Personal Statement
I am a Senior Lecturer and Programme Director for the campus-based MSc Psychology Conversion programme in the Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool.

I first joined the Department of Psychology as a student in 2003 and, following completion of my BSc (Hons) in Psychology and Health Sciences (First) in 2006, an MSc in Research Methods and Statistics (with Distinction) in 2008, and a PhD in Psychology in 2011, I joined as a Lecturer later that year. I have since completed a PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (2015) and am a Fellow of Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy).

My research focuses on grief and bereavement, including non-death losses, with a particular focus on how relationships and social connection shape people’s adaptation to challenging life experiences. I am interested in relational resilience: how relationships with partners, family, friends and wider communities can support adjustment and wellbeing following adversity. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, I explore how grief and loss affect relationships, identity and wellbeing, and how people navigate these experiences over time.

I am also very interested in grief literacy and public understandings of grief, including how people’s knowledge, beliefs and expectations about grief shape how it is experienced, communicated and supported.

I welcome opportunities to collaborate with researchers, practitioners and organisations working to understand and support people experiencing grief, bereavement and loss. I am also happy to discuss doctoral supervision in these areas.

Research Overview
My research examines how people experience and adapt to significant life transitions, loss and potentially stressful life events, with a particular focus on grief and bereavement. This includes bereavement following death as well as non-death losses, and experiences such as serious illness. I am particularly interested in how these experiences shape, and are shaped by, our personal relationships, identity and health and wellbeing.

A central focus of my work is the role of social relationships, social support, and social connection in processes of adjustment and resilience. I am interested in how our relationships with others influence adaptation to adversity, across the lifecourse.

I have particular interests in bereavement that occurs outside expected lifecourse trajectories or under especially challenging circumstances, including parental death in childhood, early widowhood and bereavement by suicide. I am also interested in grief literacy and public understandings of grief, including how knowledge, beliefs and expectations about grief shape how it is experienced, communicated and supported.

I welcome opportunities to work with academic and non-academic partners, including practitioners, organisations and community groups, and to discuss potential PhD supervision and research collaborations.