Originally from Sunderland, Catherine is a proud Mackem who moved to London at 18 to pursue her studies. There, she found a vibrant and welcoming community of artists whose innovative creative practices inspired her to undertake a PhD at King’s College London. Her doctoral research explored how performance artists use their creative practice to challenge cultural stigmas surrounding the female body to support mental health. This interdisciplinary focus - between the arts, health and community - has shaped her career, which spans over a decade of work in mental health research at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London.
After 18 years in London, Catherine returned home to the North East to join Newcastle University as a Research Fellow for three years, before moving to Lancaster University in 2024 where she now works as a Senior Research Fellow in the Division of Health Research. Her broad research portfolio includes arts for health studies in community settings alongside children and young people, both as an ‘intervention’ to reduce health inequalities, and for methodological innovation to improve conditions for communication and expression.
Catherine lives in Durham and, outside of work, spends all her time learning film-making and being immersed in the arts and nature - often in the company of her beautifully boisterous German Shepherd, Hannah.
