Staff Profile
Dr Ruth Knight
Senior Lecturer
I am a mental health researcher with a focus on the ways that social identity and neurodivergence influence mental health experiences, especially for those marginalized via sexuality, gender, and (dis)ability.
Most of my research adopts a co-production lens, using mixed methods and incorporating participatory approaches. I have studied at the University of Cambridge and the University of York, where I completed my PhD.
- School – School of Education, Language and Psychology
- Email – r.knight1@yorksj.ac.uk
- Research - View my work in RaY
- Postgraduate Research Supervisor
Further information
Teaching
I teach across our BSc, MSc and MRes Psychology programmes and supervise student research projects at undergraduate, master's and doctorate levels.
Currently, I contribute to the following modules:
- PSY4014M - Differential Psychology
- PSY6024M - Critical Approaches to Mental Health
- PSY6001M - Dissertation
- PSY7004M - Adolescent Development
- PSY7005M - MRes Thesis
- PSY8202M - Doctoral Thesis
Research
I am interested in the experiences of mental health that have traditionally been excluded in the field. This interest began during my PhD, during which I explored risk factors for disordered eating in the LGBTQ+ community. Since then, this has expanded to include mental health experiences in the neurodivergent and disabled communities, alongside LGBTQ+ people with a particular focus on marginalized genders.
Increasingly I adopt a mixed methods approach, incorporating more qualitative and arts-based methods throughout. I aim to use participatory and co-produced approaches throughout my research, with the intention of foregrounding the voices of the relevant communities.
I have lived experience of many of the phenomena that I do research around and am increasingly speaking around the nuances of balancing this alongside being an academic researcher.
Current funded projects
- Co-creating meaningful, accessible and manageable evaluation.
Institute for Social Justice Community Partnership Grant - in partnership with The Island, York. (PI | £9,250 | 2024-25) - Exploring the impact of gender and disability on disordered eating: giving voice to a marginalised and ignored experience.
Institute for Health and Care Improvement Pump Priming Grant. (PI | £9,530 | 2024-25)
Current PhD students
- Georgie Burton
- Sammy Williams
- Rosie Rogers
Publications and conferences
Journal articles
Knight, R. & Lambley, R. (2024) Using a novel autoethnographically-informed research design to explore participants' experiences of an educational arts programme at a UK university. Qualitative Methods in Psychology Bulletin, (37).
Knight, R., & Preston, C. (2023). Do selfies make women look slimmer? The effect of viewing angle on aesthetic and weight judgments of women’s bodies. Plos one,18(10), e0291987.
Knight, R., & Preston, C. (2023). Exploring the effects of gender and sexual orientation on disordered eating: an EFA to CFA study of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire. Journal of Eating Disorders, 11(1), 1-14.
Knight, R., Carey, M., Jenkinson, P., & Preston, C. (2022). The impact of sexual orientation on how men experience disordered eating and drive for muscularity. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 1-23.
Carey, M., Knight, R., & Preston, C. (2019). Distinct neural response to visual perspective and body size in the extrastriate body area. Behavioural brain research, 372, 112063.
Carey, M., Kupeli, N., Knight, R., Troop, N. A., Jenkinson, P. M., & Preston, C. (2019). Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q): Norms and psychometric properties in UK females and males. Psychological assessment, 31(7), 839.
Book chapters
Knight, R. (in press) The disordered disabled body: disordered eating in a disabled body. Voices of Eating Disorders
Hamilton, L. & Knight, R. (2024) Bridging double empathy gaps in the higher education classroom. PARC Double Empathy Reader
Public engagement
Knight, R. (2019) How summer increases the pressures of body image. The York Mix.
Knight, R. (2018) Male eating disorders. Attitude
Conference presentations
Talks
International Society for Theoretical Psychology Conference, May 2024: How does social media influence how we feel about our own bodies? Towards a theoretically-informed understanding of the effect of social media on body image.
CREW Research Showcase, King’s College London, November 2023: 'Disordered eating in marginalised communities: how can VR help us explore these experiences'
NCACE The Power of Collaborative Action III, March 2023: 'Role of communities in leading and shaping knowledge exchange.'
BACP Research Conference 2022: 'Using creative research methods with your own clients'
BPS Sexualities Division Conference 2021: 'How does sexuality influence disordered eating and drive for muscularity in men?'
Public engagement
University of York, The History, Present, and Future of LGBTQ+ Mental Health, 2024: Invited talk "Embodied experiences: how body image contributes to mental health experiences in LGBTQ+ communities"
Picture Blurrfect Podcast, 2023: Invited guest for episode "Why do we overlook disabilities in eating disorder research?"
CERT York St. John University 2021: Invited talk "How can we use quantitative methods to ask questions in mental health research?"
Pint of Science 2018: Talk in Marginalised Communities theme "A sensory experience of eating disorders"
