Dr Melinda Spencer

Dr Melinda Spencer is Senior Lecturer In Health Sciences and Programme Lead for Joint Honours Health Studies at the University of Northampton. Since 2013, Melinda has taught on psychology undergraduate modules and presently leads and teaches on several undergraduate and postgraduate modules in Health Studies, Health Sciences, Sport and Psychology including Health and Society, Psychology in Practice, Health in Later Life, Integrated Perspectives on Disease, Physical Activity and Society, Epidemiology, Research Methods and Dissertations.

Prior to lecturing, Melinda worked on several research projects with the Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Northampton. Melinda’s main research interests are family life transitions and relationships, familial carers, dancing for health and wellbeing, visual methods and experiential research methodologies. Her PhD research explored the lived experiences of becoming and being a young maternal grandmother using Interpretative phenomenological analysis. She is also collaborating with researchers at the Open University and Diabetes UK on several research projects. Melinda is an experienced superviosr and is currently supervising five PhD students and a Professional Doctorate student at the University of Northampton. 

Currently, Melinda is working in partnership with Dancemind on the Elders’ Dance Company programme that first ran at the beginning of 2020 before the first national lockdown. Melinda led the pilot programme evaluation and evaluated the follow on programme.  Melinda is now looking forward to working collaboratively with the Tina and Lucy (Dancemind) on evaluating the Elders’ Dance Company further, with funding from Arts Council England and internal funding to explore contemporary creative dance as a new social prescribing pathway.

Melinda’s main research interests are family life transitions and relationships, familial carers, dancing for health and wellbeing, visual methods and experiential research methodologies. Her PhD research explored the lived experiences of becoming and being a young maternal grandmother using Interpretative phenomenological analysis.