Dr Brigit McWade
Lecturer in Medical SociologyProfile
I am Lecturer in Medical Sociology at Lancaster Medical School.
Research
My research expertise is interdisciplinary qualitative health research concerning the relationship between social inequalities and mental health, neurodiversity and disability, and intersectionality. A central interest within this area is the theoretical and political significance of socio-cultural representations of the lived experience of health and wellbeing, and their role in challenging oppression and instigating social change. Since my appointment, I have begun to build a programme of research that draws on my expertise to make significant impact in medical education at all levels, and as a result the quality of healthcare provision delivered by tomorrow’s doctors. This is evident in my teaching and leadership roles, including actively participating in and setting the agenda for the newly formed Medical Schools Council’s EDI Alliance, leading Widening Participation and EDI initiatives in LMS, and contributing to LU’s Race Equality Charter submission.
I am an elected member of the Medical Schools Council's Equality Diversity and Inclusion Alliance, and was one of the lead authors of their national guidance on how to embed EDI in medical education: Active Inclusion: Challenging exclusions in medical education
Doctoral supervision
Starting in 2025
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Eleanor Vowles (Lancaster Medical School, full-time) Structural and financial barriers to success in medical education. Lead supervisor (40%) with Dr Michael Lambert (40%) and Dr Liz Brewster (20%). Fully funded by FHM PhD Studentship.
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Ros Brunwin (Sociology, part-time) with Debra Ferreday (50%): From Madness to Meaning: Unpicking the reality behind psychosis.
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Kareena Gianani (Creative Writing, full-time). Third supervisor (25%) with Professor Jenn Ashworth and Dr Ines Gregori Labarta: A World Apart: Experimental Essays on How Long-Distance Marriage Shapes Womanhood, Work, and Migration. Funded by +3 AHRC studentship.
Past doctoral candidates
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Steven Maxwell (Creative Writing) with Zoe Lambert: project is titled: Human Subjects: A novel of novellas. Passed forthwith in 2024. Funded by an AHRC studentship.
Teaching
MBChB
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Lectures: Disability, Race, Ethnicity & Culture, Migration & Health, Chronic Illness, Health Inequalities, Stigma and Discrimination
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Problem Based Learning (1st and 2nd Years)
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Special Study Modules (1st and 2nd Years): race/ethnicity and health inequalities
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Health, Culture and Society coursework (3rd/4th Years): the relationship between racism and health
MSc Clinical Research
- Supervision of dissertation projects.
In addition, I have extensive teaching experience in the areas of Social Theory, Media Theory, Cultural Theory, Gender & Women's Studies, Science & Technology Studies, Biomedicine & Ethics and Qualitative Research.
Qualifications
PhD Sociology (July 2014); MA Sociological Research Methods (Distinction); BA Sociology (1st class with honours), Supported Learning Award.
My PhD and MA were funded by an ESRC 1+3 scholarship.
PGCert in Academic Practice (2024).
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2020).
PhD Supervision Interests
Please contact me if you are interested in undertaking doctoral research
Military Lives and Transformative Experiences: Exploring narratives and veterans' well-being
01/10/2017 → 31/03/2020
Research
The Sociology of Stigma
25/03/2013 → …
Research
Reclaiming Black Madness: Stories of People of Colour on Stigma, Racism, and Severe Mental Distress
Examination
Reunion Island and A Mad Reading of Janet Frame’s Madness Narratives Faces in the Water and An Autobiography
Examination
Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Decolonising Medical Education and Medical Sociology
Oral presentation
Rethinking Medical Sociology
Invited talk
Working with students to tackle racism
Oral presentation
Decolonising Medical Education
Invited talk
Medical Schools Council EDI Alliance (External organisation)
Membership of board
Society for Social Studies of Science (External organisation)
Membership of network
Autism Entangled – Controversies over Disability, Sexuality and Gender in Contemporary Culture
Examination
Psychology and Sexuality (Journal)
Editorial activity
‘Was it autoethnography? Reflections on writing myself in and then out of my research’
Invited talk
Stop ‘sucking off the stigma’: refusing mental health anti-stigma campaigns
Invited talk
Social Science and Medicine (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Sociology of Health and Illness (Journal)
Editorial activity
Journal of Social Policy (Journal)
Editorial activity
Was it autoethnography? The classificatory, confessional and mad politics of lived experience in sociological research
Oral presentation
What can older veterans' experiences of military service tell us about wellbeing?
Oral presentation
Social Theory and Health (Journal)
Editorial activity
Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry (Journal)
Editorial activity
Feminist Studies (Journal)
Editorial activity
BSA Annual Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Disability and Society (Journal)
Editorial activity
The Sociological Review (Journal)
Editorial activity
Critical Perspectives On and Beyond the Therapy Industry
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
The rise of an ‘anti-welfare commonsense’ – stigma, neoliberalism and welfare reform
Invited talk
School of Disability Studies, Ryerson University, Toronto
Visiting an external academic institution
"From Mental Illness to a Social Model of Madness and Distress" - Panel Discussion
Invited talk
Mental health and reflexivity: The role of personal experiences of mental ill-health in medical sociological research
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Lancaster Biennial Disability Studies Conference 2016
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Qualitative Social Work (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Studies in Social Justice (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Disability and Society (Journal)
Editorial activity
National Survivor User Network (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Methods Mixtures
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Changing Worlds: Engaging Science and Technology in Art, Academia and Activism
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Making Sense of Mad Studies
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
School of Health and Social Care Research day
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Nordic Network for Disability Studies (NNDR)
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
Visiting an external academic institution
The Politics of Popular Culture
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
The Politics of Popular Culture
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
The Sociological Review (Journal)
Editorial activity
Subjectivity (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Intersectionalities: A Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity and Practice (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Feminist Theory (Journal)
Publication peer-review
The Sociological Review (Journal)
Editorial activity
Hermeneutics- and Arts-based Methods
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Creative Collisions and Critical Conversations
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
BSA Annual Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Changing Lives and Improving Communities
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
EASST
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
2012 Disability Studies Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Sociology Intellectual Party, Lancaster Sociology Department
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Practising Theory in Feminist Technoscience Studies
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
2nd Postgraduate STS conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
2nd Postgraduate STS conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Postgraduate Workshop with Annemarie Mol
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Postgraduate Workshop with Annemarie Mol
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Making (In)Appropriate Bodies: Between Medical Models of Health, Moral Economies and Everyday Practices,
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Distress or Disability? Symposium
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
CGWS Lunchtime Seminar Series
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Mini-STS PhD Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Retheorising Women’s Health: Shifting Paradigms and the Biomedical Body
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Intellectual Party 2010: Lancaster Sociology Summer Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
CGWS Research Day
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
- Interdisciplinary network in culture, health, ethics and society