Dr Farina Kokab

Department of Social Work and Social Care
Research Fellow

Contact details

Email: f.kokab@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @FarinaK

Address: School of Social Policy
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Farina Kokab is a Research Fellow with a background in Psychology and Social Research. Farina has applied her understanding of these fields to work in health inequalities, social support, chronic disease prevention, women’s health and maternity, and mental health and emotions. She works primarily on qualitative and mixed-methods projects.

Qualifications

FHEA, University of Birmingham, 2020
PhD, Applied Health Research, College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Birmingham, 2016
MA, Social Research (Social Policy), University of Birmingham, 2012
MSc, Health Psychology, Aston University, 2011
BSc, Psychology, University of Birmingham, 2010

Biography

Farina completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Birmingham and went onto achieve an MSc in Health Psychology at Aston University as a professional training course. Both of these degrees are accredited by the British Psychological Society. She then went on to complete an MA in Social Research (Social Policy) at the University of Birmingham as part of her PhD, which involved investigating the role of social support in influencing health beliefs and lifestyle practices amongst tri-generational Pakistani migrants in the West Midlands, UK.

Whilst completing her PhD Farina started work with the development and evaluation of Quality Outcome Framework (QOF) indicators for Diabetes Prevention at the University of Birmingham. Following this she worked with clinicians and academics on developing a range of projects with the CLAHRC Maternity team that can be applied to maternity services. She then worked on a mixed-methods project exploring mental health in junior doctors. Currently, Farina is part of the Shame and Medicine Project at the College of Social Sciences.

Farina has also contributed to wider research taking place at the University and internationally. She has been awarded Fellowship status by the Higher Education Academy for her contribution to teaching

Teaching

Medicine and Surgery MBChB

Integrated Problems-Clinical communications
Integrated Professional and Academic Practices (IPAS)
Health Improvement Evidence Review (HIER) advisor third year students
Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) Qualitative tutor third year students

Public Health MPh/Diploma

Sociology and Social Policy

Qualitative Research Methods

Module Co-Lead

Postgraduate supervision

Masters in Public Health Dissertations
MSc in Clinical Primary and Community Care Dissertation
PhD mentoring for students in IAHR

Farina is interested in supervising postgraduate and PhD research students on using qualitative methods to undertake their research. She is particularly interested in access to and experiences of health, prevention and lived experience of disease and illness.

Doctoral research

PhD title: Understanding health beliefs and lifestyle practices in relation to social support in the Pakistani community, West Midlands, UK

Research

Farina’s PhD research included a qualitative synthesis (adapted meta-ethnography) of the experiences and influences of social support on cardiovascular disease prevention. She has since advised and supported colleagues and students with qualitative syntheses on a variety of research areas.

The primary research in Farina’s PhD included multi-channel recruitment and in-depth interviews. Data collection was based on the theory of Social Capital and used alongside the Convoy model diagram to elicit responses on social networks, cultural norms and trust. Framework analysis was used to develop and present an interpretation of findings.

Other activities

Leadership roles

Early Career Researchers and Academics Group (ECRAG): Co-chair and editor of the monthly blogs. Managing and organising regular professional and personal development sessions (2012-2019)

Farina’s research interests can also be found on Early Career Researcher’s and Academic’s Group (ECRAG) where she was co-chair from 2012-2019

Mentor for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers

Awards and prizes

Graduate Poster Conference First Prize winner for College of Medical and Dental Sciences (2014)

Society Membership

Member of the British Psychological Society

Reviewer

Peer Reviewer for Patient Education and Counselling
Peer Reviewer for Chronic Illness

Prior

Doctoral Researcher’s Diversity Network (DRDN): representative for the Institute of Applied Health Research
PERCAT: Postdoctoral/Early career researcher representative for career development and training, and workshop facilitator
IRIS: Institute of Research Into Superdiversity. Participating in organisation of the first annual Superdiversity conference. Doctoral representative and workshop facilitator
Post-graduate rep at the Institute of Applied Health Research