My research interests lie broadly in understanding the interface between marginalised individuals, their particular life circumstances, and the broader societal, institutional, and organisational structures which aim to support them.  

My research has focused on how trust and engagement develop in relationships between people, often with multiple and complex needs, and the organisations that aim to meet those needs. It has highlighted how the fragmentation of service provision often fails to acknowledge the complexity of people's lives and the various drivers to their decision making.

Place based approaches to health and wellbeing recognise that we need to move beyond treatment of disease or the cause of disease to address the wider social determinants of health, to consider the impact of psychosocial factors and to understand the interplay between factors within complex social systems. Drawing on a wide range of models from psychology and sociology, I have used substantive theory, such as relationalism and intersectionality, to provide explanations of social and health practices which transcend the agency-structure divide.

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• Blurring the boundaries between synthesis and evaluation. A customized realist evaluative synthesis into adolescent risk behavior prevention, Cooper, C., Lhussier, M., Carr, S. 1 May 2020, In: Research Synthesis Methods
• Protocol for a realist review of complex interventions to prevent adolescents from engaging in multiple risk behaviours, Cooper, C., Lhussier, M., Shucksmith, J., Carr, S. 1 Sep 2017, In: BMJ Open
• Operationalisation of realist synthesis as a PhD student; what works, for whom, and in what circumstances?, Somervile, S., Cooper, C., Wilmot, S., Dalkin, S., Lhussier, M. 3 Oct 2016, Centre for the Advancement of Realist Evaluation and Synthesis (CARES) 2016
• Natural variation in both position coding and visual attention affects visual word recognition, Lavis, R., Cooper, C., Cornelissen, P. 2000, In: Perception

Robin Hyde Exploring the impact of the Advanced Paediatric Nurse Practitioner role within the hospital setting: a realist evaluation Start Date: 01/10/2020

Philosophy PhD October 10 2018