Impact in Qualitative Research Blog

The QUAHRC Impact in Qualitative Research Blog aims to provide a place for the qualitative health research community at King’s showcase and reflect on the impacts and outcomes of their work. We hope this blog encourages discussion and engagement with issues of impact in qualitative applied health research.

We are always looking for contributors, so if you are based at King’s and have an idea for a blog post, get in touch with us at quahrc [at] kcl [dot] ac [dot] uk. We will send your our author guidelines and provide support with editing and formatting.

Blog Posts

Impact in Qualitative Research: Sohail Jannesari, Tanya Krupiy and Orla Phipps on photovoice and transforming learning environments

Dr Sohail Jannesari is a Research Fellow at King’s College London and a Freelance Research Consultant. Sohail teaches at the Introduction to Qualitative Research Summer School where Dr Tanya Krupiy and Orla Phipps were students this year. The Summer School is part of the Qualitative Applied Health Research Centre (QUAHRC). In this blog, Sohail Jannesari, Tanya Krupiy and Orla Phipps reflect on how participatory and creative methods, such as photovoice, can transform learning environments, drawing on a recent exhibition at the Summer School.

Performance of Careful in the Darwin Ward, Kingston University (2016). The performers are (left to right) Archana Balal, Helena Rice, Viviana Rocha, Dominique Vannod and Thalia-Marie Papadopoulos. Still from recording by Anna Tanczos (www.SciCommStudios.co.uk)

Impact in Qualitative Research: Alex Mermikides on Generating Research Impact through Arts-Based Exploration of Nursing

Dr Alex Mermikides is the D’Oyly Carte Senior Lecturer in Arts and Health in the School of Medical Education at King’s College London. Her expertise is in contemporary theatre and performance, and she is interested in how this artform can be employed as research methodology (as well as pedagogical approach) in the context of healthcare, illness and disability. In this blog post, Alex outlines a project she conducted before coming to King’s, which involved making a performance about nursing. Unexpectedly, the project was submitted as an Impact Case Study in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, achieving a 4* rating. Here she describes how this came about and shares some tips on maximising impact in the run up to REF 29.

Photo of Empty Asphalt Road Between Trees

Impact in Qualitative Research: Ella Parry-Davies on co-researching outcomes for domestic workers after trafficking and exploitation

Dr Ella Parry-Davies is a lecturer at King’s College London, where she works on social justice-focussed research in collaboration with experts-by-experience, primarily in the migration and anti-trafficking sectors. Taking up performance as a co-creative research method, she has worked most extensively with migrant domestic workers in the UK and Lebanon, and her book Intimate Inequalities: Performing Migrant Domestic Work is forthcoming with Northwestern University Press in September 2025. In this blog post she discusses the findings of research on the outcomes for workers who had survived trafficking and returned to the Philippines as their country of origin.

The Modern Slavery Core Outcome Set for Survivor Recovery and Wellbeing

Impact in Qualitative Research: Sharli Paphitis and Sohail Jannesari on prioritising the voices of human trafficking survivors to develop a holistic approach to recovery

Dr Sharli Paphitis is a Senior Research Fellow in Qualitative Research at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King's College London. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on epistemic justice, mental health, and community-based participatory methods. Dr Sohail Jannesari is a Research Fellow at King’s College London and a Senior Teaching Fellow at Imperial College London. His research focuses on migration and mental health, outcomes for survivors of human trafficking, creative, participatory and decolonial methods, equitable knowledge production, and research ethics. In this blog, they discuss the importance of prioritising the voices of human trafficking survivors to develop a holistic approach to recovery.

The painting "the great wave at kanagawa" by Japanese artist Hokusai

Impact in Qualitative Research: Caroline Lawlor on developing the Managing Emotions Group

Dr Caroline Lawlor is a Senior Clinical Psychologist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and a Research Affiliate at King’s College London. In this blog she writes about the role of qualitative work in developing a new group therapy supporting to help people with psychosis manage their emotions.

Picture of light refracted through a crystal produced fractured prisms.

Impact in Qualitative Research: Rachel Rowan Olive on multilingual voice-hearing

Rachel Rowan Olive is a research assistant with the QUAHRC and a survivor researcher using her experience of psychiatric systems to inform her work. In this blog she discusses presenting her applied linguistics research with multilingual voice-hearers to the South London and Maudsley Recovery College's Research Club.

A group of people working together on a design story board

Impact in Qualitative Research: Bringing research to life – creating impact case study videos of co-design

Dr Lili Golmohammadi and Emelia Delaney are Research Associates at King’s College London, working on the King’s Health Partners Digital Health Hub and co-design for digital health innovation. Paul Lennon is a Lived Experience Contributor and Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Member, who has supported a number of projects at King's College London, including the SURE Recovery App, which aids the process of recovery from addiction. In this blog they discuss the process of communicating stories of co-design in an engaging format for the development of an open-access Co-design for digital health course and methods library.

