Meet Professor Bethan Evans

• Name – Professor Bethan Evans
• Position – Professor of Human Geography, Department of Geography and Planning
• Group Name – Power, Space and Cultural Change (PSCC) and Centre for Health, Arts, Society and Environment (CHASE)
• Joined University of Liverpool – 1996-2003 (BSc to PhD), 2004-2007 (Research Associate and Lecturer), 2011-to date (Lecturer to Professor)
• Born – UK
• PhD – University of Liverpool, UK

What is your research about?

Broadly speaking, my research explores the ways in which particular spaces, institutional policies and practices produce and reinforce ideas about acceptable and unacceptable forms of embodiment. As part of this, I’m interested in how spaces and institutions are experienced differently by different people, and in thinking about how we might create more inclusive spaces.

My work has explored how fatphobia is produced and reinforced by public health policy, health education in schools, and research on obesity. I’ve also looked at the ways in which the infrastructures of commercial air travel are exclusionary for fat and disabled passengers. Most recently I’ve been looking at the experiences of people with Energy Limiting Conditions (ELC) – such as ME/CFS, long Covid, fibromyalgia, autoimmune, neurological and musculoskeletal conditions, amongst others – in health and social care, and in academia.

What or who first inspired you to be interested in your research subject?

When I started out as an undergraduate, I was more interested in physical geography than human geography. However, in my second year, the Women and Geography Study Group of the Royal Geographical Society and Institute of British Geographers (RGS/IBG) published a book on Feminist Geographies. Katie Willis (now a professor at Royal Holloway University, but a lecturer at Liverpool at the time, who went on to be my PhD supervisor) organised a trip to London for undergraduates interested in going to the launch of this book. Learning about feminist geography inspired me to be interested in the ways in which spaces can be exclusionary and to challenge the relative absence of research with and by women in geography itself.

In the late 1990s/early 2000s work in geography on embodiment and on children and young people was just starting to develop and this influenced my decision to do a PhD looking at young people’s experiences of body image in high school. My subsequent research on fat came through seeing the ways health messages reinforced fatphobia, and through collaboration with Rachel Colls (now at Durham University, but previously at Liverpool). My work on fatness and chronic illness has also been inspired by and in collaboration with fat and disability activists. It all started though with the trip to the RGS/IBG that Katie organised, and her subsequent support of my PhD research.

What are you most proud of achieving during your research career so far?

I aim to do research in a way that is respectful of, co-produced with, and meaningful for the people and communities affected by what we’re researching. I hope I have achieved that, and if I have then that would be what I am most proud of.

What techniques and equipment do you use to conduct your research?

I’m a fan of mixed methodologies and while my work is largely qualitative, I also use some quantitative methods, combining surveys, interviews, focus groups, and discourse analysis of policy and media. I also have a keen interest in creative methods going back to my PhD when I used creative workshops with young people to understand their perspectives on body image and media.

Most recently, I’ve been lucky to work with five fantastic artists, using creative workshops to explore ideas of future health care with people with energy limiting conditions. You can see some of the art work produced here.

I’ve also worked with the brilliant animator Stacy Bias to produce animations to communicate research to a wider audience. You can see one on flying while fat here, and one on energy limiting conditions here.

Which other subjects are important for your research?

Geography is an interdisciplinary discipline. Sociology, education, politics, medical humanities, public health, social policy, feminist, queer, fat, crip and disability studies are all important in my work. I’m co-director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Health, Arts, Society and Environment (CHASE), am a founding member of the Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research (NNMHR) and as deputy director of the North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) I am going to be coordinating interdisciplinary themes for PhD researchers to collaborate in addressing societal grand challenges. Along with connecting people across disciplines, these networks also advance thinking about how to effectively do interdisciplinary research and the role of creativity in this. It isn’t always easy, but working across disciplines is vital and is always interesting.

What is the key to running a successful research group?

