Personal Statement
Appointed as a Lecturer in September 2021, Elham has previously taught at Durham University and Lincoln University as a Lecturer in Sociology. She completed her PhD in Sociology of health and gender at Durham University in July 2017. She has BSc degree in Midwifery from Tehran Medical University, Tehran, Iran, and two Master degrees one in Women’s Studies from Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran and the other Sociology and Social Research Methods from Durham University. Her work focuses on the gendered and sexual experiences of Iranian Muslim menopausal women through a life history biographical narrative approach and by highlighting menopause, ageing, notions of the body, and medicalisation in relation to sexuality and gender, articulates women’s understanding of and from their menopausal bodies.
Research Interest

• Medical Sociology
• Sociology of Emotions
• Sociology of Health and Illness
• Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Sociology
• Women’s Health and Reproductive Health
• Menopause, Ageing, and the Life Course
• Qualitative and Narrative Research Methods
• Biographical and Life History Approaches

Research Overview
My academic trajectory is grounded in my professional background as a qualified midwife, having practised for over seven years in Iran across reproductive health research centres, public clinics, and private hospital labour wards. This experience exposed me to women’s intimate narratives of sexuality, ageing, infertility, and menopause, and revealed the emotional labour, gendered expectations, and moral pressures shaping women’s health experiences.
These encounters profoundly informed my sociological interest in the sociology of health & emotions, particularly shame, fear, guilt, loss, and resilience, as they intersect with medicalisation, gender norms, and marital relations. My interdisciplinary perspective enables me to bridge clinical knowledge with critical sociological analysis, contributing nuanced insights into women’s health, embodiment, and emotional lives.