Dr Clare Edge
School of Health & Society
Current positions
Senior Lecturer in Psychology
Biography
Clare is a Community Psychologist with a background in advocacy on a community and national basis: she is a changemaker. She is the founder and chair of the WOW (Wellbeing of ageingWomen@Work) Network of researchers and stakeholders driving to share knowledge and make improvements to policy and practice with a focus on women in work across the life-course as they age. This network of researchers involves over 120 researchers and stakeholders across over 25 countries. Clare is also Chair and founder of the WOW@Work_GM Group which is led by a women's voice steering group to lead policy change in Greater Manchester. This Manchester based policy project explores gendered ageing and workplace wellbeing. This network has enabled collaborative knowledge exchange around ageing women’s workplace well-being and co-produced outputs that have reached diverse audiences, as well as a study involving N=137 women experiencing the perimenopause or menopause.
Clare is also co-Lead for Research in Psychology and co-Directorate Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for Psychology and sits on the University level Gender Equity Group.
Her main interests are social, community and health psychology. She is interested in the intersectional experiences of women and the gender diverse ageing experiences that communities face. Clare has been invited to speak at international events/conferences exploring ageing women's wellbeing. Clare has worked with large workplaces including the NHS on the evidence base surrounding older workers with a focus on women including The Menopause and factors that support women as they age in work. Her PhD explored the psychosocial factors affecting workplace health and well being, in the context of extended working lives, with a focus on the gendered context to health and wellbeing using mixed research methods.
She previously taught at Manchester Metropolitan University (2017) and the University of Salford (2013-2018) across a number of Psychology and Public Health related areas at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Her professional background prior to starting her academic journey (2006-2013) was within the charity and voluntary sector and she led several projects including several successful grant applications to charitable trusts. Clare held a number of roles that primarily involved coordinating projects and campaigns on a national and regional basis. These range from mental ill health service evaluation projects to mentoring projects (DfE funded, Big Lottery funded and Hilton in the Community funded) led by young people.
Clare holds a BSc Psychology, an MSc Community Psychology and a PhD, and is a Member of the British Psychological Society and European Association of Social Psychology. Her doctoral research explored ageing in the workplace. This looked at health and wellbeing from a number of psychological and public health perspectives with a focus on ageing and the intersection of gender. Clare has a broad range of research interests, but the main topics she is interested in are well-being, gender based inequalities, and ageing. Clare successfully secured QR funding supported by the University of Salford to run an event in June 2023 attended by over 50 academics and stakeholders. Clare is currently exploring ageing women's workplace wellbeing in a qualitative study focusing on the barriers and facilitators to well-being in women Professors aged 50 and over. She has previously explored women in lower paid roles aged 60 and over using funding secured via University of Salford Reignite your Research Fund and has presented these findings internationally.
Areas of research
Wellbeing, Workplace Wellbeing, Ageing, Life course gender based inequality
Areas of Research
women’s well-being across the life course, extended working life, self-perceptions of ageing in work, social norms in workplace relating to ageing and womanhood
Areas of Supervision
Interested in supervising the following topics at both MRes and PhD level:
well-being at work, women’s well-being across the life course, well-being and ageing at work
Completed/submitted PhD topics:
Co-supervisor: PhD entitled 'Sustainability of work in the life cycle: Risk and protective factors in ageing workers', Giulia Bacci, University of Turin
Co-supervisor: PhD entitled 'EXPLORING THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF POST-GRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS – A LONGITUDINAL STUDY' Andrea Stein, University of Salford
Module Leader: L4 Psychology in Contemporary Contexts Psychology; L5 Social Psychology; L5 New and Critical Theories in Social Psychology; L5 Social Psychology of Everyday Life; L5 Further Research Methods; L6 Global Issues in Psychology
Contributor: L4 Intro to Developmental and Social Psychology; L6 Psychology and Health; MSc Applied Psychology: Research Methods
Supervisor: UG Dissertations, PGT Dissertations
Qualifications
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PhD Public Health, Wellness at Work & Behavioural Medicine
2013 - 2017 -
MSc Community Psychology with Merit
2012 - 2013 -
BSc Psychology 1st Class Honours
2003 - 2006