The University of Manchester

Post-Doc, Manchester Business School

Research Associate

Thesis Title: Producing ADHD: An ethnography of behavioural (dis)order

About

My current research interests are in organisational studies of healthcare. I have recently started working at Manchester Business School on a two year project looking at knowledge mobilisation through NHS middle management. The project is called "Being a Manager, Becoming a Professional", more details can be found here:

http://www.sdo.nihr.ac.uk/projdetails.php?ref=09-1002-29

Prior to this I worked in the Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire & Lincolnshire CLAHRC, which is a collaboration between the NIHR, Nottingham University and local NHS organisations. CLAHRCs are communities of practice which aim to bridge the gaps in translation between research and practice in healthcare. For more details:

http://www.clahrc-ndl.nihr.ac.uk/

Before this I worked on an ethnographic study of the experience of healthcare assistants in NHS inpatient dementia care. The report is published here:

http://www.sdo.nihr.ac.uk/projdetails.php?ref=08-1819-222

Leading out of this project I'm currently involved in a collaboration with a Nottingham based theatre company, Meeting Ground, to produce a play based on the research. We are hoping to launch around September 2011. For details of Meeting Ground:

http://chant4.co.uk/meetingground/

My PhD research offers a critical analysis of the rise of the psychiatric diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Using ethnographic data drawn from school and home, I analyse the socio-cultural processes of othering which are required in order for a diagnosis to be made. Informed by Foucault's understanding of power and governance, this analysis attempts to divert attention away from the supposed internal deficits of the child, towards the routine and unexamined discourses of the school and classroom which have limited the developmental possibilities available to adults and children according to the roles of teachers, parents and pupils.

The thesis is available here:

http://etheses.nottingham.ac.uk/858/

And here:

http://www.dart-europe.eu/full.php?id=220385

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