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Last updated 18th April 2024

I joined the University of Huddersfield in 2020 as a Reader, having previously worked at the University of Leeds and the University of York. My background is in Applied Health Research and I am a Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society. Psychosocial aspects of reproduction is my primary area of research, with a particular interest being perinatal mental health and wellbeing in all parents and those pursuing parenthood. I am strongly committed to applied research that has the potential to impact policy and practice. I have worked with a range of methodologies and methods including primary qualitative research, mixed methods evaluations, randomised controlled trials, quantitative systematic reviews, qualitative and mixed methods evidence syntheses, and scoping reviews. I am proud to be involved with several external roles including being a committee member of the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology, sitting on the editorial board for the journals Birth and the Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, and being a special advisor on the Editorial Board for Baby Buddy. These enable me to help publicise research in reproductive psychology and to make research findings accessible and meaningful to members of the public.
One of the most rewarding parts of my role is supervising postgraduate researchers. Current and past projects include midwife-father communication in birth (Debbie Garrod), weight management in pregnancy (Hannah Hartley), body image dissatisfaction during and after pregnancy (Jess Teale), post-traumatic growth following traumatic birth (Rhianna Ketley), perinatal mental health in co-mothers (Alex Howat), traumatic birth experiences in co-mothers (Sophie Williams), perinatal mental health experiences of Black African immigrant mothers (Funmilayo Fabiyi), social support, birth experience and postnatal mental health in Nepal (Basanti Aryal), coercive control in the perinatal period (Eleanor Laidlaw-Brown), experiences of couples therapy with perinatal mental services (Sadhbh Ni Bhriain), occupational identity transitions in new mothers (Sarah Fletcher-Shaw), student midwives translating personal mothering experiences into professional identity (Sophie Hinsliff), dates consumption and postpartum blood loss (Indrayani), co-design of free maternal and newborn health services in Nepal (Devendra Raj Singh).