Senior Lecturer in Applied Social Studies

I became a part of the School of Applied Social Sciences at the University of Bedfordshire in January 2018, following my tenure as a Teaching Fellow in Sociology at Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that, I was a Mildred Blaxter Postdoctoral Researcher at the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness in 2013/2014 and a visiting lecturer in Sociology at RHUL. I completed my PhD in Health Sociology at Royal Holloway, University of London, in 2012. Before that, I earned both my MSc and BSc in Sociology in my home country, Portugal.

My professional trajectory and expertise have been centred in the field of Sociology of Health, Sociology of the Professions, and qualitative sociological research. My research interests primarily lie in the dynamics of professional work, regulation and the forces driving change particularly within low-status health professions. My doctoral research explored the dynamics among the medical profession, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners, and the State within the Portuguese healthcare system. Subsequently, I expanded my research by conducting comparative research between Brazil and Portugal, focusing on the governance and regulation of CAM practices. More recently, my research interests have broadened to include an understanding of the social determinants of health and health inequalities, and the theoretical underpinnings of addictive behaviours, with a particular focus on prescription drugs and the medical use of cannabis.

I have been the Course Coordinator for the BA (Honours) Health and Social Care at the Bedford campus since 2021/22. My teaching philosophy adopts an inclusive and interactive approach where I try to intertwine my teaching and research, believing that the two mutually enrich each other. I am genuinely passionate about the transformative power of education and how it shapes the lives of students.

I am recognised as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Professionally, I am affiliated with the British Sociological Association, the International Sociological Association and the Portuguese Sociological Association. Additionally, I am a research member of the Institute of Health Research at the University of Bedfordshire, and a member of the Institute for Responsible Leadership (MIRL). In 2023, I was elected the Vice-President of the ISA RC15 Executive Board (Research Committee Sociology of Health) for four consecutive years.

Other References

• LinkedIn
• ResearchGate
• Academia
• Twitter
• Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness

Qualifications

• PhD Medical Sociology – Royal Holloway, University of London, UK (2012)
• Postgraduate course in Science, Technology and Communication – Institute of Social Sciences – University of Lisbon (ICS-UL), Portugal (2005)
• MSc Communication, Culture and Information Technology – ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute (ISCTE-IUL), (Higher Institute of Business and Labour Sciences), Portugal (2004)
• BSc Sociology – Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Portugal (1997)

Teaching Expertise

• Unit leader for Understanding the Human Services (past)
• Unit leader for Sociology of Health and Illness
• Unit leader for Introduction to Sociology of Health
• Addictions and Society
• Qualitative Research Methods
• Health Inequalities/Social Determinants of Health
• Sociological Theory
• Consumption, Well-Being, and Health

Research Interests

• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Health Professionals and Health Policy
• Professionalisation and Professionalism
• Professional Work, Regulation, and Change
• Consumption & Wellbeing
• Prescription Drugs
• Medicalisation
• Chronic Illness
• Addictive Behaviours
• Technology/Digital Health
• Arts-based Research Methods

Projects

• IASR 2021-22 seed corn research funding £8125; Rapid literature review on existing protective measures to support older people with care needs living in the community and their carers during the COVID-19 pandemic’. Institute of Applied Social Research (IASR), School of Applied Social Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, University of Bedfordshire (current – with Dr. Min Tak and Dr. Chris Papadopoulos)
• 2016 RHUL seed corn research funding £4143; Perceptions of use of complementary and alternative medicine in women with breast cancer. Royal Holloway, University of London. (with Professor Jonathan Gabe, Mr. John Anderson and Mr. Kavi Sharma)
• The Open University, £1800; Exploring the links between perceived intimate relationship quality and individual wellbeing: a systematic review (with Dr. Cristina Santos)
• Towards the ‘Camisation’ of Health? A Theoretical and Empirical Framework for Analysis (2013-2014 –Mildred Blaxter Postdoctoral Research Project, Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness, UK)
• Towards the Camisation of Health? The Countervailing Power of CAM in relation to the Portuguese mainstream Healthcare System (2007-2012 – PhD Dissertation Project, Royal Holloway, University of London)

External Roles

• Vice-President of the International Sociological Association RC15 executive board (Research Committee 15 – Sociology of Health) 2023-
• External Examiner in Sociology, University of Newcastle, Australia (PhD) 2021
• External Examiner in Collective Health at State University of Campinas (Universidade Estadual de Campinas), Faculty of Medical Sciences, São Paulo, Brazil (for various Masters and PhD dissertations) 2017-2020
• Internal examiner in Public Policy at Kings College London, UK (PhD) 2015
• Associate Editor of the Scientific Editorial Board of the Brazilian Journal Interface: Comunicação, Saúde, Educação (Interface: Communication, Health and Education) 2015-
• Expert reviewer for various international journals 2011-

