Thesis title: Family and staff carer experiences of and perspectives on freedom and restriction in pandemic-affected dementia care and beyond: insights for human rights accountability and liberation

Martha is a counsellor and mindfulness teacher and has a PhD (1998) in Public Health that focused on cardiovascular epidemiology. Initially, she worked in academic teaching and research in cognitive ageing and well-being, then in 2012 moved into agency care work and community-based services with people diagnosed with dementia and carers.

In 2018 she returned to academic studies in the field of dementia care. Her qualitative thesis project focuses on the perspectives of family and staff carers in their experiences of freedom and restriction in pandemic-affected dementia care and beyond. The insights of carers have implications for human rights accountability in Scotland -- especially in relation to ‘second-generation’ social and economic rights -- and the role of liberating, collective models of support and social justice. Her supervisors have expertise in Medicine/Psychiatry (Dr Tom Russ), Social Science/Counselling (Prof Heather Wilkinson) and Theology/Philosophy (Revd Dr Harriet Harris).