Dr Lauren White

BA (Hons), MA, PhD, SFHEA

School of Education

Lecturer in Social Research Methods

EDU - Lauren White profile
Profile picture of EDU - Lauren White profile
l.e.white@sheffield.ac.uk
Floor 2, The Wave

Full contact details

Dr Lauren White
School of Education
Floor 2
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
Profile
Understanding how health, illness & disability are experienced in everyday life - Meet Dr Lauren White

Lauren joined the Sheffield Methods Institute in January 2023 as a Lecturer in Social Research Methods, having previously worked as a researcher in  and the School of Education at the University of Sheffield. Lauren is an active member of the , and the team. 

Lauren has a background in sociology, but her research is often interdisciplinary in nature. Her research focuses on the everyday experiences of health, illness and disability, utilising creative and participatory methods to explore these with communities. She is particularly interested in creative, affirmative and co-produced research, doing meaningful public engagement and knowledge exchange. She also cares about bringing research and teaching together. This is demonstrated most recently through the ‘’ project. Historically, Lauren won the national ESRC writing prize ‘Making Sense of Society’ for communicating her doctoral research to broader audiences and received a follow-on ESRC postdoctoral research fellowship to develop this work. In 2022, Lauren was awarded the Mildred Blaxter New Writer’s Award in the journal, Sociology of Health and Illness.

At present, Lauren is working on a number of projects around disability, anti-ableism, inclusive research methods and inclusive events. She is also focused on affirmative, joyful and ethical ways of doing social research and learning environments. 

Research interests

My research falls into the following areas:

  • Creative and participatory qualitative research methods 
  • Sociology of Health and Illness
  • Critical Disability Studies 
  • Sociology of Everyday Life 
  • Mobilities 
  • Materialities

Research Projects:

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Publications

Show: Featured publications All publications

Journal articles

  • White L, Buxton A, Liddiard K, Goodley D, Qarni S, Jansen E, Gordon H & Gillard S (2025) . Journal of Disability Studies in Education.
  • Jones C, White L, Slater J & Pluquailec J (2024) . Sociology, 58(2), 471-488.
  • Rutter S, Madden A & White L (2023) . BMC Public Health, 23.
  • Thomas GM & White L (2023) . Space and Culture, 26(3), 296-308.
  • White L (2023) . Sociology, 57(4), 904-920.
  • White L (2023) . Sociology of Health and Illness, 45(6), 1259-1275.
  • White L (2023) . Qualitative Research, 23(3), 632-650.
  • White L (2021) . Social & Cultural Geography, 24(5), 851-869.
  • White L (2020) . Qualitative Research, 20(1), 121-123.

Book chapters

  • White L, Carter A & Davies K (2024) Composite narratives, developing characters: a method of creative data analysis in developing public engagement artefacts In Kara H, Mannay D & Roy A (Ed.), The Handbook of Creative Data Analysis (pp. 235-247). Policy Press

Exhibitions

  • White L (2021, November 1) Everyday life with irritable bowel syndrome. University of Sheffield.

Digital content

  • White L & Carter A (2021) .
  • White L Towards joyful ways of learning.
  • White L, Goodley D & Buxton A 'Do you need a designer?' Centring co-researchers as designers and makers from Reimagining TAS with DYP.
  • White L, Liddiard K & Goodley D On building trust: Co-producing what it means to be trustworthy.
  • White L Bumble Bees and Creativities: Methodological Musings on the Methods for Change Showcase Event.
  • White L & Davies K Our lockdown walks: Physically, but not socially, distanced walking as method.

Preprints

  • White L, Picardi C, Paterson C, Towsend B, Wang J, Buxton A, Hallam-Bowles S, Liddiard K, Law J, Calinescu R & Goodley D (2023) , Center for Open Science.

All publications

Journal articles

  • White L, Buxton A, Liddiard K, Goodley D, Qarni S, Jansen E, Gordon H & Gillard S (2025) . Journal of Disability Studies in Education.
  • Jones C, White L, Slater J & Pluquailec J (2024) . Sociology, 58(2), 471-488.
  • Rutter S, Madden A & White L (2023) . BMC Public Health, 23.
  • Thomas GM & White L (2023) . Space and Culture, 26(3), 296-308.
  • White L (2023) . Sociology, 57(4), 904-920.
  • White L (2023) . Sociology of Health and Illness, 45(6), 1259-1275.
  • White L (2023) . Qualitative Research, 23(3), 632-650.
  • White L (2021) . Social & Cultural Geography, 24(5), 851-869.
  • White L (2020) . Qualitative Research, 20(1), 121-123.

Book chapters

  • White L, Carter A & Davies K (2024) Composite narratives, developing characters: a method of creative data analysis in developing public engagement artefacts In Kara H, Mannay D & Roy A (Ed.), The Handbook of Creative Data Analysis (pp. 235-247). Policy Press
  • White L, Carter A & Davies K (2024) , The Handbook of Creative Data Analysis (pp. 227-239). Policy Press

Exhibitions

  • White L (2021, November 1) Everyday life with irritable bowel syndrome. University of Sheffield.

Digital content

  • White L & Carter A (2021) .
  • Jones D & White L Revisiting access and inclusion in research methods.
  • Jones D, White L, Mishra A, dew L, gauthier-marmaril E, Soorenian A, Kill C, Evans H, Lee C & Phillips S Imagining the anti-ableist university.
  • White L Knowledge equity: a framework for critical reflection.
  • Mishra A, White L & Liddiard K Participatory research poses challenges to postgraduate researchers – here’s how we’re tackling the issue.
  • White L Towards joyful ways of learning.
  • White L, Goodley D & Buxton A 'Do you need a designer?' Centring co-researchers as designers and makers from Reimagining TAS with DYP.
  • White L, Liddiard K & Goodley D On building trust: Co-producing what it means to be trustworthy.
  • White L & Goodley D Reimagining Trustworthy Autonomous Systems with Disabled Young People: Our Project Launch!.
  • White L Bumble Bees and Creativities: Methodological Musings on the Methods for Change Showcase Event.
  • White L & Davies K Our lockdown walks: Physically, but not socially, distanced walking as method.

Preprints

  • White L, Picardi C, Paterson C, Towsend B, Wang J, Buxton A, Hallam-Bowles S, Liddiard K, Law J, Calinescu R & Goodley D (2023) , Center for Open Science.
Teaching interests

Lauren has previously taught on a variety of sociological modules and qualitative methods modules. She has also supervised BA and MA dissertations on a diversity of sociological topics.