Dr Sarah Huque
Senior Research Fellow
Background
I am a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Health in Social Science.
I am a Co-Investigator on the 7-year, Wellcome Trust-funded project "Discovering Liveability: Co-producing alternatives to suicide prevention," on which I currently lead Work Package 1, focusing on lived and living experiences of suicide and seeking to create an international hub for lived/living experience approaches to suicide research; and Work Package 2, exploring community-based practices of care for suicidality, using ethnographic methodologies.
I am also the Principal Investigator on the Edinburgh Mental Health Network-funded project "Sea to Spruce: A pilot study of green & blue space community groups for mental health improvement." This project uses interviews and focus groups to explore the experiences and opinions of people engaging in green and blue space activities (for example, wild swimming, gardening, hill walking) to improve their mental health, as well as those of policymakers working on green/blue spaces.
My broader body of research experience focuses on the intersection of social justice and public health, as well as methodological innovation. An emerging area of work in which I am involved is the development of research partnerships between critical qualitative researchers and emergency care/emergency department clinicians and scholars - seeking more ethical, complex, ways of working, and challenging established research paradigms within medicine. I was previously a Research Fellow on the "Suicide Cultures: Reimagining Suicide Research" project. My PhD work involved participatory research with disability activists in Malawi, and I have also worked on projects around graduate student well-being, trade unionism and disability in Malawi, antibiotic use in East Africa, and the development of Essential Information Packages around antibiotic information.
Qualifications
PhD Geography, University of St Andrews
MSc Global Health Implementation (Dist.), University of St Andrews
BA (Hons) Sociology, Minor: Social Work, New York University
Responsibilities & affiliations
Reviewer College, International Journal of Social Research Methodology
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
I am open to inquiries from students interested in critical suicide studies; intersections between green/blue space use and mental health/access/disability/conservation; disability studies; or related topics; and who intend to utilise qualitative and/or participatory research methods in their work. I am particularly interested in supporting the work of minoritised researchers.
Current PhD students supervised
Maisie Jenkins - Health in Social Science - Exploring Self-Harm in Men's Lives: Research Prioritized by Lived Experience Expertise
Debbie Solomon - Health in Social Science - Discovering Liveability: Co-producing alternatives to suicide prevention
Research summary
Qualitative & participatory research methods
Intersection of social justice & public health
Critical suicide studies
Critical mental health/Mad studies
Disability studies
Human geography
Sociology
Research publications: https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/persons/sarah-huque
Knowledge exchange
Participatory working with community-based organisations, including the development of research reports for organisational use.
Current project grants
Co-Investigator, Wellcome Trust Discovery Award [Discovering Liveability: Coproducing alternatives to suicide prevention]
Co-Investigator, Royal College of Emergency Medicine Research Grant [ReFrame: Responsible and Ethical Frameworks for Qualitative Research in Acute Mental Health Emergencies]
Past project grants
Principal Investigator, Edinburgh Mental Health Seed Fund Award [Sea to Spruce: A pilot study of green & blue space community groups for mental health improvement]