Staff profile

Biography

I came to Durham in 2014 as an Assistant Professor of Sociology. Prior to this, I read BA Sociology at the University of Warwick (2005-2008, first class) and then spent several years at the University of York, first reading MA Social Research Methods (2008-2009, Distinction), then doing my PhD on the development of pharmacogenetic technologies (2009-2012), and finally working as a Research Fellow (2012-2014). In 2013 I held an EU Co-operation for Science and Technology Fellowship at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan where I researched genomics in cancer research and practice. 

I am a medical sociologist and have particular interests in the work of healthcare practitioners and scientists, health and medicine in everyday life, the body (particularly women’s bodies), and the politics of reproduction. These interests come together in my on-going research on teenage mothers’ health beliefs and behaviours where I take a critical approach to understanding how moral imperatives around health (e.g. a ‘good’ diet) are negotiated in complex everyday lives. While I focus on the 'everyday' of teenage mothers' lives, my approach - which I get asked about a lot - is rooted in structural concerns which I have previously talked about when addressing the issue of teenage pregnancy as a "concern".

I am also interested in materiality, ‘stuff’ and the relationships between humans and non-human materials. Recently, I have been exploring ‘stuff’ through two Institute of Advanced Studies grant looking, firstly, at the use of clay minerals in antimicrobial therapeutics and, secondly, looking at human and more-than-human adaptations and co-existence in polluted spaces. 

My research is highly interdisciplinary and I collaborate closely with biologists, chemists, economists, pharmacists and psychologists. For me, collaborations which stretch across traditional disciplinary divides are the most interesting, exciting and offer the greatest scope for new ideas so I am always happy to start conversations about potential future collaborations.

Given this interdisciplinary approach, I am also keen to share my research widely, with the public and in my teaching. My research with teenage mothers has been featured across the media, including on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour where I was interviewed by Jane Garvey which was a career dream come true. My teaching in the area of reproduction, which stems from my research on teenage mothers, was the topic of an episode of the BBC podcast "When are you having kids?" about "Having It All". 

I am always looking to do interesting research with interesting people so I warmly welcome enquiries from potential PhD students, research fellows or collaborators.

　

• Health
• Family health
• Medicines use
• Health technologies
• Lay health understandings/behaviours
• Healthcare work and professional practice

• 2000: Celebrating Success in Teaching and Learning Award:
• 2000: Discretionary Award for Outstanding Contribution to Research:

Authored book

• McCormack, M., Anderson, E., Jamie, K., & David, M. (2021). Discovering Sociology. (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan
• McCormack, M., Anderson, E., Jamie, K., & David, M. (2018). Discovering Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan

Chapter in book

• Jamie, K. (2013). Navigating the UK NHS Ethics and Governance Approval Process: The Case of Junior Researchers. In T. Lê, & Q. Lê (Eds.), Conducting research in a changing and challenging world (279-290). Nova Science Publishers
• Jamie, K. (2013). New Technologies in British Pharmacy Practice. In K. Wasen (Ed.), Emerging Health Technologies. Springer Verlag

