Contact
Biography
My research uses participatory and arts-based methods to investigate how health inequities are produced contextually and spatially, while seeking to identify and disrupt them. I am particularly interested in how taken-for-granted -- and often unquestioned -- features of our day-to-day environments become implicated in the production of health outcomes, behaviours, and inequities. Grounded in a critical health geography perspective, my research is highly interdisciplinary and fits largely into two streams: (1) gendered inequities in sport and physical activity, and (2) socio-environmental influences on young people's health.
Gendered inequities in sport and physical activity: The overarching question I address in this strand of my research is: How do environments contribute to the 'gendering' of physical activity? I have theorized and empirically investigated this question through what I frame as critical geographies of physical activity - an approach that foregrounds concern with the socio-spatial processes and power structures that support and exclude people in being active and engaging with physical activity spaces. My objective is to identify ways to make physical activity environments more inclusive and thereby promote access for diverse populations.
My current collaborative research extends this work to consider how gendered exposures over the lifecourse contribute to women's elevated risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury - a type of knee injury that can have significant long-term implications for how women engage with sport and physical activity. Articulating a biosocial perspective, our gendered environmental approach conceptualises how social factors bear out materially on the body to shape the gendered risks of injury.
I presently hold a British Academy Innovation Fellowship to work in partnership with the UK Sports Institute (formally the English Institute of Sport) on our project entitled, Levelling the playing field: social innovations for addressing gendered inequities in sports injury.
Socio-environmental influences on young people's health: Building on my postdoctoral work where I collaborated with a group of teens for almost a year to develop and launch a Youth Advisory Council at Western University's Human Environments Analysis Laboratory (see Arunkumar et al., 2019), I am co-Principal Investigator on a $100,000CAD grant (funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) exploring the contexts of teen vaping, entitled "Teens talk vaping: A qualitative integrated knowledge translation study to co-produce vaping research and educational tools with teens." With Prof. Jason Gilliland, I am leading a multidisciplinary team of co-investigators and community partners in London, Ontario (including Middlesex-London Health Unit, Southwestern Public Health, London Health Sciences Centre, and the London District Catholic School Board) to generate much-needed evidence on teenage vaping to ensure that research and educational resources resonate with them. This project takes a fully integrated knowledge translation approach in that the project itself is a response to the urgent priority the Youth Advisory Council identified in relation to vaping and 7 teens are part of the project team as co-researchers. See media release here.
Other areas of interest: I also have an interest in qualitative and creative methods as a substantive research area, particularly in relation to questions of rigour and empirically evaluating potentially innovative techniques. Cross-cutting my various research interests is my commitment to making research more useful and applicable in the real-world so that it can be used as an instrument for positive change. Part of this work involves my collaboration on multidisciplinary initiatives, including the Sex/Gender Methods Group, to understand how sex and gender shape the very production of health research knowledge and to develop tools to better integrate sex and gender considerations in health research practice.
I completed my BA Honours (2004) and MA (2006) in geography at McGill University (Canada) with Prof Nancy Ross & Prof Sarah Turner. I then gained experience as a Research Manager and a Knowledge Translation Manager in multidisciplinary health research environments before pursing my PhD (2017) in geography at Queen's University (Canada) with Prof Mark Rosenberg & Dr Joyce Davidson. I undertook postdoctoral training at the Human Environments Analysis Laboratory (HEAL) in the Department of Geography at Western University (Canada) with Prof Jason Gilliland. My PhD and Postdoctoral Fellowship were supported by awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Click here for my ORCID page.
My pronouns are she/her/hers.
Teaching Summary
I contribute to the following undergraduate modules:
- Exploring Human Geography (Year 1)
- Tutorials (Year 1)
- Careers Skills in Human Geography (Year 1, module convenor)
- Research Tutorial (Year 2)
- Dissertation Preparation (Year 2)
- Dissertation (Year 3)
- Health Geographies (Year 3, co-convenor)
Postgraduate supervision:
I'm open to supervising master's and PhD students across a range of critical health geographies topics using qualitative methodologies (especially participatory approaches and creative/arts-based methods). If you are interested in discussing potential supervision with me, please feel welcome to contact me via email.
Current postgraduate students:
- Gabrielle Guy, PhD Year 2 (Geography, UoN), Thesis title: "Dry leaf don't rot same time it falls": Wellbeing in contemporary Tobagonian family food practices. (Lead Supervisor)
- Shawna Lewkowitz, PhD Year 2 (Geography, Western University, Canada), Thesis title: A Place to Pee: Examining Gendered Experiences of Public Spaces through the Lens of Public Toilets. (Thesis Advisory Committee Member & Comprehensive Exam Committee Member)
- Gráinne Fay, PhD Year 1 (Geography, UoN), Thesis title: 'A matter of life and breath: How do occupational health hazards contribute to women's respiratory ill-health in Cambodia's garment industry?' (Co-Supervisor with Sabina Lawreniuk)
Completed postgraduate students:
- Harriet Cameron, PhD (Computer Science, 2023), Thesis title: Outdata-ed Museums: Creating Ethical and Transparent Data Collection Processes in Museums. Part of the Horizon CDT and supported by the EPSRC [grant number EP/L015463/1] and the Nottingham Contemporary. (Co-Supervisor)
Research Summary
Co-Principal Investigator. (2023-2027). E-Prevention and Vaping (EPAV): Mobilizing youth-generated evidence to co-produce a digital e-cigarette intervention. Canadian Institutes of Health Research… read more
Recent Publications
COEN, S. E., NELSON FERGUSON, K., TOBIN, D., BURKE, S., DELA CRUZ, T-J. E., GIRUM, L., GUISANDES BUENO, G. I., HAINES-SAAH, R., IWAS, T., KANDLAKUTI, B., MANJI, A., MEGARAJAH, P., SOTO CANALES, R., SPENCER, T., & GILLILAND, J. A., 2023. Teens talk vaping: A co-produced participatory study exploring teens’ reflections on vaping experiences and exposures in their everyday environments SSM - Qualitative Research in Health. PARSONS, J. L., COEN SE and BEKKER, S., 2021. Anterior cruciate ligament injury: towards a gendered environmental approach British Journal of Sports Medicine. (In Press.)
MEDEIROS, A, BUTTAZZONI, A, COEN SE, CLARK, AF, WILSON, K and GILLILAND, J, 2021. Review of gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnic background considerations reported in active school travel intervention studies Journal of Transport & Health.