Charlotte Entwistle
Dr Charlotte Entwistle is a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow in the Institute of Population Health.
What type of fellowship do you have?
Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship.
When did you start your fellowship?
January 2025.
What were you doing prior to your fellowship?
I was actually working on another Fellowship! This was a Fellowship of shorter duration (12 months) that I commenced after the completion of my PhD; the EPSRC Doctoral Prize. This Fellowship was a follow-on from my PhD work, and granted me time to submit further Fellowship/grant applications, which resulted in this successful Leverhulme Fellowship.
Why did you choose to undertake your fellowship with the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences?
The Psychology Department at University of Liverpool carries out a lot of empirical work relevant to my current research and research proposed for this Fellowship. Further, expertise in qualitative and mixed-method research in the Department aligns closely my Fellowship research, providing me with expert mentors and advisors that can guide me on my Fellowship. More generally, the Psychology Department, and broader Institution, have an established record of world-leading research, and supporting early career fellows. The University's commitment to fostering interdisciplinary research aligns with my vision of developing a diverse research team.
How does the Leverhulme Trust fund your work?
Leverhulme pay 50% of all direct costs associated with the research project (funds matched by University of Liverpool), including salary costs. Leverhulme also provide £6,000 per year of the Fellowship (£18,000 in total) for research expenses, which can be spent on a range of research related activities (e.g., conference attendance; participant payment; research assistance).
What is the aim of your research?
Generally speaking, the aim of this Fellowship is to investigate the relationship between narrative identity (how we tell stories about ourselves) and personality functioning (the interplay of traits, emotions, and behaviours, influencing how individuals interact with others and navigate life). Through this Fellowship, I plan to revolutionise the study of narrative identity, within the realm of personality functioning and more broadly, using a novel approach that combines traditional narrative analysis methods with cutting-edge computational linguistic analysis of life stories. The overarching objective of the proposed work is to improve understanding of self-processes in the context of personality functioning.
What inspired you to look at this field?
I have been interested in personality functioning throughout my academic career, as my PhD was dedicated to understanding personality dysfunction and pathology. I have also recently became fascinated by the concept of narrative identity, based on the life story model of identity pioneered by Dan McAdams, which asserts that individuals gain unity and meaning from their lives by constructing internalised and evolving narratives of the self. Investigating identity and self is crucial, especially as disturbances in identity play a significant role in dysfunction, which is why I am focusing on this field of research. I have the goal of contributing to ground-breaking advancements in identity and personality theory and research, providing the building blocks for widespread societal benefit through improved knowledge of adaptive personality and identity functioning.