Dr Petra Makela

Assistant Professor

School: Communities and Education

I am a social scientist with clinical training. I draw on sociology of health and illness, and implementation science. I have experience in theory-guided evaluations, interactions between evidence, policy and practice, and co-productive approaches to research. These interests developed through my service improvement activities as a rehabilitation physician in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. In 2019, I completed a Professional Doctorate alongside my clinical work, addressing a policy and practice gap in conceptualisations of support for self-management. Since my transition into academia, I have held posts at the at the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine before moving to Northumbria University as a Vice Chancellor's Fellow in Community Wellbeing, in 2024.

I work clinically with the NGO Medical Justice, and I am a member of the Royal College of Psychiatry Working Group on the Health of Asylum Seekers and Refugees. My research interests encompass health and wellbeing of sanctuary seekers, using participatory approaches.

I am an editorial board member with Sociological Research Online.

Email Petra

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My research interests encompass:

Health and social care integration, including workforce development
Complex intervention development, implementation and evaluation
The lived experience of people who draw on care and support
Trauma-informed approaches for forced migrants
Knowledge mobilisation, particularly through academic-policy engagement.

I am interested in discussing PhD or Prof Doc supervision in these (or related) areas with potential applicants.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
The Identity Work of Torture Scars, Mäkelä, P. 1 Sep 2025, In: Sociological Research Online
A modified action framework to develop and evaluate academic-policy engagement interventions, Mäkelä, P., Boaz, A., Oliver, K. 1 Dec 2024, In: Implementation Science
Coproducing a film resource for asylum seekers in the UK—A field reflection, Mäkelä, P., Given-Wilson, Z., Al Berkdar, K., Aljumma, Z., Mostafanejad, R. 1 Jun 2024, In: Journal of Refugee Studies
Factors influencing the implementation of early discharge hospital at home and admission avoidance hospital at home: a qualitative evidence synthesis, Wallis, J., Shepperd, S., Mäkelä, P., Xi, H., Tripp, E., Gearon, E., Disher, G., Buchbinder, R., O'Connor, D. 5 Mar 2024, In: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews