Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section

Dr Deborah Bailey-Rodriguez is the current QMiP Bulletin journal Editor-in-Chief and was previously an Associate Editor for the Bulletin before this. Deborah is a Lecturer in Psychology at Middlesex University, where she teaches qualitative methods to undergraduates and postgraduates, and supervises doctoral students using qualitative approaches. Her research focuses on the use of multi-dimensional (such as pluralistic methods) and multi-modal (such as visual and creative methods) qualitative methods to understanding the complex human experience. Deborah’s research centres on relationships in the context of mental health wellbeing, particularly couple relationships. She also publishes on the use and applications of qualitative methods. Follow Deborah on Twitter @Deborah_Rod

Dr Jo Brooks is a previous Chair of QMiP and currently sits on the QMiP committee as lead for the national ‘Teaching Qualitative Psychology’ (TQP) group. She is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Programme Director for BSc Psychology at the University of Manchester. Jo’s research interests are in the area of health and community psychology and include the management of long-term and palliative illness conditions, and collaborative working in health and social care. She has published numerous articles on qualitative research methods and co-authored a number of qualitative research textbooks.

Dr Peter Branney is an Honorary Life Member of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Royal Society of Arts, Pete excels at challenging projects that have an impact. He has undertaken a programme of award winning, internationally leading work exploring how to improve experiences of healthcare through interventions that are local, proximal and distal to patients’ interactions with services. Past Chair of QMiP, Pete is currently open science lead, collaborating with other qualitative researchers to explore the possibilities of open science for qualitative methods, which includes one of the earliest studies into the topic, keynotes at the QMiP biennial conference and the UK Research Integrity annual conference, videos and a paper introducing key issues, a special issue in the British Journal of Social Psychology and a number of invited seminars, one of which was is available online.

Dr Philippa Carr is a Senior Lecturer in Qualitative Research Methods at the University of the West of England. She is interested in the use of Discursive Psychology to explore talk in the media about wealth inequality. Philippa has explored how the super-rich use talk about psychological concepts to legitimise extreme wealth in television broadcasts. She is interested in how people account for practices such as inheritance and tax avoidance that impede social mobility. Her research has examined how entertainment documentaries can be analysed as a form of political communication using Discursive Psychology. Philippa’s other research interests include gender identity is constructed in talk about public toilets. She is a committee member of the BPS Qualitative Methods in Psychology section and Honorary Treasurer for the BPS West Midlands branch. Follow Philippa on Twitter @discursivephil

Dr Elida Cena is a lecturer (Education) at Queen’s University Belfast. Elida teaches in a range of modules: Qualitative research for undergraduate students, postgraduate students, Cultural psychology and Developmental psychology. Her research interest focuses on the topic of belonging and identity of migrants and their children. She also conducts research on international students and more broadly the student experience in Higher education. Elida has published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, International migration and the Journal of International Students. Elida is a committee member of the Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section (QMIP). She is also a member of the Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers (DARTP) and the Northern Ireland BPS branch since 2019.

William Day is a Teaching Associate and deputy programme at Aston University (Birmingham, UK), supporting the delivery and assessment of taught materials across Aston’s psychology programmes. Will is also undertaking his PhD supervised by Dr Rachel Shaw, Dr Michael Larkin and Dr Dan Shepperd. Will’s research seeks to understand individuals’ experiences of living with chronic invisible or ‘unseen’ illnesses within the wider context of austerity-informed UK welfare reforms. He adopts a ‘pluralistic’ approach; combining phenomenological and discursive approaches to consider both the micro and macro implications of government policies, from a health and social psychology perspective, exploring the holistic ways in which belonging, heath, stigma and wellbeing are constructed and experienced by individuals. Will joined the QMiP committee in 2021. Follow Will on Twitter @Wiilium

