Dr Pamela Louise Graham

Assistant Professor

Department: Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing

Pam is an Assistant Professor in Community Wellbeing with particular interests in child and adolescent development; inequalities; and wellbeing. Her research focuses broadly on factors that influence health and wellbeing in educational and community settings, with recent projects focusing on school attendance; school exclusion; community perspectives on local health and wellbeing; and substance misuse support for military veterans.

Pam has expertise in a range of quantitative and qualitative research approaches including surveys, observational methods, focus groups and interviews. She also has an interest in public involvement and engagement. She is currently Public Involvement and Engagement lead for Fuse: The Centre for Translational Research in Public Health and is co-chair for the Fuse Public Involvement and Engagement Group.

Across the Department of Social Work, Education & Community Wellbeing, Pam supervises undergraduate and postgraduate research students in Health & Social Care; Childhood & Early Years Studies; Social Work; and Public Health. She also leads Dissertation Project (level 6), Inequalities and Social Justice (level 4) and Learning at University (level 4) modules, and teaches quantitative research methods in Health and Social Care, Guidance and Counselling, and Social Work. Additionally, Pam is a member of the University’s Ethics College of Reviewers.

Pam is a Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of Advance HE and an Associate Editor for the journal ‘Public Health Nutrition’.

Prior to her PhD, Pam spent time working within primary and secondary education taking on Learning Support and Social Inclusion roles. She also spent time as a children’s mentor in the voluntary sector.

Email Pamela Louise

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Inequalities

Child and Adolescent Development

Health and Wellbeing

Food Insecurity

Poverty

School Attendance, Absence and Exclusion

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Pathways to a Brighter Hartlepool: What Really Matters to People?, Bestford, T., Dalton, C., Garlick, R., Graham, P., Guy, C., Hackett, K., Hall-Jones, B., Herrington, T., Lee, R., McCluskey, S., Penton, J., Simons, J. Feb 2024
Practitioner perspectives on child feeding in Uganda: community engagement through the Global Agenda, McBride, A., Graham, P., Mugyisha, A., McInnes, A. 14 Mar 2024, In: Practice
School Meals from the Perspectives of Children Aged 9-11 in Cardiff, Wales, Dalton, C., Graham, P., Lee, R. 17 Jan 2024, Interdisciplinary Research Themes Showcase 2024
Staff reflections on supporting students experiencing financial hardship, Graham, P., Hayman, R., Shotton, L., Goodall, A. 5 Jun 2024, NU EDI Conference 2024
‘Teachers Need to Understand the Position that They Have’: Discussing Poverty in Diverse Classes, Graham, P., Fisher, N., Dalton, C., Lee, R. 5 Feb 2024, Developing and Implementing Teaching in Sensitive Subject and Topic Areas , Leeds, Emerald
The Beautiful Game Bringing Families Together: Children’s and Parents’ Experiences of a Family Football Programme, Fothergill, M., Gill, G., Graham, P. 1 Feb 2024, In: Health Promotion International
Food bank practices, local development and the potential of community wealth building and universal basic services in the UK, Lee, R., Graham, P., Croft, E., Hackett, K. 2023, In: Local Economy
Food insecurity, poor dietary intake and a lack of free meal uptake amongst 16–17-year-old college students in the northeast of England, UK, Graham, P., Haskell-Ramsey, C., Fothergill, M., Young, J. 1 May 2023, In: Children and Society
Identifying the exclusions within academic literature regarding free school meal practices and policies: A scoping review, Dalton, C., Graham, P., Lee, R. 24 Aug 2023, In: Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health
Identifying the Exclusions Within Academic Literature Regarding Free School Meal Practices and Policies: A Scoping Review, Dalton, C., Graham, P., Lee, R., Stack, S., Elliott, S. 29 Mar 2023, Open Research and Reproducibility Conference 2023

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Summer Holiday Project, Defeyter, G. (Principal Investigator), Graham, P. (Co Investigator), Big Lottery Fund, 01/05/17 - 31/03/18, £70,000.00
Training for school cooks, Defeyter, G. (Principal Investigator), Graham, P. (Co Investigator), Hartlepool Borough Council, 01/11/15 - 30/04/16, £3,500.00
Breakfast Club Training Sept 2015 academic year, Defeyter, G. (Principal Investigator), Graham, P. (Co Investigator), Kelloggs, 01/09/15 - 31/07/16, £33,495.00
HEIF - Examining the impact of summer breakfast clubs on health, social and educational outcomes for children in the UK, Defeyter, G. (Principal Investigator), Graham, P. (Co Investigator), Kelloggs, 15/06/14 - 14/06/15, £17,704.00
Examining the impact of school breakfast provision on Health, Well being and educational engagement in a sample of schools in Blackpool, Defeyter, G. (Principal Investigator), Graham, P. (Co Investigator), Blackpool Council, 01/04/13 - 31/05/13, £18,068.00

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Invited talk: The challenges of poverty and food insecurity in school and community settings in the UK 2023
Oral presentation: Food security and adolescent mental health 2022
Oral presentation: Mental Health Support for Girls in Alternative Education 2022
Oral presentation: Food insecurity and poor food habits amongst college students in the North East of England 2020
Publication Peer-review: Journal of Public Health (Journal) 2020
Publication Peer-review: Appetite (Journal) 2019
Oral presentation: "Because we are coming here, it's making my life easier" Children's views on what difference holiday clubs make to them 2018
Invited talk: School's Out, What Now? The importance of holiday clubs for children and families in the UK 2018
Invited talk: School Food Standards: Not Just for Lunch 2017
Oral presentation: A NEET Solution? Addressing issues of Social Justice through an education project for marginalised youth delivered through Premiership Rugby Clubs 2017

PGR Supervision

Connie Dalton An investigation of the policies that exclude children and young people from accessing free school meals: discourses, policies, and stakeholder experiences Start Date: 01/10/2021
Diego Melo Understanding Persistent School Absenteeism Through Students’, Parents’, and Educators’ Lived Experiences. Start Date: 01/10/2023

Qualifications

Psychology PhD April 23 2015
Psychology BSc (Hons) September 01 2005

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