A Black person and a white person touching their hands to either side of a glass window

Impact in Qualitative Research: Phoebe Martin on exploring campus sexual harassment

Dr Phoebe Martin is a Research Associate at King’s College London working on the project ‘Visual and Embodied Methodologies for Addressing Gender Based Violence’. Her research looks at the intersections of art and feminist activism. In this blog she discusses a series of Photovoice workshops exploring the idea of safety in relation to sexual harassment on campus.

a racially diverse group of young people standing looking out at a cityscape

Impact in Qualitative Research: Nat Gohlan on power dynamics in co-production

Nat Gohlan is the Participatory Research Coordinator at King’s College London, working to embed a culture of co-produced and collaborative research with communities. In this blog, Nat shares insights and reflections from a recent training session – Power Dynamics in Co-Produced Research – which they ran with Voices That Shake!.

two people sitting opposite each other with hands folded on their laps

Impact in Qualitative Research: Mikkel Kenni Bruun on the unintended effects of ‘evidence-based’ practice in NHS Talking Therapies

Dr Mikkel Kenni Bruun is a social anthropologist working on various aspects of mental healthcare in the UK. Here he unpacks what it can mean to apply medical standards of evidence to interpersonal treatments such as therapy: can it do more harm than good?

Impact in Qualitative Research: Gemma McKenzie on human rights in childbirth

Dr Gemma McKenzie is an ESRC postdoctoral fellow at King's, where she works on creative methods and violence in the medical treatment of pregnancy and childbirth. This follows her PhD study of freebirthing – deciding to give birth without input from clinicians – in the UK. In this blog post she discusses how she came to be producing an art exhibition titled “Threads of protest” coming up next year.

Glass painting casting dramatic shadows on the wall behind

Impact in Qualitative Research: Sian Oram on creative workshops with coercive control survivors

Sian, who directs the Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network, discusses a day of workshops exploring survivors' priorities around coercive control.

Abstract cartoon characters with a speech bubble and a computer screen reading "Exploring the psychosocial needs of people living with long-term conditions and their perspectives on online peer support"

Impact in Qualitative Research: Grace Lavelle and Hannah Jones on exploring the psychosocial needs of people living with long-term conditions

Grace and Hannah discuss how qualitative research laid the foundations for a new online peer support platform for those with long term health conditions.

photo of a piece from the exhibition: poetry exhibited on the wall above small ghost-like sculptures on plinths

Impact in Qualitative Research: Angie Sweeney and Lois Parri on a collaborative art exhibition

Dr Angie Sweeney and Lois Parri reflect on using an art exhibition to share the work of survivor artists and encourage sensitive conversations about abuse.

Impact in Qualitative Research: Bryher Bowness on co-producing guidance for researchers and the public on involving carers in research

Bryher reflects on her experience as part of an NIHR Carer’s Steering Group which has recently coproduced a ‘Top Tips’ resource about carer involvement in research

A stethoscope lies next to a laptop with someone typing on it

Impact in Qualitative Research: Gracie Tredget on integrating physical and mental healthcare

Gracie talks about a qualitative evaluation of physical healthcare in adult community mental health teams within a South London Mental Health Trust

A family of four - two parents and two children - are silhouetted against an orange sunset

Impact in Qualitative Research: Emma Maynard on the Family Stories project

Emma Maynard reflects on how the Family Stories project is helping to find sustainable approaches to trauma-informed, responsive parenting

A long, straight road disappears into the distance through a flat dessert, mountains loom in the distance

Impact in Qualitative Research: Anna Verey and Howard Burdett reflect on qualitative longitudinal research

Anna and Howard examine the potential impact of qualitative longitudinal research through reflections on ‘Military Veterans and Welfare Reform’ (Scullion et al. 2021)

A jar of paintbrushes sits by a window, some paintbrushes and tubes of paint sit next to it. Reflecting the art-focused workshops discussed in the blog

Impact in Qualitative Research: Siofra Peeren, Survivors Voices & The Flying Child - Perspectives on trauma-informed public engagement workshops

Síofra, Jane, and Sophie share their reflections on conducting and taking part in trauma-informed public engagement workshops

A woman holds a tiny baby close to her face, nose to nose. The baby is swaddled in a green cloth.

Impact in Qualitative Research: Elsa Montgomery – Co-producing online resources for maximum impact

Elsa reflects on co-producing an online resource to help prepare survivors of CSA for pregnancy, birth and parenthood

A pair of hands holds up paper cutouts of four figures joined together holding hands

Impact in Qualitative Research: Kylee Trevillion - A reflection on using co-production approaches in mental health research

Kylee reflects on how a co-production approach resulted in a richer and more impactful study

Impact in Qualitative Research: Gemma McKenzie - Working with Creatives to Disseminate Qualitative Research

Gemma reflects on the process of working with creatives to disseminate her qualitative research in an impactful way

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