Dr Melania Calestani

Faculty of Health, Science, Social Care and Education
Department of Midwifery
School of Education, Midwifery and Social Work
Kingston Hill

Senior Lecturer and Director of Postgraduate Studies

[email protected]

About

I am an anthropologist with postdoctoral experience in health services research/social sciences and I have been the Director of Postgraduate Studies (School of Education, Midwifery and Social Work, and School of Nursing, Allied and Public Health) since September 2025.

I teach on undergraduate/postgraduate degrees in Midwifery, contributing to the social and political context of birth modules (Year 1, 2 and 3). As department lead for research, I am in charge of the Ways of Knowing thread, which is integrated into all modules to ensure the assimilation of research knowledge and its application to clinical practice. I have been supervising PhD students and Masters students researching different topics. I am an active member of the Midwifery Tackling Racism Working Group and have been acting as the chair of the Group since September 2023. I also lead the new Inequalities and Critical Midwifery Studies Special Interest Group.

I have experience of carrying out research in Europe, the UK, Bolivia and Mexico. My main research interests include critical understandings of race and ethnicity, health inequalities and perspectives from critical medical anthropology. Throughout my studies and professional work, I have had a personal and passionate engagement with biosocial research concerning health, disease and well-being and, theoretically, I have engaged with perspectives form critical medical anthropology and epidemiology, linking the macro with the micro level. I am interested in perspectives from the margins, critical theory and social justice.

Qualifications

PgCert, Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Kingston University
PhD, Anthropology, Goldsmiths (University of London)
MRes, Anthropology, Goldsmiths (University of London)
MSc, Anthropology and Ecology of Development, UCL (University of London)
MSc (3 years + 1), Geography, University of Genoa (Italy)

Domains

My work in Bolivia for my PhD (2009) in anthropology has focused on individual and collective definitions of 'the good life', exploring religious and medical pluralism among Aymara people. In the UK, I carried out research on processes of decision-making and person-centred care in the NHS. My research interests also include critical understandings of race and ethnicity, health inequalities and perspectives from critical medical anthropology. Throughout my studies and professional work, I have had a personal and passionate engagement with biosocial research concerning health, disease and well-being and, theoretically, I have engaged with perspectives form critical medical anthropology and epidemiology, linking the macro with the micro level. I am interested in perspectives from the margins, critical theory and social justice.

Projects

Exploring your Experience of Term Induction of Labour (EYEIoL study). Research with ethnically minoritised women.
Exploring the Impact of Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment on Fertility Preservation and Pregnancy Outcomes in the UK: An Intersectional Approach.
The Interdisciplinary Climate, Culture, Health, and Gender Network (INTERCLIME): Heat and Maternal Health. Funded by the Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness (Sept 2026-March 2027).

Awards

2017 Jim Lewis Prize for the most innovative article in the journal European Urban and Regional Studies: Gregson, N., Crang, M., Botticello, J., Calestani, M. and Krzywoszynska, A. "Doing the 'dirty work' of the green economy: Resource recovery and migrant labour in the EU" in European Urban and Regional Studies 23.4 (2016): 541-555.
2010 Ashby Prize for the most innovative article in the journal Environment and Planning A: Gregson, N., Watkins, H. and Calestani, M. ‘Inextinguishable Fibres: Demolition and the Vital Materialism of Asbestos' in Environment and Planning A, 2010, Volume 42 (5), pages: 1065-1083.
2009 Best dissertation award granted by the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) PhD Thesis with fieldwork in Bolivia.

PhD/EdD (Doctor of Education) students

Completed

PhD

Dr Brian Lally, Syrian refugee experiences of education in Lebanon: voices from the margins (KU studentship).

Current Students

PhD

Paula Cummins, Understanding the Lived Experiences of Black Midwives in England: Racialisation, Racism, and the Impact on Professional Development (SEDarc funding).
Grace Whordley, Birth choice; power and inequality in women’s expectations and experiences of childbirth (KU studentship).
Jenny Cunningham, How experiences of weight stigma impact higher-weight women during their maternity care (KU studentship).
Eva Said, Improving practice through the collaborative development of a clinical nursing education model within the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Anna Hockley, UCL, Speech and language therapists' decision-making for communication support in dementia (ESRC studentship).

EdD

Agnieszka Buckley, Through Their Eyes: Compassion Fatigue among NQSWs.
David Gumbrell, Role models for newly qualified teachers: a phenomenological study.
Claire Mckellow, Students’ experiences of gamification techniques in midwifery education.
Helen Potkin, Ecologies of theory and practice: enquiring into everyday practices, events and relations in the contemporary art school.

Publications

How experiences of weight stigma impact higher-weight women during their maternity care: a meta-ethnography.

Cunningham, Jenny, Calestani, Dr. Melania and Coxon, Dr. Kirstie, 2024, Midwifery, E-pub ahead of print

Dr Melania Calestani

About

Qualifications

Domains

Teaching and learning

Research

Publications

Articles

Books

Book Sections/Chapters

Conference Items

Theses

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