Mrs Nicole Andrews

Doctoral Researcher

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 6745
Email: nas859@bham.ac.uk

Address: Primary Care Clinical Sciences
School of Health & Population Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

PhD Title: Exploring discourse of health for African Caribbean women with regard to body shape and size

Supervisors: Professor Sheila Greenfield, Dr Sabi Redwood and Dr William Drever

Nicole Andrews is a Doctoral Researcher in the School of Health and Population Sciences at the University of Birmingham. Her research area is applied health research with specific interests in ethnicity, gender and research methods. Her PhD is concerned with African Caribbean communities, with particular focus on women. Her work examines how social and cultural factors influence health beliefs and relationships with healthcare professionals, with focus on body shape and size with regard to weight management and obesity related illnesses.

Qualifications

MA in Sociology, University of Birmingham, 2009
BSc (Hons) in Psychology and Sociology, Aston University, 2008

Biography

Nicole was awarded a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and Sociology and subsequently a MA in Sociology. Following this, she worked for a HIV support charity where she was responsible for designing and delivering accredited HIV/AIDS awareness training to a range of audiences including healthcare professionals, social workers and teachers.

In 2011, Nicole embarked upon her current PhD studentship working with Professor Greenfield, Dr Redwood and Dr Drever. The focus of the PhD is on developing novel qualitative methods for engaging seldom heard communities in health research to evaluate whether they have the potential to offer richer understanding of social, cultural and contextual factors that may influence health outcomes.

Teaching

Social Divisions, School of Government and Society

Nicole is currently leads teaching seminars with undergraduate sociology students at the University of Birmingham. The course includes the teaching of classical and contemporary social theory, policy, class, gender and ethnicity.

Research

British Sociological Association

Publications

Conference presentations/ posters

-Research in the Liminal: Research methods to engage seldom heard communities. May 2014, BSA Medical Sociology Group Event,‘Under-served’ or ‘hard to reach’?: Community and participatory approaches in health research, Coventry University.

-Raising the issue of obesity with patients and improving the uptake of weight management clinics. September 2013, CHLARC-WM Dissemination event, Birmingham Council House.

-Strong, female and Black: Understanding African Caribbean women, body size and health. May 2013, Weight Stigma Conference, University of Birmingham

-Big Talk: Investigating discourses of health for African Caribbean women. September 2012, BSA Medical Sociology Group Conference, University of Leicester

-Investigating Narratives of Health for African Caribbean Women. June 2012, Postgraduate Poster Conference, University of Birmingham

-Neglect or Containment: Sexual Health and African Caribbeans in the UK. July 2011, BSA Theory Group: Rethinking the Modern, Birmingham Institute.

View all publications in research portal