Publications

Papers in Peer-Reviewed Journals

• Almeida, J., J.D. Brocklehurst and Sharples, A. (2023) Almeida, J., Brocklehurst, J. & Sharples, A. Intersectionality, vulnerability and foot health inequity. Journal of Foot Ankle Research,16,73. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13047-023-00647-7 Impact Factor: 2.9
• Almeida, J. (2017) Complementary and alternative medicine’s attempts at occupational closure: a thematic analysis driven by grounded theory, SAGE Research Methods Cases Health, Part 2. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526419385
• Almeida, J. (2016) Complementary and alternative medicine’s occupational closure in Portuguese healthcare: Contradictions and challenges, Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 20(5):447-464. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459316660857 Impact Factor: 3.132
• J. and Gabe, J. (2016) CAM within a field force of countervailing powers: the case of Portugal. Social Science and Medicine, 155:73-81. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.02.044 Impact Factor: 5.379
• Almeida, J. (2012) The differential incorporation of CAM into the medical establishment: the case of acupuncture and homeopathy in Portugal, Health Sociology Review. 21(1):5-22. Doi: https://doi.org/10.5172/hesr.2012.21.1.5 Impact Factor: 3.6
• Almeida, J. (2006) Um jogo de sentidos: a ocidentalização do yoga como orientalização do ocidente. Revista Religião e Sociedade, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: ISER/CER, 26(1):158-173.

Chapters in Books

• Almeida, J. (2023) Portugal. In Giarelli, G. and Saks, M. (eds.), National Health Services of Western Europe: Challenges, Reforms and Future Perspectives, London: Routledge. 169-188. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003139799
• Almeida, J. and Barros, N. (2020) Complementary and alternative medicine as an invisible healthcare support workforce, In Saks, M. (ed.). Support Workers and the Health Professions in International Perspective: The Invisible Providers of Health Care. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press. pp. 161-182. doi: 10.2307/j.ctv1453kz6
• Almeida, J., Siegel, P. and Barros, N. F. (2018) Governing complementary and alternative medicine in Brazil and Portugal: Implications for CAM professionals and the public. In M. Chamberlain, M. Dent and M. Saks (eds), Professional Health Regulation in the Public Interest: International Perspectives. Bristol: Policy Press, pp.181-200.
• Almeida, J., Siegel, P. and Barros, N. F. (2018) Towards the glocalisation of complementary and alternative medicine: Homeopathy, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine practice and regulation in Brazil and Portugal. In C. Brosnan, P. Vuolanto and J-A.B. Danell (eds) Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Knowledge Production and Social Transformation. Science, Technology and Society Series. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 113-137. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73939-7_5
• Gabe, J. and Almeida, J. (2015) Anthony Giddens: Structuration, drug use, food choice and long-term illness. In F. Collyer (ed), The Palgrave Handbook of Social Theory in Health, Illness and Medicine. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 424-438. . https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137355621_27
• Almeida, J. (2011) Medicinas alternativas e complementares e manobras de legitimação: o caso da acupunctura e da homeopatia em Portugal. In T. Carvalho, R. Santiago and T. Caria (eds). Grupos Profissionais, Profissionalismo e Sociedade do Conhecimento: Tendências, Problemas e Perspectivas. Porto: Edições Afrontamento, pp. 109-130. http://hdl.handle.net/10547/622578

Book Reviews

• (2020) Epidemia e Tragédia: Tramas Políticas, Reconexões Humanas, In Vivência Integrada na Comunidade, Editora RedeUnida (e-Book). https://editora.redeunida.org.br/project/vivencia-integrada-na-comunidade-impactos-na-formacao-medica/

• Almeida, J. (2017). Ortiz-Gómez, T. and Santesmases, M.J. (eds) Gendered Drugs and Medicine: Historical and Socio-Cultural Perspectives. Farnham: Ashgate. 2014. 250pp £65 (hbk) ISBN 978-1-4094-5404-5. Sociology of Health and Illness, 39(1): 164–165. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12470

Papers in Conference Proceedings

• Almeida, J. (2013). Strategies of complementary and alternative medicine practitioners to achieve occupational closure within healthcare in Portugal, ISA RC52 Interim Conference ‘Challenging Professionalism: New Directions in Policies, Publics and the Professions’, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal, November 28-30.
• Almeida, J. (2008). The political debate and the inter-professional conflict around the regulation of alternative and complementary medicine in Portugal, VI Congresso Português de Sociologia - Mundos Sociais: Saberes e Práticas, June, Lisbon, Portugal.

