Postgraduate research opportunities
We support a significant number of PhD students funded through a variety of sources including the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Scottish Government, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health and the Lord Kelvin/Adam Smith Foundation.
Our staff have expertise in a range of topics including:
- domestic abuse and asylum policy
- historical narratives of eating disorders
- the potential of the capability approach to enhance understanding of lived experiences of mental distress
- the experience of HIV-affected women in Pakistan
Prospective students are encouraged to get in touch with the individual academics listed below to find out about opportunities in their areas of research and supervision.
Staff research interests and postgraduate research supervision
Dr Richard Brunner
Richard.Brunner@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Research Associate (General Practice and Primary Care)
Research Associate (Sociology)
Research interests
Qualitative research, including action research approaches. Experiences and inequalities of people with mental distress, disabled people, people with health issues. Capabilities approach.
Full profile
Dr Christopher Bunn
Christopher.Bunn@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Lecturer in Sociology (Sociology)
Research interests
Community-led solutions to health problems. Sports- and faith-based public health initiatives. Diabetes, weight management, physical activity, sedentary time reduction and NCD prevention.
Full profile
Dr Nicola Burns
Nicola.Burns@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Senior Lecturer (Sociology)
Research interests
Disability. Migration and health. Disability and migration. Mental health. Equity and social justice in health. Human rights.
Full profile
Dr Stephanie Chambers
Stephanie.Chambers@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Lecturer in Sociology of Health and Wellbeing (Sociology)
Research interests
Children’s health and wellbeing. Nutrition. Qualitative research. Intervention design and evaluation. Educational settings.
Full profile
Dr Nai Rui Chng
NaiRui.Chng@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Research Associate (MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit)
Research Associate (Institute of Health and Wellbeing Social Scientists in Health)
Research interests
Intervention design. Implementation and evaluation (evaluability assessment). Capability approach. Sustainability. Neglected tropical diseases (rabies) and One Health. Social prescribing (UK). Environmental governance in China. Qualitative and mixed methods. Co-production.
Full profile
Dr Hannah-Louise Clark
Hannah-Louise.Clark@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Senior Lecturer (Institute of Health and Wellbeing Social Sciences)
Research interests
Global dynamics of health and social welfare. Cross-cultural translations of knowledge and professional hierarchies. Organisational study of science and bureaucracy. Technology transfer, and epidemics. Africa in its Islamic, European, and global contexts c1800-present, with a particular focus on Algeria.
Full profile
Dr Hayley Connell
Hayley.Connell@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Graduate School Teaching Assistant (MVLS College Graduate School)
Research interests
Physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Behaviour change interventions. Stroke rehabilitation. Secondary prevention. Overall health improvement in individuals with chronic disease. Mixed methods.
Full profile
Dr Alicia Davis
Alicia.Davis@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Senior Lecturer (Sociology)
Research interests
Global health and One Health. Intersection of human and animal health and environment within social-environmental systems in East Africa. Zoonotic disease impacts on rural livestock keepers. Pastoralist livelihoods, health, and wellbeing. Environment, conservation, climate change. Land use change, policy, impacts. Gender. Community-based, impact-driven, action-oriented and ethnographic methodologies. Human-animal relationships. Ethnography. Antimicrobial resistance
Full profile
Dr Craig Donnachie
Craig.Donnachie@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Research Associate (Sociology)
Research interests
Development and evaluation of public health interventions, physical activity, diet, weight management, obesity, digital health and gambling-related harms. Mixed methods, qualitative research methods, process evaluation and intervention development.
Full profile
Dr Angus Ferguson
Angus.Ferguson@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Lecturer in Economic and Social History (Economic and Social History)
Research interests
Medical confidentiality and privacy. History of infant health. History of medical ethics. History of interaction of law and medicine.
Full profile
Dr Sharon Greenwood
Sharon.Greenwood@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Programme Lead/Lecturer in Public Health
Research interests
Qualitative Research. Power and inequality in health and healthcare. Substance use – illegal drugs, pharmaceutical drugs, and alcohol. Health policy. Relationships and health. Lived experience. Public health pedagogies.
Full profile
Dr Iain Hutchison
Iain.Hutchison@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Research Affiliate (Economic and Social History, Centre for the History of Medicine)
Research interests
The history of disability through the long nineteenth century to c.1948. The history of health and healthcare.
Full profile
Professor Anne Kerr
Anne.Kerr@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Head of School of Social and Political Sciences (Sociology)
Research interests
Science and technology studies. Medical sociology. Gender studies. Reproductive technologies. Biomedicine.
Full profile
Dr Jo Ferrie
Jo.Ferrie@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Senior Lecturer (Sociology)
Lecturer (Institute of Health and Wellbeing)
Research interests
Research methods. Disability. Equality. Human rights. Education. Health
Full profile
Dr Evi Germeni
Evi.Germeni@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Senior Lecturer in Qualitative Methods for Health Research (Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment)
Research interests
Personal experience of illness. Health information seeking and decision making. Acceptability of complex health technologies. Cross-sectional and longitudinal qualitative research. Systematic reviews and qualitative evidence synthesis.