Journal Article

• Murrell, A., Jamie, K., & Penfold-Mounce, R. (in press). ‘It was the easiest way to kind of announce it’: Exploring death announcements on social media through a dramaturgical lens. Mortality, https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2021.1946496
• Musilek, K., Jamie, K., & Learmonth, M. (2023). ‘Money probably has something to do with my life’: Discourse and materiality in the working lives of start-up entrepreneurs. Work, Employment and Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170231185033
• Kost, C., & Jamie, K. (2023). "It has literally been a lifesaver": The role of 'knowing kinship' in supporting fat women to navigate medical fatphobia. Fat Studies, 12(2), 311-324. https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2022.2041295
• Bryant, L., Jamie, K., & Sharples, G. (2023). Reading Clay: The Temporal and Transformative Potential of Clay in Contemporary Scientific Practice. Journal of Material Culture, 28(1), 87-105. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591835221074159
• Jamie, K., & Rathbone, A. (2022). Using theory and reflexivity to preserve methodological rigour of data collection in qualitative research. Research Methods in Medicine & Health Sciences, 3(1), 11-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/26320843211061302
• Harness, O., Jamie, K., & McMurray, R. (2021). ‘They’ve been with me the whole journey’: temporality, emotional labour and hairdressing work. Work, Employment and Society, 35(6), 1073-1090. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017020955081
• Hockin-Boyers, H., Pope, S., & Jamie, K. (2021). Digital Pruning: Agency and Social Media Use as a Personal Political Project Among Female Weightlifters in Recovery from Eating Disorders. New Media and Society, 23(8), 2345-2366. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820926503
• Rathbone, A. P., Jamie, K., Todd, A., & Husband, A. (2021). A qualitative study exploring the lived experience of medication use in different disease states: linking experiences of disease symptoms to medication adherence. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 46(2), 352-362. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpt.13288
• Jamie, K., O'Neill, R., Bows, H., & Hackshaw-McGeagh, L. (2020). Healthcare Practitioner Relationships, Cultural Health Capital and Breastfeeding Support for Adolescent Mothers. Health Education Journal, 79(8), 901-913. https://doi.org/10.1177/0017896920915945
• Hockin-Boyers, H., Jamie, K., & Pope, S. (2020). Moving Beyond the Image: Theorising 'Extreme' Female Bodies. Women's Studies International Forum, 83, Article 102416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2020.102416
• Jamie, K., Hackshaw-McGeagh, L., Bows, H., & O'Neill, R. (2020). "I just don't think it's that natural": Adolescent mothers' constructions of breastfeeding as deviant. Sociology of Health & Illness, 42(7), 1689-1708. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13157
• Musilek, K., Jamie, K., & McKie, L. (2020). Cold winds and warm attachments: Interrogating the personal attachment to neoliberal work and economy. Work, Employment and Society, 34(3), 514-525. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017019856798
• Rathbone, A., Jamie, K., Blackburn, J., Gray, W., Baqir, W., Henderson, E., & Campbell, D. (2020). Exploring an extended role for pharmacy assistants on inpatient wards in UK hospitals: using mixed methods to develop the role of medicines assistants. European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, 27(2), 78-83. https://doi.org/10.1136/ejhpharm-2018-001518
• Jamie, K., & Sharples, G. (2020). The social and material life of medicinal clay: Exploring antimicrobial resistance, medicines' materiality and medicines optimization. Frontiers in Sociology, 5, Article 26. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2020.00026
• Hockin-Boyers, H., Pope, S., & Jamie, K. (2020). #gainingweightiscool: The use of transformation photos on Instagram among female weightlifters in recovery from eating disorders. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 13(1), 94-112. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676x.2020.1836511
• Jamie, K., Oliver, E., Paterson, A., & Whittlesea, C. (2019). Discussing alcohol in medicines use reviews: experiences of patients in a community pharmacy context. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 27(3), 318-321. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpp.12492
• Darling, A., Hackett, S., & Jamie, K. (2018). Female sex offenders who abuse children whilst working in organisational settings: offending, conviction and sentencing. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 24(2), 195-213. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2018.1476601
• Hackshaw-McGeagh, L., Jamie, K., Beynon, R., & O’Neill, R. (2018). Health behaviours of young mothers: Implications for health promotion and cancer prevention. Health Education Journal, 77(3), 277-292. https://doi.org/10.1177/0017896917745106
• Rathbone, A., Todd, A., Jamie, K., Bona, M., Banks, L., & Husband, A. (2017). A systematic review and thematic synthesis of patients' experience of medicines adherence. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 13(3), 403-439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2016.06.004
• Rathbone, A. P., & Jamie, K. (2016). Transferring from Clinical Pharmacy Practice to Qualitative Research: Questioning Identity, Epistemology and Ethical Frameworks. Sociological Research Online, 21(2), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.3888
• Jamie, K., Bows, H., & Gill, J. (2016). Integration of pharmacogenetic principles as a core thread in the undergraduate pharmacy curriculum. Pharmacy education, 16(1), 64-66
• Jamie, K. (2014). The Pharmacy Gaze: Bodies in Pharmacy Practice. Sociology of Health & Illness, 36(8), 1141-1155. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12157
• Tutton, R., & Jamie, K. (2013). Personalized Medicine in Context: A Social Science Perspective. Drug discovery today. Therapeutic strategies, 10(4), e183-e187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ddstr.2013.05.003
• Jamie, K. (2013). Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacy Education in the UK: Mind the Generation Gap. Pharmacy education, 13(1), 114-117
• Jamie, K. (2011). Might Community Pharmacists have a Role in Delivering Personalised Medicine?. Pharmaceutical journal (1933), 287, 693-694
• Lindenmeyer, A., Jamie, K., Griffiths, F., & LéGaré, F. (2011). “They're Made in Factories and Not by Witches on the Allotment”: A Qualitative Study of Midlife Women in the United Kingdom, Exploring Their Approaches to Complementary and Alternative Medicines. Health Care for Women International, 32(12), 1046-1067. https://doi.org/10.1080/07399332.2011.603864