Dr Anna Lavis MA, MSc, MRes, PhD

Dr Anna Lavis

Department of Applied Health Sciences
Associate Professor in Medical Anthropology

Contact details

Address
Department of Applied Health Sciences
College of Medicine and Health
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Edgbaston
Birmingham, B15 2TT
UK

Anna Lavis is an Associate Professor in Medical Anthropology in the Department of Applied Health Sciences, and the Institute for Mental Health

In a range of collaborations across academic, policy and clinical interfaces, her work has two core focuses:

  1. Anna leads a programme of research into social media and health, with a particular focus on mental health. She directs the Social Media and Health Research Network, which is exploring what it would, could or should mean to 'live healthily' with social media now and in the future. Against this background, her current research asks why people may engage with online eating disorders, self-harm and suicide content, and interrogates the meanings of ‘care’ and ‘crisis’ at the intersections of online and offline spaces. Most recently, a study funded by Samaritans has used online ethnography to comprehensively explore the nuances of self-harm and suicide content on social media, investigating pathways to both harm and peer support. Anna has advised a wide range of policymakers, clinical and educational organisations on the topic of online harms, as well as various tech platforms.
  2. Anna’s second research focus lies in employing anthropological theory and method to develop approaches and solutions to the key 21st century challenge of mental ill-health. Paying attention to the socio-cultural, political and environmental contexts that shape lived experiences, she has conducted extensive research into eating disorders, self-harm, suicidality and psychosis. Threaded through these empirical focuses are conceptual emphases on materiality, specifically the material culture of mental health, and concepts, ethics and practices of care. Anna has particular expertise in ethnographic methods, having conducted sustained ethnographic fieldwork in online, clinical and ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø settings.

Qualifications

  • PhD Medical Anthropology: Goldsmiths, University of London, 2011.
  • MRes Medical Anthropology and Research Methods: Goldsmiths, University of London, 2006.
  • MSc Social Anthropology: University College London, 2003.
  • BA European and Middle Eastern Languages: University of Oxford, 2002 (MA, 2014).

Biography

Anna Lavis is an Associate Professor in Medical Anthropology in the Person-Centred Research Team in the Department of Applied Health Sciences.

Anna's research has conceptual emphases on materiality, specifically the material culture of mental health; concepts, ethics and practices of care; social media, ‘truth’ and the politics of evidence; affect, desire and intimacy. 

Anna teaches on various programmes, covering topics in qualitative methods and medical sociology/anthropology, as well as undertaking doctoral supervision both at Birmingham and externally. She regularly guest lectures at UCL and accepts invitations for teaching and examining in the UK and abroad. She is also an honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University. 

Teaching

  • MBChB
  • Public Health MPH/PG Diploma/PG Certificate
  • Master’s in Mental Health, Institute for Mental Health, UoB
  • Doctoral Supervision

Postgraduate supervision

Anna is interested in supervising doctoral research in:

  • Social media, health and society
  • Lived experiences of mental ill-health and/or treatment interventions
  • Ethnographic explorations of mental health
  • Anorexia and/or other eating disorders, self-harm, suicidality, and psychosis 

Research

Current and Recent Projects:

NIHR Global Health Research Centres: Research and Institutional Capacity Strengthening In NCDs Call, 2022-2027: NIHR Global Health Research Centre for Research & Capacity Building in Multiple  Long-term Conditions. Co-I. (PI: Kamlesh Khunti, Leicester).

UKRI Adolescence, Mental Health and Developing Mind Methodological Innovation call, 2022-2024: Co-Producing a Framework of Guiding Principles for Engaging Representative and Diverse Cohorts of Young People in Biological Research in Mental Health. Co-I. (PI: Paola Dazzan, KCL).

Philanthropic Donation, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø and Internal UoB Funding, 2022-2023: Eating Disorders and Body Image Content: Understanding What makes Content Harmful and for Whom. PI.

Research England QR Enhancing Research and Knowledge Exchange Funding Programme, 2022: Rapid Research in partnership with Schools to Ensure that the UK Online safety Bill Reflects Children and Young People’s Experiences. PI.

National Institute for Health Research, Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) - NIHR201108, 2021-2023: Self-Harm in Eating Disorders: A Mixed-Methods Study (SHINE Study). PI.

UKRI/ESRC SMaRteN Student Mental Health Research Network, 2021-2022: Academic (Un)Belonging and the Neoliberal University: A Comparative Institutional Case Study of Postgraduate Researchers’ Experiences at two English Universities. Co-I. (PI: Lydia  Lewis, Wolverhampton).

Samaritans, 2021-2022: Self-Harm and Suicide, Content: Understanding What makes Content Harmful and for Whom. PI.

