Dr Konstantina Karastoyanova-Gibson
Lecturer
Social Policy
Personal statement
I am a Lecturer within the Department of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of 海角论坛, delivering a range of content across the Social Policy, Social Work and Education and Social Sciences programmes and acting as Year 4 Undergraduate Social Policy coordinator. My research interests broadly touch on issues of social justice and social policy, with a particular focus on health inequalities within the UK; a subject that I have a deep passion for. Reflecting my commitment to social justice, I am the Athena Swan coordinator for this department.
I hold a PhD in Social Policy awarded by the University of 海角论坛. My thesis examined socioeconomic inequalities, social gradients, and biological mechanisms underpinning and emanating from socioeconomic disadvantage. This study employed innovative and novel approaches to data sampling amongst marginalised groups which allowed me to report on the impact of socioeconomic disadvantage upon hormonal response to social defeat.聽 This work adopted an interdisciplinary perspective which I have continued to apply to my scholarship, regularly collaborating with colleagues from diverse academic disciplines. This has contributed to me undertaking research in a wide number of fields including public health, social policy, epidemiology, behavioural neuroendocrinology, and suicide prevention in later life.
Methodologically, I am a strong advocate for mixed method approaches, with growing experience in both quantitative and qualitative research. My fluency in Bulgarian, Russian and English allows me to collaborate with colleagues from nations that have rarely been reached by UK Higher Education.
In recent years I have developed a keen interest in Knowledge Exchange and the opportunities to distil knowledge 鈥� of all kinds 鈥� from the academic sphere into the policy, practice and legislative fields.聽 The opportunity to aid the learning and understanding of social care and social work practitioners regarding the risk indicators and prevention of suicide amongst older people has been particularly rewarding, for example.聽 This adds to my previous work examining social isolation and loneliness amongst older adults.聽 Moreover, I was proud to be a co-programme organiser for the Social Policy Association Conference, hosted within the University of 海角论坛 in 2024.聽 In this role I oversaw the curation of the programme, creating a very full and vibrant conference which brought colleagues from global sites and diverse viewpoints together.
Prize And Awards
- Recipient
- 25/1/2026
Publications
- , Sharp Martin
- 70th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Medicine & Population Health (2026)
- , , ,
- (2026)
- , , , , Summerskill Clare, Cleary Connor
- International Summit of Suicide Research (2025)
- ,
- The Routledge International Handbook of Social Work and Disaster Practice (2024) (2024)
- , , Summerskill Clare, Cleary Connor, ,
- (2024)
- , , Summerskill Clare, Cleary Connor, ,
- (2024)
Professional Activities
- Host
- 25/5/2026
- Visiting researcher
- 9/6/2025
- Peer reviewer
- 11/2024
- Speaker
- 2/10/2024
- Speaker
- 14/9/2024
- Organiser
- 3/7/2024
Projects
- Karastoyanova-Gibson, Konstantina (Principal Investigator) Sevilla, Teresita (Academic)
- Awarded 拢1500 of funds to host academic partners from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia. The Mobility Award granted by Pontificia Universidad Javeriana to Konstantina Karastoyanova-Gibson in March 2025 facilitated in-person engagement between representatives of both institutions (June, 2025), enabling discussions on prospective research opportunities and wider institutional links. At present, partnerships have been consolidated with colleagues from the Department of Public Health at Edinburgh, Napier University. Beyond the research dimension, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana has also committed to hosting BA Education and Social Services students from the University of 海角论坛 for a two-week immersion experience, supported by the Turing Fund.
- 25-Jan-2026 - 07-Jan-2026
- Karastoyanova-Gibson, Konstantina (Visiting Academic)
- Awarded funding to undertake knowledge exchange activity in Colombia (Mobility Award for Network Development; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cali, Colombia, March 2025, ~拢1600) where I forged relationships with scholars in the fields of health and social inequalities.
- 09-Jan-2025 - 22-Jan-2025
- Hafford-Letchfield, Trish (Co-investigator) Karastoyanova-Gibson, Konstantina (Co-investigator) Rasmussen, Susan (Co-investigator) Sledmere, Maria (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2028
- Eccles, Andrew (Principal Investigator) Horn, Daniel (Co-investigator) Karastoyanova-Gibson, Konstantina (Researcher)
- I was employed as a Research Associate on the project. This was done in collaboration with the Universities of Manchester, Southampton, Loughborough and Oxford Brookes. Furthermore, the project was conducted in conjunction with colleagues at 海角论坛 Business School and Bio-Engineering. My responsibilities on the project involved analysing data for Self-management of digital health technologies and display of outcomes in an interdisciplinary format allowing industry partners and academic collaborators to critically engage with the findings. The team was closely engaged with knowledge exchange partnerships with multiple bodies such as Diabetes UK. Dissemination of findings across external bodies and academic collaborators has been delivered via oral presentations and reports.
- 30-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2023
- Fawcett, Barbara (Principal Investigator) Karastoyanova-Gibson, Konstantina (Researcher)
- Research undertaken with Technology Enabled Care, Scotland
- 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2021
Contact
Dr
Konstantina
Karastoyanova-Gibson
Lecturer
Social Policy
Email: konstantina.karastoyanova@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 444 8643