023
How do older people in receipt of telecare services both utilize and experience these services? Has this changed as a result of Covid-19 and how does this link with their use of ICT generally?
Fawcett, Barbara (Principal Investigator) Karastoyanova-Gibson, Konstantina (Researcher)
Research undertaken with Technology Enabled Care, Scotland
01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2021

More projects

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Contact

Dr Konstantina Karastoyanova-Gibson
Lecturer
Social Policy

Email: konstantina.karastoyanova@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 444 8643