Lauren White

Dr. Lauren White is a Lecturer in Social Research Methods at the Sheffield Methods Institute within the School of Education at the University of Sheffield. She joined the institute in January 2023, bringing extensive experience in interdisciplinary research focused on health, illness, and disability studies. As an active member of the Participatory Research Network, iHuman, and the Critical Disability Studies team, Dr. White bridges academic research with practical applications.

Dr. White's educational background includes a BA (Hons), MA, and PhD, along with SFHEA accreditation. Her research is grounded in sociology but spans multiple disciplines, focusing on creative and participatory qualitative methods to explore everyday experiences of health, illness, and disability. She is particularly interested in affirmative and co-produced research approaches that prioritize meaningful public engagement and knowledge exchange.

Her research interests encompass Creative and Participatory Qualitative Research Methods, Sociology of Health and Illness, Critical Disability Studies, Sociology of Everyday Life, Mobilities, and Materialities. Dr. White's work emphasizes bringing research and teaching together, as demonstrated through her 'Towards Joyful Learning' project, which seeks to create more inclusive and engaging educational environments.

Dr. White's publications demonstrate a consistent focus on understanding how health conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) impact daily life, with particular attention to privacy negotiation, spatial access, and temporal rhythms. Her more recent work has expanded into disability studies, co-production methods, and the intersection of makerspaces with critical disability theory. She has increasingly focused on creating anti-ableist research cultures and developing inclusive approaches to technology design.

• National ESRC writing prize 'Making Sense of Society' for communicating doctoral research
• ESRC postdoctoral research fellowship
• Mildred Blaxter New Writer's Award in Sociology of Health and Illness (2022)

Dr. White has supervised BA and MA dissertations on sociological topics and taught various sociological and qualitative methods modules. She is currently working on several projects related to disability, anti-ableism, inclusive research methods, and creating joyful and ethical social research environments. Her collaborative work with the Reimagining TAS project demonstrates her commitment to centering disabled young people as co-researchers and designers.