Hannah Lewis, BA(Hons) MSc MRes

Profile

• I am a Postdoctoral Fellow funded by the NIHR Three Schoole Prevention Programme, where I am currently exploring local and national implementation of government recommended eating disorder prevention programmes, particularly through an equalities lens. This work involves conducting a pilot trial of The South Asian Body Project in East London schools and collaborating with NHS England to establish a national Community of Practice. 

Prior to this, I was a LISS-DTP funded PhD student (2019 - 2024) at the Unit of Psychological Medicine at the Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health. Here, I have previously completed an MSc in Cultural and Global Perspectives in Mental Health Care (2017), and an MRes in Psychological Therapies (2019). My PhD project, which was been adopted by the NIHR North Thames Applied Research Collaboration, builds on my research in body dissatisfaction prevention, cultural inclusivity and co-production to co-design a cultural adaptation of ‘The Body Project’ – a body dissatisfaction prevention programme with the most robust evidence base in the field. My PhD explores the implementation of ‘The Body Project’ in the UK, specifically looking at how to culturally adapt the intervention to be inclusive of ethnic minority groups such as South Asian women and girls. 

During my PhD, I undertook a 3-month secondment as a UKRI Policy Fellow where she supported the Health and Social Care Committee’s inquiries into body image and children and young people’s mental health. Other research interests and publications include, but are not limited to: the conceptualisation, risk factors, and prevention targets of ‘body image disorders’ such as eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder, the involvement of people with lived-experience in and the co-production of body image interventions, the experiences of body image disorders across LGBTQIA+ groups, especially transgender and non-binary individuals, culturally-specific risk and protectors factors in the development of body dissatisfaction among South Asian adolescent girls, and barriers and facilitators in accessing eating disorder services. I have worked in a senior role for a national mental health charity across numerous research, policy and practice areas, where I consult on policy areas and facilitate qualitative research. I led on a number of key areas, including: children and young people’s mental health; co-production; early intervention in psychosis (EIP) services; and physical health inequalities among people with a ‘severe mental illness’ (SMI)

I am also an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and enjoy being part of the teaching team for the MSc Mental Health programme, where I currently support the distance learning cohort."

Supervisors: Dr Sania Shakoor, Professor Dennis Ougrin, Professor Tasmin Ford (University of Cambridge)

Teaching

1. I supervise projects on the MSc Eating Disorders and Clinical Nutrition course at UCL. 
2. Distance Learning Rep for MSc Psychological Therapies and MSc Cultural Psychology and Psychiatry at QMUL

Research

Publications

• The pressure to be ‘Fair and Lovely’: Exploring the contributing factors to body dissatisfaction and disordered eating among South Asian women and girls in the UK - ScienceDirect
• Cultural differences in eating disorders with particular emphasis on British South Asian communities | CEPiP.org
• LGBT sexuality and gender minority experiences of minority stress: a comparison of models and theories | Quality & Quantity

Lewis, H.K., and Foye, U. (2022),  "From prevention to peer support: a systematic review exploring the involvement of lived-experience in eating disorder interventions", Mental Health Review Journal, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 1-17. 

Lewis, H. 2019. Healthy weight management for people living with a mental illness’. Mental Health Nursing Journal – Physical health special issue. Aug/Sept 2019.  

Book chapters

Lewis, Hannah. 2022. ‘Fitness practitioners overcoming of self-objectification: The problem with legs, bums and tums’ In: The Routledge Handbook of Gender Politics in Sport and Physical Activity. Publisher: Routledge International

Lewis, Hannah. 2022. ‘Experiencing eating and body image difficulties in the context of higher education: challenges and potential solutions. In: The Practical Handbook of Eating Difficulties. Publisher: Pavillion

Lewis, Hannah. 2022. ‘Disclosure and reasonable adjustments in the workplace’ In: The Practical Handbook of Eating Difficulties. Publisher: Pavillion