Meet Joanne Woodford, Assistant Senior Lecturer

As a researcher in U-CARE, Joanne carries out a variety of different tasks. She is the principal investigator for a number of different research projects, meaning that she is responsible for both the design and the conduct of these studies, alongside by collaborators.

– My job also includes teaching and building further collaborations – both internal and external ones, Joanne explains. I am also lucky to supervise a number of very talented PhD students and research assistants – a task that I very much enjoy.

Joanne’s primary research interest is family mental health. For the moment, she is working on several projects in this area. The overarching goal of them is to develop psychological support for informal caregivers: people who are in some sort of informal caregiving role to a loved one diagnosed with a physical illness. Much of Joanne’s research focuses on the mental health of family members of patients suffering from dementia. She also conducts research concerning the mental health of parents.

Joanne is originally from the United Kingdom and completed her doctoral degree in psychology at Exeter University in 2015. She continued her career in psychology as a postdoctoral researcher at the same university. She started her current position as a researcher in U-CARE in 2017. By then, she had collaborated with the U-CARE group for several years:

I used to be a member of the U-CARE Advisory Board, so I had a regular contact with U-CARE. I had also worked on a number of different research projects with Louise von Essen, Joanne explains.

When Joanne is not busy doing research, she enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors.

– I like nature a lot, so Sweden is good for me, she says with a smile. I also love going out with my boat – perhaps to fish or just to find another beautiful spot to explore.

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