Biography
Dr Barbara McNamara joined the BSc (Hons) Health, Wellbeing and Social Care course team at the University of Bradford in 2014. Prior to a career in academia Dr McNamara was a qualified chef and has obtained a vast amount of experience from working in the catering industry, which includes teaching parents/communities how to cook healthy meals on a budget and provide nutritional advice.Barbara has worked as a lecturer in higher education since obtaining a BA (Hons) in Sociology and Social Policy in 2006 and an MA in Research methods in 2007 at the University of Liverpool. In 2012 Dr McNamara completed her PhD at the University of Liverpool and her thesis (from a Feminist Foucauldian stance) explored women’s experiences of self/body and identity work in Commercial Weight- loss organisations.Whilst undertaking this study Dr McNamara was also involved in several high profile research projects such as, evaluating The Women’s Conditional Cautioning Scheme and Together Women’s Centre in Liverpool, Leeds and Bradford for the Home Office; evaluating Disabled service users’ needs/ experiences of Pilot Direct Payments policy for Liverpool City Council and was a research assistant for a longitudinal study entitled The Nuts and Bolts Project which explored The Critical Success Factors of CVS Infrastructure for St Helens CVS. During this time Dr McNamara held the position of Assistant Director of Knowledge Exchange Unit at the School of Sociology and Social Policy (University of Liverpool) and was involved in creating networks of contacts from public, private, non for profit and third sectors and helped write KE led research bids with Executive Director Professor Jason L. Powell.In 2013-2014 Dr McNamara held the position of researcher at the Institute of Psychology, Health and Society at the University of Liverpool and in conjunction with Mersey Care was part of a team evaluating the ‘Keeping Me Safe and Well Risk Assessment Tool’ for people with learning disabilities. Through working collaboratively with community groups to address the many issues that impact on the health and wellbeing of groups deemed as vulnerable, Dr McNamara has become passionate about community engagement and collaborative decision making including service user involvement and co-production. Dr McNamara feels that these skills and experiences have been well utilised as a lecturer on the Health wellbeing and Social Care Programme.Since joining the University of Bradford Dr McNamara has continued to disseminate work from her PhD and in collaboration with Dr Leanne Rimmer and the Metropolitan Food Bank in Bradford, Dr McNamara has also been involved in conducting research into Food Bank provision and its usage (This is an ongoing project). Additionally as Editor for a journal entitled: Illness Crisis and Loss, Dr McNamara has peer reviewed manuscripts and is currently working on several articles for publication.Dr Barbara McNamara joined the BSc (Hons) Health, Wellbeing and Social Care course team at the University of Bradford in 2014. Prior to a career in academia Dr McNamara was a qualified chef and has obtained a vast amount of experience from working in the catering industry, which includes teaching parents/communities how to cook healthy meals on a budget and provide nutritional advice.Barbara has worked as a lecturer in higher education since obtaining a BA (Hons) in Sociology and Social Policy in 2006 and an MA in Research methods in 2007 at the University of Liverpool. In 2012 Dr McNamara completed her PhD at the University of Liverpool and her thesis (from a Feminist Foucauldian stance) explored women’s experiences of self/body and identity work in Commercial Weight- loss organisations.Whilst undertaking this study Dr McNamara was also involved in several high profile research projects such as, evaluating The Women’s Conditional Cautioning Scheme and Together Women’s Centre in Liverpool, Leeds and Bradford for the Home Office; evaluating Disabled service users’ needs/ experiences of Pilot Direct Payments policy for Liverpool City Council and was a research assistant for a longitudinal study entitled The Nuts and Bolts Project which explored The Critical Success Factors of CVS Infrastructure for St Helens CVS. During this time Dr McNamara held the position of Assistant Director of Knowledge Exchange Unit at the School of Sociology and Social Policy (University of Liverpool) and was involved in creating networks of contacts from public, private, non for profit and third sectors and helped write KE led research bids with Executive Director Professor Jason L. Powell.In 2013-2014 Dr McNamara held the position of researcher at the Institute of Psychology, Health and Society at the University of Liverpool and in conjunction with Mersey Care was part of a team evaluating the ‘Keeping Me Safe and Well Risk Assessment Tool’ for people with learning disabilities. Through working collaboratively with community groups to address the many issues that impact on the health and wellbeing of groups deemed as vulnerable, Dr McNamara has become passionate about community engagement and collaborative decision making including service user involvement and co-production. Dr McNamara feels that these skills and experiences have been well utilised as a lecturer on the Health wellbeing and Social Care Programme.Since joining the University of Bradford Dr McNamara has continued to disseminate work from her PhD and in collaboration with Dr Leanne Rimmer and the Metropolitan Food Bank in Bradford, Dr McNamara has also been involved in conducting research into Food Bank provision and its usage (This is an ongoing project). Additionally as Editor for a journal entitled: Illness Crisis and Loss, Dr McNamara has peer reviewed manuscripts and is currently working on several articles for publication.