Full profile
Professor Cindy Gray
Cindy.Gray@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Interdisciplinary Professor of Health and Behaviour (Institute of Health and Wellbeing Social Sciences)
Research interests
Behaviour change. Community organisations. Digital technologies.
Full profile
Dr Michael Heaney
Michael.Heaney@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Research Fellow (Politics)
Research interests
Social networks. Social movements.
Full profile
Dr Emily Long
Emily.Long@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
MRC Skills Development Fellow (MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit)
Research interests
Social networks. Loneliness
Full profile
Dr Paul Lynch
Paul.Lynch@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Education (School of Education)
Research interests
Early childhood development and disability. Qualitative research. Participatory action research (PAR). Inter-disciplinary research (health and education). Research in sub-Saharan Africa. Development of assessment tools to measure childhood development and "school readiness" in low and middle income countries.
Full profile
Dr Sara Macdonald
Sara.Macdonald@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Senior Lecturer in Primary Care (General Practice and Primary Care)
Research interests
Understandings of cancer risk. Perceptions of screening. Experiences of treatment burden. Long-term condition management and the health of marginalised groups. Theoretical approaches. Qualitative research.
Full profile
Professor Mhairi Mackenzie
Mhairi.Mackenzie@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Professor of Public Policy (Urban Studies)
Professor of Public Policy (Institute of Health and Wellbeing)
Research interests
Public health policy. Inequalities in access to, and utilisation of, public services. Evaluation methodologies for complex health and social interventions. Gender based violence.
Full profile
Professor Kate O'Donnell
Kate.O'Donnell@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Professor of Primary Care Research and Development (General Practice and Primary Care)
Research interests
Service delivery and organisation in primary care. Evaluation of primary care policy developments. Access to primary care for marginalised groups. Migrant health, including their perceptions of health and access to care. Normalisation and sustainability of policy into practice. Treatment/prevention burden in chronic disease. Patients' and professionals' views of candidacy.
Full profile
Dr Victoria Palmer
Victoria.Palmer@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Research Associate (Institute of Health and Wellbeing Social Sciences)
Research interests
Physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Sociology of the body, sport, health and illness, family life, ageing. Innovative qualitative and mixed-methods methodologies.
Full profile
Dr Charlotte Pearson
Charlotte.Pearson@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Senior Lecturer (Urban Studies)
Lecturer (Institute of Health and Wellbeing)
Research interests
Policy evaluation of independent living and disability equality themes, including personalisation in social care and transitions to adulthood for young disabled people.
Full profile
Dr Lucy Pickering
Lucy.Pickering@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Senior Lecturer in Medical Anthropology (Sociology)
Lecturer (Institute of Health and Wellbeing)
Research interests
Bodies, embodiment and identity. Dirt, sanitation and pollution. Substance use and recovery. Ethnographic methods and anthropological research ethics.
Full profile
Professor Jude Robinson
Jude.Robinson@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Professor in Health and Wellbeing (Institute of Health and Wellbeing Social Sciences)
Deputy Head of College of Social Sciences (Social Sciences College Senior Management)
Research interests
Mental health and wellbeing of women with young children. Smoking and risky health behaviours. One Health. Everyday violence. Health inequalities. Water, sanitation and health (WaSH). Feminist and participatory research methods, photography, film and wider visual methods.
Full profile
Dr Thees F Spreckelsen
Thees.Spreckelsen@glasgow.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer
Research interests
(Quantitative) methods for intervention/programme evaluation (especially using secondary data) and survey methods.
Full profile
Dr Linda Thomas
Linda.Thomas@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Research Associate
Research interests
Health and wellbeing of underrepresented groups such as ethnic minorities and their hidden use of alcohol and other drugs; Armed Forces veterans, Service Personnel and their families; and prison populations. Evaluation studies and intervention development using mixed and qualitative research methods.
Full profile
Dr Heather Wardle
Heather.Wardle@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Reader (Sociology)
Research interests
Gambling behaviour, policy and practice.
Full profile
Professor Nicholas Watson
Nicholas.Watson@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Chair of Disability Studies (Sociology)
Professor (Institute of Health and Wellbeing)
Research interests
How social networks, social movements, interest groups, and political parties shape organisational processes and policy outcomes.
Full profile
Dr Phillippa Wiseman
Phillippa.Wiseman@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Lecturer in Research Methods (Sociology)
Research interests
Disabled people’s experiences, body-management, intimacies and toileting, citizenship and hidden inequalities
Full profile
Professor Sally Wyke
Sally.Wyke@glasgow.ac.uk
Role
Interdisciplinary Research Professor (Institute of Health and Wellbeing Social Sciences)
Research interests
Complex intervention to improve health. Mixed methods intervention development and evaluation skills. Policy and programme evaluation. Evaluation methodologies. Interdisciplinary approaches.
Full profile