Fitxa persona

I am an Assistant Professor (PhD) in the Department of Social Work and Social Services. I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work and a Master's Degree in Gender and Equality Policies from the University of Valencia. I am an International PhD in Gender Studies and Equality Policies, with a doctoral thesis on embodied experiences of fatness from a feminist and interdisciplinary perspective. I have also trained in Narrative Therapy and Community Work.

My doctoral thesis was awarded the Isabel Folguera Prize for Best Unpublished Doctoral Thesis and received a Special Mention (Accèssit) in the Diversitats Prize. This work is the first research project in the Spanish-speaking context to analyze the embodied experience of fatness in women through the lens of feminism and Fat Studies, and it reflects a trajectory of over ten years dedicated to the critical study of fatness, its representations, and its social and political implications.

I have also received other awards for my research activity: the Olga Quiñones Prize for Best Master’s Thesis, the First Prize in the 1st Edition of the Article Writing Contest organized by the COTSV (Official College of Social Work of Valencia), and the Jane Addams Prize for Best Undergraduate Thesis.

My research interests focus on stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination against fat people (fatphobia or weight stigma); narrative practices; anti-oppressive social work; the sociology of the body; gender-sensitive approaches to health; family caregiving; and cinema as a learning tool. I also incorporate methodological approaches that are still emerging in the field of social sciences, such as qualitative techniques for Foucauldian discourse analysis from a feminist perspective, autoethnography, and life histories. I have published scientific articles in journals such as Azarbe: International Journal of Social Work and Welfare, Quaderns de Ciències Socials, Athenea Digital, and Cuadernos de Trabajo Social. I have also contributed chapters to books published by Tirant Humanitats, Dykinson, and Icària. With the latter, I also co-coordinated the book Miradas sociológicas de género. Una sociología sin barreras, cerraduras ni cerrojos.

I was born in Jersey and have lived in Bradford, London, Barcelona, and Valencia. I spend most of my time with my partner and our two dogs. I enjoy taking care of my plants, reading, listening to the radio, cycling, making collages, and crafting handmade books.