School of Social and Political Science

Sarah Shemery

PhD Candidate

Photo of Sarah Shemery
S.R.Shemery@sms.ed.ac.uk

Research interests

Health & Well-being Mental health and wellbeing Migration and experiences of displacement Race and decolonial thought
  • Race and Racism
  • Birth and maternal health
  • Health equity
  • Loneliness
  • Social Isolation
  • Oppression and systemic exclusion
  • Single parenthood
  • Lived experiences of refugees and asylum seekers 

Background

My doctoral research examines how the UK asylum system generates loneliness and liminality among single refugee and asylum-seeking mothers. In highlighting pregnancy and birth as moments where structural violence is most acutely felt, my research attempts to reveal how state policies, bureaucratic uncertainty, and racialised inequities in healthcare converge to shape lived experiences of harm. Further, how institutional arrangements within the asylum and maternity care systems intersect to produce distinctive forms of exclusion and distress.

 

Publications: 

Miller, J., Shemery, S. and Curry, G., Beyond Birth Support: How Doulas Navigate Anti-Racism Advocacy for Refugee and Asylum-Seeking Women in UK Maternity Care. Frontiers in Public Health, 13, p.1681812.

Naughton-Doe, R., Nowland, R., Kent-Marvick, J., McKenna-Plumley, P., Lovett, E., Nguyen, T.V., Hunter, L., Wallis, N., Gaughan, F., Hall, K. and Colella, C., 2025. Exploring perinatal loneliness as a key social determinant of perinatal mental ill health in the UK: findings from a multidisciplinary consensus statement exercise that mapped knowledge about measurement, prevalence, antecedents, impacts and interventions, and agreed future priorities for research, policy and practice. BMJ open, 15(5), p.e085669.

Lovell-Kennedy, S., Grieve, L.M., Shemery, S., Mufara, V., Lerkins, T., Umanhonlen, B., Tamami, S., Abdilahi, F., Purdie, A. and Ball, H.L., 2025. ‘We don’t ask for a luxury life, just basic things’: the experiences of mothers with babies in the UK asylum system. Wellbeing, Space and Society, 8, p.100264.

Purdie, A., Shemery, S.R. and Zadik , S. (2024) Birth Outcomes & Experiences Report, Birthing Outcomes and Experiences Report 2024. Available at: https://birth-outcomes-report.shorthandstories.com/c2cd1065-9881-47ef-9ac3-60661e2df40c/index.html.

Gray, M., Harden, J., Hope, D., Choudhary, K. and Shemery, M.S., 2024. Towards an Understanding of the BAME Undergraduate Degree Awarding Gap at the University of Edinburgh Final Report.

 

Works within