معرفی
Sue Widdicombe is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology within the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. She teaches Social Psychology at second-year undergraduate level, Qualitative Methods in Psychology at third-year level, and supervises final honours projects. At postgraduate level, she instructs Qualitative Methodologies in Psychological Research and Problem-based Social Psychological Research while supervising MSc projects. Her academic profile combines rigorous teaching with active research supervision and methodological innovation.
Her research program centers on discursive psychology and conversation analysis as frameworks for examining language in social interaction. Key foci include identity construction in everyday talk, the delicate management of self-praise and authenticity claims, resistance to identity ascriptions, and negotiation of agency. She investigates these processes across diverse contexts including youth subcultures, cross-cultural interactions, religious identity, health communication, and climate activism. Her methodological approach emphasizes how psychological phenomena emerge through interactional practices rather than pre-existing mental states.
Analysis of her fifteen most recent publications reveals consistent application of discursive and conversation analytic methods to examine identity work across social domains. Her work demonstrates increasing engagement with contemporary societal issues, particularly climate activism in media contexts, while maintaining theoretical rigor in identity research. The publications span clinical health settings (ART adherence), digital communities (online emo groups), cross-cultural fieldwork (Syria), and broadcast media (climate interviews), showcasing methodological adaptability.
Widdicombe currently supervises four PhD students: Paula Greenlees, Lasse Schaefer, Kayleigh Smith, and Miranda Heath. Her supervision focuses on discursive psychological approaches to self and identity, climate activism, and psychology in social interaction. She has established collaborative networks with scholars including Cristina Marinho, Rahul Sambaraju, and Eric Laurier, leading to interdisciplinary projects that bridge academic research and practical applications in healthcare, media, and social justice contexts.
Her research group engages with real-world interactional data through workshops on telephone helplines, HIV medication adherence, and racism reporting. Current initiatives include a four-country feasibility study on public engagement with climate news (UK, India, Portugal, Brazil) and investigations into 'trial by social media' regarding domestic violence allegations. These projects emphasize the practical utility of conversation analysis in addressing pressing social phenomena while advancing theoretical understanding of identity construction.
