Ellen Stewart

Chancellor's Fellow

Usher Institute
College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine

Tel: +44 (0)131 651 5149
Email: e.stewart@ed.ac.uk
Web: Ellen's profile on Edinburgh Research Explorer

Street: Usher Institute – University of Edinburgh
Old Medical School
Teviot Place
City: Edinburgh
Post code: EH8 9AG

Biography

Background

I am a Chancellor’s Fellow in Social Studies of Health & Medicine, working at the intersection of medical sociology, social policy and public administration. I am Associate Lead for the workstrand Beyond Engagement in the Centre for Biomedicine, Self & Society, and an elected member of the Social Policy Association's Executive Committee.

Before joining the Usher Institute I worked in the University of Edinburgh’s Global Public Health Unit, and University of St Andrews’ Medical School.

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Qualifications

Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (University of Edinburgh, 2020)

PhD in Politics (University of Edinburgh, 2012)

MSc in Social Policy & Planning (LSE, 2007)

MA (Hons) in Politics (University of Edinburgh, 2005)

Teaching & PhD supervision

Undergraduate teaching

I am course organiser for Foundation of Knowledge, a core course on the intercalated Honours programme Bioethics, Law & Society.

Postgraduate teaching

I am also course organiser for Qualitative Research in Health, an elective on our Masters in Public Health programme.

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I am always happy to hear from students who want to pursue PhD research on my interests as described above.

Current PhD students supervised

Gabrielle King (Usher Institute) - scientific engagement of people living with MND, and their carers.
Carol Porteous (Usher Institute) – participants’ experiences of patient and public involvement in health research.
Katherine Hirono (Social Policy) – community engagement within Health Impact Assessment
Catherine Carver (Usher Institute) - public and patient involvement in the regulation of new medicines and technologies

Past PhD students supervised

Taina Meriluoto (external supervisor for student in Department of Political Science, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland) – expertise-by-experience in Finnish social welfare organisations

Research

Research summary

I am interested in how health systems accommodate and negotiate different forms of ‘lay’ and ‘expert’ knowledge, including demands for public engagement and for evidence-based policy. I've previously worked on projects exploring everyday practices of public involvement in the local NHS, new governance arrangements for Scottish Health Boards, and how health policymakers use research evidence.

Current research interests

I am one of four Investigators on a Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award in Humanities and Social Sciences, exploring the past, present and future of charity and voluntarism in the NHS. I am also a co-Investigator within SIPHER (https://sipher.ac.uk/), a consortium funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership. My work within the Consortium considers how people's lived experience of policy issues can inform systems science efforts to tackle health inequalities.

Affiliated research centres

Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society

Publications

Credibility Contests: Media Debates on Do-It-Yourself Coronavirus Responses and the Role of Citizens in Health Crises 4 Nov 2020 In: Frontiers in Sociology, vol. 5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2020.592666
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Changing health care with, for, or against the public:: An empirical investigation into the place of the public in health service reconfiguration 19 Jul 2020 In: Journal of Health Services Research and Policy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1355819620935148
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Legitimating complementary therapies in the NHS: campaigning, care and epistemic labour 7 Jun 2020 In: Health
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459320931916
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print)
Segmenting communities as public health strategy: A view from the social sciences and humanities 26 May 2020 In: Wellcome Open Research
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15975.1
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Letter (Published)
The Impact Agenda: controversies, consequences and challenges 14 May 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/978-1447339878
Research output: › Book (Published)
Transforming health care: the policy and politics of service reconfiguration in the UK’s four health systems 12 Apr 2020 In: Health Economics, Policy and Law
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744133119000148
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Opening up evidence-based policy: exploring citizen and service user expertise 1 Apr 2020 In: Evidence and Policy, vol. 16
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1332/174426420X15838217456181
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Editorial (E-pub ahead of print)
Between a rock and a hard place: comparing arms’ length bodies for public involvement in healthcare across the UK. 21 Feb 2020 In: Health Policy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2020.02.004
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
The SIPHER Consortium: Introducing the new UK hub for systems science in public health and health economic research 12 Nov 2019 In: Wellcome Open Research , vol. 4, pp. 174
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15534.1
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Editorial: the importance of sociological approaches to the study of service change in health care 21 Sep 2019 In: Sociology of Health & Illness, vol. 41
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12942
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Editorial (E-pub ahead of print)

View all 35 publications on Research Explorer

This article was published on 4 Mar, 2021