School of Social and Political Science

Background

Thematic areas: Global Mental Health, primary & community mental health care, wellbeing, lived-experience in mental health research and care delivery, migration and forced displacement, empirical bioethics, research ethics

Methodological approach: qualitative methods, and combining empirical qualitative methods with philosophical and social science critique (empirical ethics).

I am currently a Lecturer in Global Mental Health and Society, based in the Social Work subject area. 

I am an applied social science researcher in global mental health, underpinned by a specialism in empirical ethics.  My research interests are in the normative dimensions to healthcare delivery; as well as what it means to conduct research ethically. My research focuses on the applied research/practice interface, asking empirical ethical questions to examine the practices of healthcare and research. 

I am particularly interested in the contours underpinning (mental) health care: the alignment between our normative aims for global mental health care that champions principles of equity and justice, and the everyday context of relationships and practices between the health workforce and those they care for. Methodological questions of how we attend to the everyday ethical experiences of those sustaining systems of global mental health care motivate my current research interests. My research goals are to enhance the ethical foundations of research and practice in the field of global mental health.

Prior to joining Edinburgh, I was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at The University of Liverpool, after completing my PhD studies here. In these roles I was involved in conducting public health and implementation science research into the development and testing of mental health interventions and symptom scales. This included working on large scale Global Hubs funded by the US National Institute of Global Health and the UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund.  All of my work is undertaken in partnership with academic and NGO organisations, as well as policy bodies such as the World Health Organisation and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Selected publications:

• Chiumento, A., MacBeth, A., Stenhouse, R., Segal, L., Harper, I and Jain, S. (2024) ‘A vision for reinvigorating global mental health’, PLOS Global Public Health
• Chiumento, A., Fovargue, A., Redhead, C., Draper, H., and Frith, L (2024) Delivering compassionate NHS healthcare: A qualitative study exploring the ethical implications of resetting NHS maternity and paediatric services following the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Social Science & Medicine, 344.
• White, R., Fay, R., Chiumento, A., Giurgi-Oncu, C. and Phipps, A. (2022) ‘Communication about distress and well-being: epistemic and ethical considerations’, Transcultural Psychiatry.
• Chiumento, A., Billows, L., Mackinnon, A., McCluskey, R., White, R.,…. & Dowrick, C. (2021) ‘Task-sharing psychosocial support with refugees and asylum seekers: reflections and recommendations for practice from the PROSPER study’, Intervention, 19(1): 67-74.
• Chiumento, A., Rahman, A., & Frith, L. (2020) ‘Writing to template: researchers’ negotiation of procedural research ethics’. Social Science & Medicine, 255.
• Chiumento, A., Rahman, A., Machin, L., & Frith, L. (2018) ‘Mediated research encounters: methodological considerations in cross-language qualitative interviews’, Qualitative Health Research, 18(6): 604-622.

Teaching:

I seek to develop and deliver teaching that is co-constructed with students, recognising and valuing diversity and lived-experience expertise.

Since joining Edinburgh I have engaged in a range of teaching on the Global Mental Health and Society MSc, the Social Work BSc courses, and for doctoral students. This includes developing the course Global Perspectives on Child and Adolescent Mental Health, which I am course organiser for (please note, this course is not running in 2025/26). I redesigned and now co-course organise the Global Mental Health and Society MSc Dissertation Course, and contribute teaching sessions to the Critical Perspectives on Global Mental Health and Social Change course. I also undertake dissertation supervision of students on the Global Mental Health and Society MSc.

On the Social Work programmes I am course organiser for Working and Relating: Developing your people skills, and contribute taught sessions to a number of other Social Work courses.

I also deliver teaching on research ethics and integrity to PhD students in the School of Social and Political Sciences.

Alongside formal teaching in academic settings, I also have experience of developing and delivering bespoke training as part of the activities of research hubs and as an invited specialist in social science and research ethics.

PhD Supervision:

I am currently accepting PhD students. I am particularly interested in working with students interested in asking ethical questions about global mental health research and practice. Please contact me via e-mail if you would like to discuss studying under my supervision.

Internal roles:

• Deputy Director of Research - Ethics and Integrity
• Co-Programme Director and Cohort Lead, Global Mental Health and Society MSc

External Roles:

• Steering committee member for the Global Forum on Bioethics in Research
• Chair of Ethics Advisory Board for ADVANCE (2022-2028) – Addressing mental health vulnerabilities from adolescence to older age: innovating prevention science for times of change (PI: Weitse Tol)