Dr Eva Fragkiadaki is a Senior Lecturer in Counselling Psychology and Programme Leader of the Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology at University of the West of England, Bristol. She has worked as a psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer for more than ten years. As a qualitative researcher, she has worked on various projects collaborating with academics from universities in Greece, the UK, USA and the Netherlands. Her scholarly interests include psychotherapy process research for chronic disorders, professional and personal development of therapists, and the work of psychosocial practitioners. More recently, she has engaged in the design and implementation of mixed method longitudinal research projects focusing on the application of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) in the psychotherapy research field. Her research aims to apply idiographic and process – based methods in the exploration of psychotherapy and psychological therapies effectiveness. She has published numerous empirical and methodology papers in national and international journals and books.

Dr Simon Goodman is the current Chair of the QMiP committee. Simon uses discursive psychology to address a number of issues. Much of this research explores the discursive construction of asylum seekers and refugees, focussing on the ways in which potentially prejudicial arguments against asylum seekers are presented as reasonable and non-prejudicial. In addition, his work focuses on what is, and what is not, considered to be racist particularly with regard to asylum seeking. His research also explores the (largely negative) experiences of asylum seekers in the UK and the ways in which they make complaints and resist their negative presentations. His other interests include online hate speech, the British public’s understanding of income inequality and high earners, and the ways in which the far right attempt to present their policies as acceptable and non-racist.

Dr Laura Kilby is an Associate Professor of Social Psychology at Sheffield Hallam University and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her primary research interests centre upon examining relationships between power, discourse and the social construction of marginalised identities and marginalised groups. She researches media and political constructions of ethnic and religious identities. She also examines minoritised identity construction related to gender, sexuality, and social class. Laura is passionate about the continued progression of qualitative methods. She has published her approach to multimodal critical discourse analysis within psychology and she collaborates on the progression of qualitative methods and Open Science. Laura has served on the Qualitative Methods in Psychology section committee since 2017 and she is the incoming co-Chair for 2023-4. Follow Laura on twitter @Laurakilby2

Anastasia Rousaki is a Lecturer in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. She employs critical discursive psychology to address socio-political issues. Her doctoral research explores adolescent sexting, consent and coercion through a focus on discourse, gender, ideology, power and hegemony. She additionally specialises in combining qualitative research methods with political theory and philosophy. Her published work explores areas of social psychology and cyberpsychology. She has participated in various national and international conferences, has obtained small ECR bursaries and has been a committee member of (QMiP) since 2021. Follow Anastasia on Twitter @AnastasiaRousak

Dr Sarah Seymour-Smith is an Associate Professor of Discourse & Masculinities in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. Sarah is a discursive psychologist and her primary research interests are concerned with the impact of masculinity/ties on men’s health. The second, and often related, strand of her research, examines face-to-face and online support groups. In 2017 Sarah was awarded a mid-career citation of Excellence from the BPS Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section. In 2022 Sarah was awarded the Professor Marcia Worrell Mentoring Award by BPS Psychology of Women & Equalities section. Sarah has is a long standing member of the QMiP committee and she is the incoming QMiP co-Chair for 2023-24

Dr Cath Sullivan (CPsychol, SFHEA) is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She has taught qualitative research methods and supported other lecturers teaching qualitative methods for over ten years. Cath is a former Chair of the HEA’s Special Interest Group on the Teaching of Qualitative Methods at Undergraduate Level and has been on the committee of the Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society since 2015. Her published work includes qualitative research papers and pieces about qualitative methodology. She is joint editor of Doing Your Qualitative Psychology Project (Sage, 2012) and Doing Qualitative Research in Psychology (Sage, 2019).

Dr Candice Whitaker is a lecturer in Psychology at Leeds Trinity University. As well as teaching qualitative research methods, Candice and is a critical scholar who predominantly utilises qualitative research methods to explore issues relating to men’s health and wellbeing. Candice has been a committee member for a number of years, first as the Postgraduate Representative and currently as the Honorary Secretary.