I’ve learnt so much from working in interdisciplinary groups such as CHASE and NNMHR, the NWSSDTP, on EDI committees, with co-researchers on various projects and by researching and working with chronic illness. These experiences have taught me the importance of respect and flexibility in any team. One size never fits all. It’s vital to value difference, allowing flexibility so that people can work in the way that best works for them, particularly for those of us who may be excluded by rigid working structures and exclusionary workplace cultures.  

What impact is your research having outside of academia?

My approach to impact isn’t just about what comes from my research, but also co-producing research with people from outside academia. I’ve been lucky to work with some fantastic activists, artists, organisations and researchers from whom I’ve learned so much.

Our research with Chronic Illness Inclusion (in collaboration with Morag Rose, Ana Bê Pereira, Anna Ruddock, Alison Allam and Catherine Hale) on energy limiting conditions has been accepted as evidence in a House of Lords Special Inquiry Committee on Integration of Primary and Community Care; and a Department of Work and Pensions Committee on Disability Employment; we’ve submitted evidence to the Department of Health and Social Care’s ME/CFS interim delivery plan; we’ve produced seven Policy briefs and a policy report; a Medical Education Kit; and in collaboration with NHS NW R&D we’ve contributed an NHS Provocation session and are currently following this up with some action learning sets with health professionals. Through collaboration with Stephanie Davis from Healing Justice London, we also held workshops for health care professionals who support people with ELC.

In terms of public engagement (in collaboration with artists Khairani Barokka, Khizra Ahmed, Julian Gray, Mish Green and Louise Kenward, along with the research colleagues mentioned above and Aaliyah Shaikh) we held 13 creative workshops for people with ELC and Art work on ELC produced from this research includes an animation, comic book, zine, podcast, creative non-fiction essay, fairytale story, and art produced by participants. Our work on academics with ELC has also been covered in an article in Times Higher Education Supplement and is informed by an advisory group including people from Chronic Illness Inclusion, Long Covid Support, UCU and the National Association of Disabled Staff Networks.

Our work on flying while fat (in collaboration with Stacy Bias) was summarised in an animation that got a lot of international media coverage when it was launched. We also held a Launch event at DaDaFest International Festival, the animation was displayed at Bluecoat Gallery, Tate Liverpool and London International Animation Festival, it was selected for the 11th Social Justice Film Festival (2022) and was a case study for Culture Forum North.

How do you plan to develop your research in the future?

I’m interested in expanding the work we’ve been doing on energy limiting conditions to explore other areas of life, such as leisure and travel, and to think about how we might better communicate feelings of energy limitation, since poor understanding of how energy limitation differs from everyday tiredness underpins much of the resistance people with ELC encounter. The latter I’m interested in exploring through interdisciplinary work that would look at how scientists researching the biological mechanisms behind energy impairment describe those processes as well as how people with ELC describe and represent how it feels to have energy impairment.

What problem would you like to solve in the next 10 years through your research?

People with Energy Limiting Conditions make up a significant proportion of disabled people in the UK and this is growing, with on-going covid infections resulting in more people with long Covid. Our recent research has demonstrated that there are barriers to inclusion across all areas of life for people with ELC, including getting adequate health and social care.

The move to online work and socialising during Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 made things much more accessible for many people with ELC, and the current backtracking on this, with the removal of remote access to leisure and social events, and mandates requiring people return to work in person are undoing many of the recent advances in accessibility. I hope that through my ongoing research we might be able to raise awareness of the problems of this and improve access and care for people with ELC.

What advice would you give to someone considering a career in research?

Research what matters to you, work in interdisciplinary teams, and work with people outside of academia. There can be a tendency for academic researchers to see ourselves as the most knowledgeable, but in my experience that is not the case. I have learned so much from working with activists, practitioners and organisations outside academia and that has, hopefully, made me a much better researcher. It has certainly enriched my research in many ways.

Where can readers learn more about your research?

For more information on our work on the experiences of people with ELC in health and social care, see this website: https://disbeliefdisregard.uk/

For information on our research on the experiences of academics with ELC, see this website: https://exhaustioneconomy.uk/

My university profile page also has links to many of my academic publications and older projects: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/people/bethan-evans/research#tabbed-content 

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