Dr Ava Kanyeredzi, Principal Investigator
Dr Joanne Wilson,
Research Fellow
The Research Team
Dr Ava Kanyeredzi is a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health at the Wolfson Insititute of Population Health, Queen Mary University London. Her research interests include intersectional feminist perspectives on experiences of the body, violence and abuse, gender, race, culture, faith, mental distress, and forensic psychiatric facilities using qualitative, visual/creative methods. Ava is a lead member of the Black Church Domestic Abuse Forum (www.bcdaf.org.uk) and arrived at this project via previous research with African and Caribbean women on violence/abuse, all of whom shared their faith religion/spirituality as important. She is the author of Race, Culture and Gender: Black Female Experiences of Violence and Abuse (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018)
Research Fellow
Dr Joanne Wilson received her doctorate from the Child and Women’s Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU), and has worked on several highly sensitive research projects with women and marginalised groups in the UK, in relation to child sexual abuse/ sexual violence.
She has over 10 years’ experience as a social researcher. Her research specialisms also include: working with racially/ classed, gender, migrant communities, and feelings of belonging and citizenship with marginalised and disempowered groups in the UK.
Spirit and Solace Research 