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To book a place please email events@imroc.org with “Lived experience research” in the subject line.
As part of our Demystifying Research programme, this mini-series shines a light on lived experience research - research undertaken by people who bring both skills as researchers and personal insight to their studies in the fields of mental health, recovery, and system change.
Emma Watson, programme lead for research at Imroc, and a lived experience researcher, will take us through some reflections from undertaking her PhD. While there is no single ‘right’ way to be a lived experience researcher, Emma will explore some of the methods and philosophical underpinnings that align with survivor research. She will share her experience of being an ‘insider researcher’, having a shared identity with the people who participated in her research interviews. Reflecting on how this benefitted her research, as well as where it presented challenges. Emma’s experience of survivor research gave her a fresh perspective on ethics in research, and she will explore some of the more nuanced ethical considerations that lived experience researchers often have to think through.
What to Expect:
Emma will:
Explore some of the schools of philosophy which might support a lived experience research approach
Explore some of the challenges and opportunities that come with being a lived experience researcher
Share some reflections on the ethics of lived experience research
Draw on her experience of completing a PhD in peer support in the NHS, where her colleagues and peers became ‘participants’
There will be time for questions and discussion throughout the webinar.
Key takeaways and benefits of attending:
A chance to reflect on lived experience research with a group of like-minded people
Explore ‘methodology’ and philosophy of research in accessible ways
Unpack ethics beyond the basic requirements for ethical research
Contribute to discussions where there are no foregone conclusions and no wrong answers
Speakers and Facilitators
Emma Watson - Speaker
Emma Watson is the programme lead at Imroc for Research, Evaluation, Publications and Development, and was the Peer Support Lead at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. As Peer Support Lead, she led the strategic introduction of peer support workers into a range of clinical services, establishing training and supervision processes to support this development. Prior to this, Emma worked in a number of peer roles, including peer support worker, peer supervisor, peer trainer and peer researcher. Emma was among the first peer workers to be employed in Nottingham NHS Trust in 2010; an experience which transformed her own recovery, as well as her understanding of the power of lived experience.
As a programme lead at Imroc, Emma aspires to centre lived experience perspectives in research and publications, and offer accessible, creative ways for knowledge to be developed and shared. She is leading on the development of an MSc in Lived Experience Leadership as well as overseeing Imroc’s research and evaluation projects. Emma's commitment to advancing peer support is further demonstrated through her extensive research publications. She has authored numerous articles, as well as co-authoring the book "Peer Support in Mental Health," which provides an in-depth exploration of peer support concepts and practices. Her PhD explored peer support in the context of an NHS service, especially how this context changes or constrains peer support, and how individual peer workers resist this process.
Katie Mottram - Facilitator
Katie Mottram is a Consultant with Imroc’s Research, Evaluations, Publications and Development team and leading on a pilot project ‘Tending Distress’, which aims to bring somatic practice into clinical settings to support mental health workers with their own nervous system regulation. Having worked in various mental health settings over the last 25 years, she has long been a vocal advocate for reimagining mental health crises as opportunities for transformation. In 2017, inspired by her own lived experience of suicidality and subsequent personal transformation, Katie founded the international campaign 'Emerging Proud.' This initiative amplifies stories of individuals who view their crises as catalysts for growth. Her 2024 heuristic research, Is There Meaning in Madness?, aims to bring transpersonal approaches into mainstream mental health care, seeking to liberate individuals from pathologisation and usher in a more holistic, human-centered approach to healing.
Katie is currently also part of the Community Research Team for an NIHR funded study on 'Exploring the Soteria approach as an alternative to psychiatric inpatient treatment in the UK'.