Empowerment and Social Justice Research Area

Contact: [email protected]
Supervisory team: Dr Tim Jarvis, Dr Craig Owen, Associate Professor Laura Dietz
Thesis title: An Exploration into the Efficacy of Short Speculative Fiction as a Therapeutic Agent for Female Depression..
Research summary: Jenny's research includes an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study exploring the experience of women who have found reading short speculative fiction helpful in managing their depressive symptoms.

Katrine Donois
Contact: [email protected]
Supervisory team: Dr Lewis Goodings, Dr Mick Finlay, Dr Nic Gibson
Thesis title: Science, Society, and the Media: Bridging the Communication Divide.
Research summary: Katrine's research concerns the multiple ways in which 'science' is communicated or understood and examines the processes that impact the effective communication of science.

Karen Mutsatsa
Contact: [email protected]
Supervisory team: Dr Mick Finlay, Dr Emma Kaminskiy, Dr Lewis Goodings
Thesis title: The pursuit of happiness with a physical/sensory impairment: an exploration of the 'Good Life' concept.
Research summary: Investigating the attitudes, resources, and behaviours which facilitate or hinder "living-well" with a physical/sensory Impairment. Karen adopts phenomenological and social constructionist approaches to investigate what It means to be happy and disabled in the UK.

Evelin Kis
Contact: [email protected]
Supervisory team: Prof Viren Swami, Dr Emma Kaminskiy, Dr Barbara Vohmann
Thesis title: Adapting wise belonging interventions for race minority students in STEM to transform their experiences, relationships, and achievements.
Research summary: This project looks at adapting wise belonging interventions developed in the US to improve the attainment and retention levels of race minority students in the UK higher educational context.

Research increasingly suggests that the transition to fatherhood can trigger mental health problems in the perinatal period (i.e., the period spanning pregnancy, childbirth, and the first postnatal year). The financial costs of paternal perinatal mental ill-health on the UK economy are substantial, but so too is the burden on fathers themselves, their partners, and their children. It is therefore important to consider perinatal mental health in terms of the family unit, including fathers.

In the Groups and Social Processes research area, we are leading ambitious projects that consider the lived experiences of fathers in terms of their mental health, in collaboration with partners in mental health services and scholars internationally. Led by Prof Viren Swami and PhD candidate Caroline Estrella, this research seeks to understand the experience of psychological distress in fathers and how best to help fathers experiencing distress to get the help they need.

In order to improve services for people, we need to understand how people use and access support services, and what happens in interactions between workers and those they support.

In the Groups and Social Processes research area, we study how people communicate with each other in care services for people with intellectual disabilities, how psychiatrists discuss medication with people who have mental health issues, how people use mental health apps, and how ward staff make formulations. Led by Dr Emma Kaminskiy, Dr Lewis Goodings and Dr Mick Finlay, we try and understand what happens when people access psychological and social support.

The ESJ research group has had a jointly-authored paper accepted for publication in the journal Political Psychology, Norms Concerning the Recognition of Victimhood in Post-Conflict Societies: An Analysis of ‘Whatabouteries’. Authors: Finlay, W.M.L., Cattier, J., Donois, K., Goodings, L., Kaminskiy, E., Owen, C., Storey, L., Swami, V.

Dr Lewis Goodings and Prof Mick Finlay have been awarded £10K from the British Academy Small Research Grants Scheme to explore the role of digital inclusion for people with learning disabilities. This is a qualitative pilot study of the risks and benefits of social media and other interactive online platforms.

Dr Lewis Goodings' and colleagues (2024) book, Understanding Mental Health Apps: An Applied Psychosocial Perspective, examines digital mental health app use from a social perspective, considering a range of apps that have recently been developed for us to capture, monitor and attend to psychological health and wellbeing. Through exploring issues such as self-tracking and different ways of evaluating mental health apps, it provides an expanded view of digital technologies, positioning these as part of the complex assemblage of technologies through which moments of mental health distress are experienced and respond to.

ESJ members have given talks to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT). These talks have included:

• Dads get sad too by Professor Viren Swami
• Empowerment and People with Learning Disabilities by Professor Mick Finlay
• Using Qualitative Methods to Explore Health Issues by Dr Lesley Storey.

Members of the ESJ research group are developing two research projects concerning the lives of people with learning disabilities. One examines the use of digital technologies, and particularly social media. The other examiners the social lives of people with severe and profound learning disabilities. We are working with partner representatives from Mencap, Victim Support, ACE Advocacy, Cambridgeshire County Council and Summit on these projects.

The ESJ was delighted to be awarded two SHARE research internships by Cambridge University. These fully paid internships provide free accommodation in Cambridge to the interns, as well as intensive training and research experience. The interns will be working on a project investigating digital inclusion for people with learning disabilities.