Jenny Cole

Biography

I am a qualitative critical social and health psychologist interested in gender, health, and the body. I am concerned with body image and weight stigma across a range of contexts, and particularly interested in the impacts of weight stigma on health. I have published work on body image in video games, body image in fashion, body image and 3D body scanners, and investigated psychosocial impacts of endometriosis.

I completed my BSc and some of my PhD at Keele University before moving to the University of Kent. Upon finishing my PhD there, I gained a job as Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology at Staffordshire University. I then moved to Manchester Metropolitan University as a Senior Lecturer where I was Digital Education Lead for Psychology during the COVID-19 pandemic. In autumn 2022 I took up my current role as Lecturer in Health Psychology at Keele University.

Research and scholarship

How we feel about our bodies can be extremely important for how we look after ourselves; poorer body image is associated with a range of ‘unhealthy’ behaviours. People in larger bodies can struggle especially with body image because of the way in which people of their size are stigmatised in society in a range of contexts. Claims that stigmatisation of higher weight individuals is ‘good for their health’ has been widely contradicted and my current research focuses on the specific ways in which weight-centric care can be a barrier to good physical and mental health. In my current projects I take a weight neutral position to focus on experiences and impacts of weight stigma throughout the pregnancy journey and in other healthcare contexts.

Teaching

Year 1

• PSY10036 - Introduction to Research Design for Psychology

Year 2

• PSY20050 - Qualitative Research Methods
• PSY20034 - Social Psychology in the Modern World

Year 3

• PSY30061 - Final Year Project

MSc

• PSY40081 – Advanced Studies in Health Inequalities