CAREER SUMMARY

I hold first class degrees in both Modern English Studies and Criminal Justice, winning an award for academic excellence in the latter. After a career in the Probation Service I moved into mental health research, initially as a service user, and worked as an independent researcher for eight years alongside universities from around the UK. I was involved in a range of projects related to severe mental illness at every stage, from funding applications through data collection and analysis, to publication and dissemination. 

In 2022 I joined the department of criminology, sociology and social policy at Swansea University, where I used my qualifications and experience in criminal justice to work as a research assistant focusing on the assessment of offenders in the community. I then resumed my work in the mental health field, spending a year in the school of psychology at University of Surrey as a postgraduate researcher, where I developed skills in research design and literature reviewing, attending a wide range of courses on less frequently used research methods. In October 2024 I returned to Swansea University, joining the department of public health as a research officer to investigate the impact of food insecurity on nutrition in early life. I plan to continue to develop my career in research and consider my years of experience outside of academia and my cross-disciplinary approach as key strengths.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE GENERATION OF NEW IDEAS, TOOLS, METHODOLOGIES OR KNOWLEDGE

Whilst a research assistant at Swansea University I was integral to the development and implementation of a novel digital intervention, the co-produced “My Journey” web app. “My Journey” was designed to assess and monitor the wellbeing and criminogenic risk of criminal justice service users in the community as a basis for planning intervention. I piloted the app with users and staff at a third sector, trauma-informed service led by user experience, collecting feedback through ethnographic methods and focus groups to inform future iterations. I presented the findings at faculty level, at a local networking event and a national conference (Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice). From this work, I developed the DEVICES model for co-production in the criminal justice system, an entirely new approach to working with offenders to develop services. Currently, I am working to fill a critical research gap, generating new knowledge on how best to support food insecure parents who are struggling with the cost of living crisis. The findings of this research will directly inform public health policy and the practice of third sector organisations such as food banks, improving the lives of parents and babies living in poverty.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF OTHERS AND MAINTENANCE OF EFFECTIVE WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

I entered the field of research as a lived experience researcher and have been keen throughout the intervening decade to facilitate the involvement of mental health service users in research. I was appointed to the steering group of the RESPECT feasibility RCT of a sexual health intervention for people with severe mental illness (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09661-x, doi: 10.3310/hta23650), and currently sit on the trial management group for the full RCT with responsibility for embedding patient and services user perspectives in the research. As research officer in the department of public health at Swansea University, I coordinate the steering group for a MRC funded project, maintaining good working relationships between professionals in services related to infant feeding, including medical and academic staff, third sector and charity managers, and leaders of interest/pressure groups. I lead on responsive stakeholder engagement and have devised a communications strategy which is tailored to the needs of those who may be impacted by my research. 

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WIDER RESEARCH AND INNOVATION COMMUNITY

I have a particular interest in diversity, equality and inclusion and actively seek opportunities to increase my awareness of identities which are unfamiliar to me. Whilst working at the University of Surrey, I was selected as a reverse mentor, offering insights from my experience as disabled woman with a non-traditional research career pathway to a member of the senior leadership team. The “My Journey” study was a knowledge transfer project, and I took responsibility for being the conduit by which knowledge could be exchanged between the university, the wider research community, the third sector agency supporting offenders in the community, its service users, and the Welsh Government, which funded the research. Outside of my day job, I blog for The Mental Elf, critically reviewing recent mental health research and teasing out implications for practice for busy health professionals.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO BROADER RESEARCH/INNOVATION-USERS AND AUDIENCES AND TOWARDS WIDER SOCIETAL BENEFIT

Although I have worked across several academic disciplines, I have always chosen to work on projects which will have tangible benefits for the public, particularly marginalised groups. I consistently seek to elevate the voices of vulnerable communities, including mental health services users, people using drug and alcohol services, people involved in the criminal justice system, and food insecure families. I am committed to sharing the findings and impacts of my research with impacted communities, using social media, blogs and lay summaries to communicate with the public. I am insistent on public/patient/user involvement at study management level and have a particular interest in participatory and ethnographic methods which seek to challenge the traditional researcher/participant binary. I am acutely aware of my own power as an academic and have thought deeply about my positionality and how I can become a more reflective researcher.

PUBLICATIONS

Walker, C. (2021) Mental health stigma and online social support for bipolar disorder: what
can we learn from Twitter? The Mental Elf blog

Walker, C. (2021) What do people with bipolar really pay attention to when they aremonitoring their mood? The Mental Elf blog

Walker, C. (2019) “Wrestling some power back for the women”: My experiences
researching medication decision-making in pregnancy

Walker, C. (2019) It’s too late for Theresa May to solve the mental health crisis among
young people – here’s why THE INDEPENDENT

Guidance

Ball, K., Burn, W., Collins, A., Holt, C and Walker, C. (2021) Writing clinic letters The
Royal College of Psychiatrists