Katherine is an applied sociologist and qualitative methodologist who works with the health sector. She uses participatory, qualitative, and visual research methodologies with research participants, health professionals, patients, and care-givers to examine and transform how health services are experienced and delivered. Her particular areas of interest include the sociology of reproduction and motherhood, perinatal medicine, and lactation sciences.  

Katherine has a BA and PhD in Sociology, and a Bachelor of Physiotherapy. Her twin experiences of working as a sociologist and women’s health physiotherapist provide her with unique insights into conducting applied sociological research in health service provision.

Katherine has helped pioneer the Video Reflexive Ethnography (VRE) methodology in Australian and American hospitals. She has worked in collaborative research partnerships with health professionals in the high-technology, ethically charged spaces of the neonatal intensive care unit, adult intensive care, surgery, surgical pathology, and the emergency department. She has published extensively on the methodology, including two co-authored books, Visualising Health Care Practice Improvement (2013, Radcliffe) and Video-Reflexive Ethnography in Health Research and Healthcare Improvement: Theory and Application (2019, Taylor and Francis). 

Ph.D. (Sociology); BA(Hons); BPhysiotherapy

• Sociological, interdisciplinary and feminist study of reproductive tissue banking and donation, particularly breastmilk and human eggs.

• Doing sociology with medicine in applied research settings to understanding the practices and experiences of healthcare delivery in complex, high-technology settings. 

• Qualitative and collaborative research methods including video reflexive ethnography, photo elicitation interviewing and hospital ethnography.