Contact
Biography
Dr Suzanne Grant is Senior Lecturer in Medical Anthropology within the Faculty of Health at the University of Dundee. Her research uses ethnographic, visual and participatory co-design methods to address health inequalities within complex healthcare systems. She leads an active multi-disciplinary research group whose work focuses on two main areas:
- Health inequalities and inclusion health to improve care for people experiencing multiple disadvantage and health and social complexity
- Managing complexity and uncertainty in healthcare systems to understand the everyday and often ‘hidden’ experiences and practices of patients and staff when navigating healthcare systems
Suzanne’s research income to date exceeds £6.5 million as principal and co-investigator on interdisciplinary research grants, fellowships and PhD studentships from national and international funders including Horizon Europe, UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council, UKRI Economic and Social Research Council, UKRI Medical Research Council, NIHR, CSO, the Scottish Government, THIS Institute and Tenovus Scotland. Current research grants include:
- ‘REALITIES in Health Disparities’ (2024-7) (Funder: UKRI AHRC Mobilising Community Assets Programme)
- ‘Data Enabled, Shared Fluid Management Platform in Haemodialysis (HARMONY) (2025-8) (Horizon Europe)
- ‘Understanding equity of access to best care for people with kidney failure’ (2024-2026) (Chief Scientist Office)
She has published her research in top ranking journals including Social Science and Medicine, Implementation Science and BMJ Quality and Safety.
Suzanne is a member of The Wellcome Trust Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Discovery Advisory Group, which shortlists candidates for Wellcome Career Development Awards and Wellcome Discovery Awards. She has also served as an invited reviewer for UKRI’s College of Experts and is a founding member of the Video-Reflexive Ethnography International Association and BSA Medical Sociology Scottish Group Co-Lead.
Suzanne holds a PhD and MA (First Class Honours) in Social Anthropology from the University of St Andrews. She also holds an MSc in Public Health Research from the University of Edinburgh and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her doctoral research involved 2.5 years of ethnographic fieldwork in the Paraguayan Chaco examined Mennonite settler colonialism and wellbeing amongst the Nivaclé indigenous people. This work was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and a Royal Anthropological Institute Emslie Horniman-Sutasoma Award for outstanding doctoral research. In 2009 she was awarded a prestigious UKRI Medical Research Council Population Health Scientist Fellowship across the Universities of Dundee and St Andrews where she led an innovative UK-wide multisite ethnographic study examining how primary care teams manage safety, complexity and uncertainty.
Research
Suzanne’s current research interests include:
- Health inequalities
- Access to healthcare
- Social prescribing
- Lived experiences of marginalised and stigmatised groups
- Vulnerability and resilience
- Healthcare quality and safety improvement
- Patient and professional experiences of navigating complex healthcare systems
- Process evaluation of complex interventions
- Ethnography and Video-Reflexive Ethnography
- Participatory co-design methods
- Qualitative evidence synthesis, including meta-ethnography and thematic synthesis
Research supervision
Suzanne is Research Postgraduate Lead for the Division of Population Health and Genomics and a shortlisted finalist for the DUSA Student-Led Teaching Awards 2024 ‘Best Postgraduate Supervisor’ Award. She has served as internal and external examiner for PhD degrees, including at the Universities of Manchester and Leicester. She currently supervises the following PhD projects:
- Elisabeth Yaneske ‘Use of design thinking to improve the quality and equity of patient triage in primary care’. The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute PhD Fellowship, First Supervisor.
- Salma Alhajeri ‘The role of radiographer involvement in research for improving the implementation of evidence-based practice’. Kuwait Cultural Office PhD Studentship, First Supervisor.
- Maha Alharbi ‘Person-centred communication in dental care’. Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, Saudi Arabia, Second Supervisor.
- Dr Helen Callaby ‘The use of rapid infection diagnostics to optimise antimicrobial use for multimorbid patients in Scotland’. The Wellcome Trust Multimorbidity Programme for Healthcare Professionals PhD Fellowship, Second Supervisor.
She regularly supervises undergraduate and taught postgraduate student projects across the Master of Public Health, BMSc Healthcare improvement and Student Selected Component in Research Practice programmes and has supervised over 60 student dissertation projects to date. She also supervises undergraduate and postgraduate clinicians including.
- Dr Beth Thomas ‘Improving access and engagement to green prescribing for vulnerable groups: an ethnographic study’ NES Academic Clinical Fellowship, Lead Supervisor (2025-7)
- Yannick Harrison ‘Health and wellbeing benefits of community gardens for inclusion health groups: an ethnographic study’ Medical Research Scotland Undergraduate Vacation Scholarship Programme 2026, Lead Supervisor
Teaching
Suzanne has over 20 years’ teaching experience. Her teaching responsibilities include:
- Module Lead of ‘Ethnography for Public Health Research and Improvement’ Master of Public Health (2018-present)
- Lead ‘Qualitative Research Methods for Public Health’ session, Master of Public Health (2014-present)
- Co-Lead of BMSc Healthcare Improvement (2021-24)
- Module Lead of ‘Health, Care and Wellbeing Contexts’ BMSc Healthcare Improvement (2023-6)
- Design Meets Healthcare SSC ‘Focused Ethnography using the AEIOU Framework’ training sessions (2022-present)