Dr Brigit McWade

Lecturer in Medical Sociology

Profile

Research Overview

  • Race, racism and health
  • Decolonising medical education
  • Disability and Mad Studies
  • Science and Technology Studies
  • Health policy and practice
  • Stigma
  • Social Inequalities
  • Social Justice

Career Overview

I am a Lecturer in Medical Sociology at Lancaster Medical School with research expertise in Disability Studies, Mad Studies, Mental Health, Social and Health Inequalities. I am the Lead for Widening Participation, and co-chair of the MBChB Equity & Justice Committee. I am an elected member of the Medical Schools Council's EDI Alliance.

I have also contributed to the following projects:

  • Developing a cortisol sociology, led by Prof. Celia Roberts (ANU).
  • Military Lives and Transformative Experiences: Exploring narratives and aged veterans’ well-being project (Aged Veterans Fund funded by HM Treasury), led by Dr. Liz Brester (Lancaster Medical School) and Dr. Sam Clark (Philosophy).
  • Rethinking the Sociology of Stigma (Phillip Levehulme Prize), led by Prof. Imogen Tyler, Sociology department, Lancaster University.

  • The emergence of mental health personalisation in a 19th Century lunatic asylum led by Rob Goemans, School of Health and Social Care, Lincoln University.

  • Children, Young People and Flooding: Recovery and Resilience (ESRC Urgency Fund), led by Prof. Maggie Mort, Sociology Department, Lancaster University.

  • European Patient Organisations in a Knowledge Society (European Commission), Sociology Department, Lancaster University.

In 2016, I undertook a visiting Research Fellowship at the School of Disability Studies, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.

Teaching

MBChB

  • Lectures: Social Model of Disability, Race, Ethnicity & Culture, Migration & Health, Chronic Illness, Health Inequalities
  • Problem Based Learning (1st and 2nd Years)
  • Special Study Modules (1st and 2nd Years): on racism and health inequalities
  • Health, Culture and Society coursework (3rd/4th Years): the relationship between racism and health

In addition, I have extensive teaching experience in the areas of Social Theory, Media Theory, Cultural Theory, Gender & Women's Studies, Science & Technology Studies, Biomedicine & Ethics and Qualitative Research.

I am currently supervising

  • Steven Maxwell (Creative Writing) with Zoe Lambert and Hannah Morgan. His project is titled: Human Subjects: A Novel of Stories & Exploring Neurodiversity in Fiction
  • Rebecca Parris (Lancaster Medical School) with Dawn Goodwin. Her project is titled: Patient Experience of Diagnostic Delay in Axial Spondyloarthritis

As a new lecturer, I am looking forward to supervising more PhD students in the areas of my expertise. Please do get in touch if you are interested in working with me.

Military Lives and Transformative Experiences: Exploring narratives and veterans' well-being
01/10/2017 → 31/03/2020
Research

The Sociology of Stigma
25/03/2013 → …
Research

Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Decolonising Medical Education and Medical Sociology
Oral presentation

Rethinking Medical Sociology
Invited talk

Working with students to tackle racism
Oral presentation

Decolonising Medical Education
Invited talk

Medical Schools Council EDI Alliance (External organisation)
Membership of board

Society for Social Studies of Science (External organisation)
Membership of network

Autism Entangled – Controversies over Disability, Sexuality and Gender in Contemporary Culture
Examination

Psychology and Sexuality (Journal)
Editorial activity

Stigmatised transitions into adulthood: Understanding the experiences of black African youth with prenatally acquired HIV in the UK.
Examination

‘Was it autoethnography? Reflections on writing myself in and then out of my research’
Invited talk

Stop ‘sucking off the stigma’: refusing mental health anti-stigma campaigns
Invited talk

Social Science and Medicine (Journal)
Publication peer-review

Sociology of Health and Illness (Journal)
Editorial activity

Journal of Social Policy (Journal)
Editorial activity

Was it autoethnography? The classificatory, confessional and mad politics of lived experience in sociological research
Oral presentation

What can older veterans' experiences of military service tell us about wellbeing?
Oral presentation

Social Theory and Health (Journal)
Editorial activity

Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry (Journal)
Editorial activity

Feminist Studies (Journal)
Editorial activity

BSA Annual Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Disability and Society (Journal)
Editorial activity

The Sociological Review (Journal)
Editorial activity

Critical Perspectives On and Beyond the Therapy Industry
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

The rise of an ‘anti-welfare commonsense’ – stigma, neoliberalism and welfare reform
Invited talk

School of Disability Studies, Ryerson University, Toronto
Visiting an external academic institution

"From Mental Illness to a Social Model of Madness and Distress" - Panel Discussion
Invited talk

Mental health and reflexivity: The role of personal experiences of mental ill-health in medical sociological research
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Lancaster Biennial Disability Studies Conference 2016
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Qualitative Social Work (Journal)
Publication peer-review

Studies in Social Justice (Journal)
Publication peer-review

Disability and Society (Journal)
Editorial activity

National Survivor User Network (External organisation)
Membership of committee

Methods Mixtures
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Changing Worlds: Engaging Science and Technology in Art, Academia and Activism
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Making Sense of Mad Studies
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

School of Health and Social Care Research day
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Nordic Network for Disability Studies (NNDR)
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
Visiting an external academic institution

The Politics of Popular Culture
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

The Politics of Popular Culture
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

The Sociological Review (Journal)
Editorial activity

Intersectionalities: A Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity and Practice (Journal)
Publication peer-review

Feminist Theory (Journal)
Publication peer-review

Subjectivity (Journal)
Publication peer-review

The Sociological Review (Journal)
Editorial activity

Hermeneutics- and Arts-based Methods
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Creative Collisions and Critical Conversations
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

BSA Annual Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Changing Lives and Improving Communities
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

EASST
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

2012 Disability Studies Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Sociology Intellectual Party, Lancaster Sociology Department
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Practising Theory in Feminist Technoscience Studies
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

2nd Postgraduate STS conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

2nd Postgraduate STS conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Postgraduate Workshop with Annemarie Mol
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Postgraduate Workshop with Annemarie Mol
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Making (In)Appropriate Bodies: Between Medical Models of Health, Moral Economies and Everyday Practices,
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Distress or Disability? Symposium
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

CGWS Lunchtime Seminar Series
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Mini-STS PhD Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Retheorising Women’s Health: Shifting Paradigms and the Biomedical Body
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Intellectual Party 2010: Lancaster Sociology Summer Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

CGWS Research Day
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

  • Interdisciplinary network in culture, health, ethics and society