I am an anthropologist interested in the vast array of social and cultural factors influencing health and well-being.

My doctoral research, completed in 2008 in Palmerston North, New Zealand, explored children's experiences of domestic violence through a community-based intervention programme and life-story interviewing.  Following this work, I was Project Officer at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Geneva, Switzerland for 3 years; then moved to Ireland, joining the Department of Health Promotion in October 2011 to complete a literature review on risk communication on communicable diseases in the European Union and deliver lectures on qualitative research methods.  I have recently (February 2011) taken up a new post at NUI Galway as post-doctoral researcher in medicine, part of an interdisciplinary research team exploring screening, surveillance and community-based interventions to reduce the long-term risk of women converting from Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) to Diabetes.

In general, I am interested in preventative health and harm reduction practices; the risk and protective dimensions of human behaviour on health; and methodological possibilities for a critically engaged yet clinically relevant application of anthropology.