Jonathan Smith (Professor)

Jonathan runs the IPA research group at Birkbeck. He developed IPA and applies it in a wide range of areas. Among topics he is currently researching: pain, depression, genetics, dual-language use.

Dr Virginia Eatough (Reader in Psychology)

Virginia is interested in all aspects of emotional experience in particular feelings & moods. Current research: happiness, emotional aspects of living with Parkinson’s disease, developing phenomenological theory to understand emotional life, neurophenomenology of neurofeedback training.

Dominic Conroy (Postdoctoral Researcher)

Dom’s post-doctoral work concerns adolescents’ experiences of multisystemic therapy as part of the NIHR-funded ‘START’ national study. Main interests: adolescent transitions, drinking behaviour, mixed methods, health interventions, gender relations.

Joanna Farr (Lecturer in Psychology)

Joanna’s research focuses on young people’s experience of mental health difficulties, emotional wellbeing and support provision. Current research: early intervention for bipolar disorder; adolescent girls’ everyday experience of coping with emotions; developing high-quality and innovative IPA.

Megumi Fieldsend (honorary research fellow)

Megumi is an honorary research fellow with IPARG where she recently completed her PhD. Her research explores the experiences of women living with involuntary childlessness in midlife, focusing on the psychological impact and the meaning of life without children.

Jamie Kirkham (researcher)

Jamie is working with Jonathan on research which is exploring the lived experience of chronic pain. Jamie is currently completing a doctorate in counselling psychology at City university.

Adam Knowles (PhD student)

Adam is an existential psychotherapist researching the Amazonian plant medicine ayahuasca and its potential to help those in the UK with insight and well-being.

Adnan Levent (PhD student)

I investigate the possible consequence of recreational drug use on cognitive abilities such as memory. The work is mixed methods using self-reports and psychological testing to assess the effects of drug use, as well as an IPA interview study to explore motivation behind drug use.

Rosey McCracken (PhD Student)

Using IPA , my PhD focus is a longitudinal study of the lived experience of men diagnosed with Male Breast Cancer in the post -surgical recovery period.

Isabella Nizza (PhD Student)

My research concerns the lived experience of chronic pain patients attending a pain self-management programme as expressed using words and visual images. I am also working as a researcher on an NIHR funded project evaluating a modified CBT intervention for work with families where a child or young person has epilepsy and mental health difficulties. Lead researchers Roz Shafran UCL, Jonathan Smith et al.

Mah Rana (PhD student)

Using IPA and videography, the focus of my PhD research explores the lived experiences of dementia-caregiver dyads who engage in textile-based crafts at home. 

John Rhodes (Clinical Psychologist/Researcher)

My research interests include types of depression (with Jonathan), aspects of psychosis (basic processes and effects of trauma) and states of the self.’

Rachel Starr (Postdoctoral Researcher)

My research is about the phenomenology of aesthetic encountering. I am interested in how people experience looking at paintings, from what attracts them to particular artworks to how they feel after they have finished their viewing.

Curt Strangward (Honorary Research Fellow)

I am using IPA to explore the lived experiences of individuals, with Parkinson’s Disease, who have had a deep brain stimulator implanted.

Baye Berihun Asfaw (Postdoctoral Researcher)

My PhD used IPA to explore how UK psychotherapists and Ethiopian/Eritrean asylum seekers and refugees experience and make sense of psychotherapeutic care, with a focus on culture and meaning-making.

Daniel Rodger (PhD student)

My research focuses on how different groups make sense of pig kidney xenotransplantation. The main focus is on how those living with end-stage renal disease make sense of xenotransplantation as a therapeutic option.

Elizabeth Savory (PhD student)

My research explores the experience of young adults with depression.  More specifically, I am developing a methodology that incorporates IPA to capture these experiences as they unfold over the course of a day.

Aldo Gianola (PhD student)

My research explores the experience of intimate relationships for people living with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and within non-clinical groups. I employ multimodal IPA to capture the everyday lived experience of participants and add depth to the findings. Ultimately, this line of research aims to enhance understanding and inform more effective, person-centred therapeutic approaches.

Jagdeep Wadhwa-Brown (PhD student)

My research adopts a multidimensional approach to understanding camouflaging in autistic women. By integrating IPA with quantitative brain and body measures, I aim to bridge the gap between deeply personal lived experiences and biological data. My research seeks to uncover possible mechanisms by which the act of camouflaging impacts long-term mental health and well-being in autistic people.