Samaritans, 2020: Self-Harm and Suicide Content on Social Media: A Rapid Assessment of the Impact of COVID-19. PI.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, internal funding, 2020: A Real-Time Ethnographic Exploration of Coronavirus-Related Discussions on Social Media. PI.  

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Internal Funding, 2020-2022: Exploration of University Students’ Experience and Understandings of Covid-19 and Measures to Control its Spread. Co-I.

ESRC DTP Collaborative Studentship, 2020-2024, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø: Deliberate self-harm in UK dance students: Prevalence, predictors, and prevention. Co-I. (PI: Jennifer Cummings, UoB).

Economic, Social, Cultural, & Environmental Impacts of Covid-19 - Urgent Response Fund, 2020: Health Impacts of Social and Environmental Restrictions from UK Lockdown: Identifying Changes in Household Eating and Activity Patterns During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Co-I. (PI: Stanley Ulijaszek, Oxford).

Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund, Oxford University, 2019-2020:  Understanding Obesity and Eating Disorders through the Material Culture of Home Environments. Co-I. (PI: Stanley Ulijaszek, Oxford).

Wellcome Trust, 2018-2019: Virtual Scars: Exploring the Ethics of Care on Social Media through Interactions Around Self-Injury. PI.

Other activities

  • Director, Social Media and Health Research Network, Twitter: .
  • Wellbeing Strategist at Meta, advising on eating disorders and body image content (Consultancy).
  • Honorary Senior Lecturer, Australian National University, Canberra.
  • Self-harm and Suicide Prevention Research Theme Co-Lead, Institute for Mental Health, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø.
  • Co-Chair, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø STEM Research Ethics Committee; member of the UoB Research Governance, Ethics and Integrity Committee.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Jameel, R, Greenfield, S & Lavis, A 2025, '', BMC Public Health, vol. 25, no. 1, 61.

Worrell, C, Pollard, R, Weetman, T, Sadiq, Z, Pieptan, M, Brooks, G, Broome, M, Campbell, N, Gardner, N, Harding, S, Lavis, A, McEachan, RRC, Mondelli, V, Morgan, C, Nosarti, C, Porat, T, Ryan, D, Schmid, L, Shire, K, Woods, A, Pariante, CM, CELEBRATE Youth Expert Working Group, Dazzan, P & Upthegrove, R 2024, '', BMJ open, vol. 14, no. 6, e081360.

Shortland, D, Fazil, Q, Hallett, N & Lavis, A 2024, '', BMJ open, vol. 14, e076904.

Gee, B, Berry, C, Hodgekins, J, Greenwood, K, Fitzsimmons, M, Lavis, A, Notley, C, Pugh, K, Birchwood, M & Fowler, D 2023, '', Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 133-145.

Menzies , JC, Tooke, C, Jones, TJ, Lavis, A & Drury, N 2023, '', Nurse Researcher.

Eli, K, Lavis, A, Castleman, JS, Clift, PF, Fox, CE, Giles, D, Grocott, L, Harrison, K, Hudsmith, LE, Kaplan, K, McDougall, H, Powell, C & Drury, NE 2023, '', Open Heart, vol. 10, no. 2, e002312.

Joseph, L, Greenfield, S, Manaseki-Holland, S, Lekha, TR, Sujakumari , S, Jeemon, P & Lavis, A 2023, '', Health Expectations, vol. 26, pp. 1081-1095.

Kolitsida, M, Cumming, J, Lavis, A & Sanchez, E 2023, '', Journal of Dance Education, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 190-199.

Fisher, A, Lavis, A, Greenfield, S & Rickards, H 2023, '', BMJ open, vol. 13, no. 7, e073655.

Conference contribution

Kolitsida, M, Sanchez, E, Cumming, J & Lavis, A 2024, . in 2024 Annual Conference Abstract Book. International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (IADMS), IADMS 34th Annual Conference, Rimini, Italy, 17/10/24. <>

Paper

Kolitsida, M, Jordan-Dewhurst, T, Cumming, J, Lavis, A & Sanchez, E 2025, '', Paper presented at Annual Dance Medicine and Science Science Symposium, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, 10/05/25 - 11/05/25.

Kolitsida, M, Lavis, A, Sanchez, EN & Cumming, J 2023, '', Paper presented at Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology 2023 Annual Conference , Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 28/11/23 - 29/11/23 pp. 48-48. <>

Review article

Shortland, D, Fazil, Q, Lavis, A & Hallett, N 2024, '', Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health & Behavior.

Members of the Institute for Mental Health Youth Advisory Group 2023, '', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 320, 115619.

Michail, M, Morgan, J & Lavis, A 2023, '', BMJ open, vol. 13, no. 10, e076885.