Bethlehem is a qualitative researcher with a deep interest in research ethics and in how research practices affect marginalised people and communities. She completed her PhD at the Department of Psychology, the University of Bath. She has BA degree in History and MA in Social Anthropology from Addis Ababa University.
For her doctoral research, Bethlehem explored the strengths, resilience and strategies that allowed children who live in poverty in Addis Ababa to survive poverty and other forms of marginalisation using creative methods such as draw and write and more traditional qualitative research methods such as interviews. For her MA thesis in Social Anthropology, Bethlehem conducted ethnographic research with sex workers. This work was selected and published as a monograph by Forum for Social Studies (FSS), an esteemed centre in Addis Ababa for social science research.
Bethlehem is currently a Research Fellow in Qualitative Research at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London. Prior to this she has worked as a Post Doctoral Research Associate at the Open University and King’s College London leading the design and execution of the qualitative research components of four mental health and neuroscience research projects.