My broad research interests lie in the sociology of health and illness, social theory and health, and modes of qualitative inquiry. I currently lead on Public Mental Health strategy at LSHTM, helping to advance the School's teaching and research remit in this area.

I am particularly interested in reimagining the logics of stigma by investigating its imbrications with related concepts such as oppression, discrimination and abjection, and exploring how different philosophies and ontologies – notably those of a realist, post-structuralist and more-than-human nature – can enable a refocusing on the tension between the ‘mark’ and ‘marking’, being and becoming. I first examined these themes during my PhD which presented a critical realist exploration of stigma and discrimination among people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder, and investigated experiences of stigma by association among the families and friends of people so diagnosed. Using abductive and retroductive inference the study drew upon Margaret Archer’s morphogenetic sequence and Roy Bhaskar’s three overlapping domains of reality to establish a novel, empirically informed conceptualisation of stigmatisation, casting it as a temporal process that unfolds across structure and agency.

Recently I explored these ideas further within a Wellcome Trust Fellowship in Humanities & Social Science (2017-2022). This work, titled Resisting Depression Stigma, explored the multiple ways in which depression, stigma and anti-stigma are conceived and mobilised by different actors, noting the complementarities and contradictions within and across social 'scales'. The project had three elements. The first explored depression-related anti-stigma discourses and practices in the Global Mental Health field. The second involved an ethnographic exploration of the ways national mental health charities develop and enact depression-related destigmatisation. And the third was a qualitative investigation of how people diagnosed with depression respond to stigma in their local, everyday lives. Three linked papers are due to be published from this study in 2024.

Previously I explored stigma-related issues within two projects at LSHTM, one based in the Faculty of Public Health & Policy, the other in the Faculty of Epidemiology & Population Health. The first (HepCATT), with Prof. Tim Rhodes and Dr Magdalena Harris, funded by the Department of Health, sought to understand why people who inject illicit drugs (heroin, amphetamines, steroids, etc.) do not receive testing and treatment for Hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus they may be particularly exposed to. This longitudinal, qualitative study evaluated the role of a peer support intervention in UK drug treatment settings that aims to facilitate testing and treatment uptake. The second (Bottlenecks), with Prof. Basia Zaba and Dr Alison Wringe, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, looked at why people living with HIV in six African countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe) do not transition to antiretroviral therapy. Its principal aim was to make qualitative comparisons across seven research sites in these countries to understand how differences in HIV policy and programme implementation influence the healthcare-seeking experiences of people living with HIV from diagnosis to treatment. This study was part of research conducted within the ALPHA Network.

Before this, I worked with Prof. Judith Green and Prof. Paul Wilkinson and led on a qualitative study, funded by the NIHR, which investigated the impact of home energy efficiency installations on cold-related morbidity and mortality. This UK-based study drew upon theories of practice and reflexivity to understand how items such as boilers, insulation and windows become domesticated, affect household practices, and influence health and wellbeing.