School of Social and Political Science

Bryony Nisbet

PhD Student and Social Work Tutor

This is a picture of me shoulder-length, curly, slightly wet, ginger-coloured hair. I am smiling and looking at the camera. Here, I have winged eyeliner and multiple facial piercings, including a septum ring, nose and a labret lip piercing. I am wearing large silver hoop earrings, a textured black shirt, and a bold, triangular silver pendant necklace on a black cord. The background shows a warmly lit room with wooden floorboards, indoor plants, and a tiled fireplace decorated with candles and framed photos.
B.G.Nisbet@sms.ed.ac.uk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/linkedin.com/in/bryony-nisbet-a03814139/
https://twitter.com/@BryonyNisbet/
Chrystal Macmillan

Research interests

Mental health and wellbeing Methods Migration and experiences of displacement

My PhD research addresses a critical gap in understanding how identity, social connectedness, and mental health and wellbeing intersect in the lives of forcibly displaced lone parents in Scotland. Funded by the MacQueen Scholarship and taking a participatory approach, I am working alongside a group of forcibly displaced lone parent co-researchers who have helped design the project. Together, we have chosen collaging and narrative storytelling to allow for multi-layered expressions of experience.

Through collaging workshops and follow-up narrative sessions, those engaging in the research reflect on how displacement has shaped their identities, relationships, and understandings of mental health and wellbeing.

I am particularly committed to addressing social justice and discrimination in government policy and practice using collective, creative, and pioneering participatory and arts-based approaches.

 

Background

I am a researcher, educator, and experienced mental health practitioner with a commitment to social justice and participatory approaches in research and policy. My work tends to focus on forced displacement, mental health, and integration, with a particular interest in creative and arts-based methodologies that challenge traditional research practices and centre co-creating knowledge with those who are seldom listened to. I have extensive experience co-developing, managing, delivering, and evaluating trauma-informed, values-based services across the UK, with a focus on refugee integration and mental health. Through my work, I have developed a deep understanding of the specific challenges faced by women, children, and lone parents in the context of forced migration, recognising how these experiences are shaped by intersecting systemic barriers.

My research background includes:

  • My current PhD project as outlined above.
  • Heriot-Watt University: currently contributing to a AHRC-funded project using the arts to explore older autistic people’s experiences of supported living as they age. I am also working with other AHRC-funded cohorts to capture shared learning in ethical, creative and inclusive research practices and health and social care policy recommendations.
  • Mental Health Foundation - Reclaiming Our Power (seeking to improve the mental health and wellbeing of adults from racialised communities in Glasgow who experience racial microaggressions while also promoting anti-racist practices within public services): currently leading the project evaluation using an embedded, creative and participatory approach with project volunteers and community members.
  • Mental Health Foundation - Elevate project (amplifying the voices of refugees and asylum seekers in decision-making processes across Scotland): currently conducting evaluation interviews with community members and stakeholders and contributing to organisational reporting.
  • Just Right Scotland - Only Grades Not Visas Campaign: currently assisting colleagues in evaluating the campaigns effectiveness through desk-based research and interviews.
  • Queen Margaret University - Family Reunion Integration Service: Funded by AMIF, I led on evaluating the effectiveness of / and refining the QMU Social Connections Mapping Tool alongside partners from the British Red Cross and Barnardos working in family reunion.
  • Queen Margaret University - Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR-funded): I was the Co-investigator on a research project that explored refugee and asylum seeker trust and confidence in Police Scotland.

 

I have and continue to tutor on Undergraduate Social Work courses here at Edinburgh University, supporting students in developing critical and reflective approaches to practice. My teaching includes:

  • Working with Yourself and Others: A core undergraduate social work course, exploring self-awareness, professional identity, and interpersonal skills in social work practice.
  • Creative Social Work and the Arts: A course examining arts-based approaches in social work, encouraging students to engage experientially with creative methods as tools for reflection, communication, and social change.

 

PhD Supervisors

Qualifications

2016  MSc Social Development and Health, Queen Margaret University 

2018  PgCert Primary Mental Health Care, University of Central Lancashire 

2013  BSc (hons) Behavioural Sciences, University of Abertay, Dundee

Awards

  • Macqueen Scholarship: PhD Social Work programme in the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh 2023-2026
  • Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) and Scottish Police Authority (SPA) Seldom Heard Communities Fund 2021-2022
  • Santander Research Grant: MSc dissertation data collection, 2016
  • Carnegie Trust Bursary: MSc in Social Development and Health, Queen Margaret University, 2015/2016

Works within