Other Papers

• Almeida, J. (2002) Práticas corporais orientais no Ocidente: o caso do yoga, Revista MON, 1, Centro de Artes Orientais (CAO): Costa da Caparica, Portugal, pp. 44-55.

Thesis

• Almeida, J. (2012). Towards the camisation of health? The countervailing power of CAM in relation to the Portuguese mainstream healthcare system. PhD dissertation in Medical Sociology. Centre for Criminology and Sociology, Royal Holloway University of London, England. September (unpublished). Available here
• Almeida, J. (2004). The East in us. The 'Nori's Centre'. A case study of yoga's practice in Portugal (O Oriente que há em nós - o 'Centro Nori': um estudo de caso da prática de yoga em Portugal). MSc Dissertation in Sociology. Department of Sociology, ISCTE, University of Lisbon, Portugal, September (unpublished). Available here

Recent Conference Papers

• Almeida, J., Sharma, K., Gabe, J., Anderson, J. and Simcock, R. (2023) Perceptions of Use of Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Women with Breast Cancer, RC15 Sociology of Health – The Response of Health Professions to Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the XX ISA World Congress of Sociology, June 25-July 1, Melbourne, Australia.
• Almeida, J. (2022) Rethinking the boundaries of methods in health and social science research, National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM), Methods Con, Creative methods, and alternative therapy (session convener: Robert Meckin) 13-14 September, Manchester, UK. Invited Speaker.
• Almeida, J., and Barros, N. F. de (2021) Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practitioners as an Invisible Healthcare Support Workforce. IV International Sociological Association (ISA) Forum of Sociology, February 23-27, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Online conference.
• Almeida, J. (2020) Erasmus+ PERSIST Knowledge, beliefs, Perceptions about Science of European Students (climate change, transgenic organisms, Vaccines and complementary and alternative medicines), Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon Invited Speaker.
• Almeida, J. and Saks, M. (2018) Complementary and alternative medicine: Theories of marginality and precarity. XIX International Sociological Association (ISA) World Congress of Sociology – Power, Violence and Justice: Reflections, Responses and Responsibilities. RC15 Sociology of Health – Sociology, Theory and Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Toronto, Canada, July 15-21.
• Almeida, J., (2018) Towards the glocalisation of complementary and alternative medicine: homeopathy, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine practice and regulation in Brazil and Portugal. Negotiating the boundaries of ‘legitimate healthcare’: Regulation, normativities and the social order in of alternative and traditional healing. Kent Law School, University of Kent, November 8-9. Invited Speaker.
• Almeida, J. (2017) Statutory regulation of traditional and complementary medicine professionals – the case of Portugal. World Congress on Integrative Medicine & Health. Statutory Regulation and Complementary Medicine Professionals: Operationalizing the World Health Organisation Guidelines. Berlin, Germany, May 3-5. Panel discussion: Invited Panellist.

Radio Interviews

• Almeida, J. and Sharples, A. (2022) The Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) and Foot Health. In The Foot Health Show, The UK Health Radio, with presenter Jonathan Broklehurst, 24^thof November. The Foot Health Show « UK Health Radio

PhD supervision

• PhD Mohammed Rahman ‘Exploring the intersecting factors that affect men’s health seeking behaviour for mental health’. University of Bedfordshire Research Graduate School, Institute of Health Research. Co-supervisor. 2023-
• (DProf) Systemic Practice student Kate Meredith. Stories of Relationship Change, as told by Parents of Children with Eating Disorders: A Narrative Inquiry. University of Bedfordshire Research Graduate School, Institute of Applied Social Research. Co-supervisor. 2022-

I am always eager to take on PhD supervision for the following research topics:

1. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies practice and use; CAM professionals/practitioners;
2. Regulation of health professions; allied health professions and professionals; professional change and professional relationships; emerging health professions; social policy;
3. Polypharmacy, deprescribing and social prescribing; addictive consumption of prescription drugs/medicines; health promotion;
4. Chronic illness/disorders, chronic pain, mental health, wellbeing; health inequalities, social determinants of health;
5. Qualitative research methods, semi-structured/unstructured interviews, ethnography, participant observation, focus groups, grounded-theory, general thematic analysis, discourse analysis, literature reviews;

Contact Details

University of Bedfordshire School of Applied Social Sciences
Room T0.05
Polhill Avenue
Bedford
MK41 9EA

T: +44 (0)1582 743 741
E: Joana.Almeida@beds.ac.uk