Research Interests

I am a participatory researcher with a focus on trauma-informed and creative methods. I work with communities who face structural disadvantage and discrimination, and I care about how research is experienced by the people who take part in it, how it can be designed to feel safer, more respectful, and genuinely useful rather than extractive. My background spans Latin America and Europe. I hold a PhD in Women's Studies (Marie Curie Fellowship), and before joining Lancaster University, I worked in transitional justice, human rights, and gender-based violence policy and research, experiences that shaped how I think about power, voice, and whose knowledge counts. At Lancaster University, I lead participatory mapping and storytelling activities, working alongside community co-researchers whom I train in qualitative methods and trauma-informed practice. I design and deliver trauma-informed training for research teams and partner organisations, and I have developed interview protocols, documentary analysis, and media analysis frameworks for the evaluation of community-led projects addressing the health impacts of discrimination. I have also designed graphic research methods for engaging people in research whose lives are shaped by overlapping challenges, including addiction, learning difficulties, and experience of the criminal justice or care systems. I lead a QR-funded pilot project exploring how "first contact" experiences with services shape access to safety, housing, and healthcare for women who have experienced domestic abuse. I am also developing a Trauma-Informed Approaches group at Lancaster University to create a space where academics can support each other in bringing trauma-informed practice into their work. If you are a researcher, practitioner, or community organisation interested in trauma-informed and restorative approaches to participatory research, whether developing methods, sharing learning, or thinking together about how to make research safer and more meaningful, I would love to hear from you.