Laetitia Zeeman

She is the Equality and Diversity lead for the School of Sport and Health Sciences, and serves on the management board for the Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender (CTSG) at the University of Brighton. She is a member of Mental Health Nurse Academics UK (MHNAUK). Former roles include research lead for Mental Health at the School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton; leadership for Mental Health at University of Pretoria, South Africa; course leadership for BSc (Hons) Clinical Practice at the University of Southampton; and Clinical Governance lead in UK healthcare at the Priory. 

Current Research

• Narrating Difference - the Narrating Difference study explores the experiences of sex and gender variance in UK healthcare and legal settings with Dr Evan Hazenberg and Dr Maria Moscati.
• Health4LGBTI - Italy and UK health professional training for psychiatry.

Former Research

• LGBT⁺ Drinkaware - a systematic scoping review of alcohol use amongst gender and sexual minority people with Prof Catherine Meads, Prof Nigel Sherriff and Dr Kay Aranda.
• Health4LGBTI - "Health4LGBTI: Reducing health inequalities experienced by LGBTI people" explores the impact of social determinants on the health and healthcare inequalities of LGBTI people with Prof Nigel Sherriff, Dr Nick McGlynn, Alex Pollard and the Health4LGBTI consortium, funded by the European Commission. The political aim of this work is to address the causes of inequalities  experienced by minority groups. The output informs health service development and delivery for those who lead non-normative lives by acknowledging gender and sexual plurality. The research included developing a training programme for health professionals to address the specific health needs of LGBTI people.
• Covid-19 stories - investigating the impact of Covid-19 on local communities within East Sussex with Dr Alex Sawyer, Prof Nigel Sherriff and Dr Lester Coleman.
• Mental Health Practitioner Role Evaluation - a critique of discourses shaping mental health practice with the introduction of innovative roles such as the mental health practitioner role in Hampshire, UK with Dr Joanne Brown and Dr Lucy Simons. This initiative was designed to address workforce shortages in contemporary mental health practice.
• Analysis of the Discursive Construction of Gender - evolving from mental health practice, a critical discourse analysis aimed to understand the discursive construction of gender, in post-apartheid South Africa. This work questioned normative formations of gender and made visible how cultural and social change occurs, where gender identity, gender expression moved beyond binary formations towards gender plurality.

Supervision support can be provided to PhD students who are interested in queer theory, poststructuralism, the application of critical social theory, new materialism, intersectionality and feminist theory in health-related research. Focus areas include LGBTQ+ health and healthcare, resilience, trans health and mental health promotion. PhD students she has supervised to completion have worked on studies employing critical social theories and qualitative creative methods. She has examined PhD/Professional Doctorate studies in the UK and further afield.  

Current PhD students 

• H Howitt, Mike Phillips, Esther Omotola Ayoola, Amy Middleton, Aile Trumm 

Former PhD students

• Kim Brown, Tracey Harding, Adam Kincel, Jens Schneider

Students are encouraged to engage in learning activities that are collaborative combined with participation in discussion and critical debate to generate alternative ways of thinking. Drawing on contemporary health and critical social theory we aim to make meaning of lived experience and other sources of knowledge to co-produce writing and research around:

• Mental health
• Critical discourse analysis
• Narrative inquiry
• Critical reflection
• Research appraisal
• Evidence-based pactice and values-based practice
• Culture, health and wellbeing
• Gender and sexualities
• Health inequalities
• Intersectionality
• Equality and diversity awareness