Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Dr Kirsty Budds
Senior Lecturer
Research Assistant
Kirsty is a critical health psychologist and qualitative researcher. She is a Chartered Psychologist and full member of the BPS Division of Health Psychology. Her key research interests are in the topics of women's reproductive health and parenting.
Before joining Leeds Beckett University, Kirsty completed her PhD at the University of Huddersfield. Following this, she worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Lancaster, and after that as a Lecturer in Psychology at Keele University from 2013. She joined Leeds Beckett as a Senior Lecturer in Psychology in 2019.
Kirsty's research interests sit broadly within the topics of women's reproductive health and parenting.
Current Teaching
- Psychology and Mental Health (Module Leader) - Level 4
- Applying Psychology (Onsite) (Module Leader) - Level 7
Research Interests
With reference to reproductive health, Kirsty is currently undertaking a programme of research which is focused on exploring women's experiences of the preconception period and their engagement with health and lifestyle recommendations during this time. Taking a feminist approach, she is interested in understanding the implications of preconception health recommendations for women, such as on their experiences of trying to conceive a baby. She is also working on a project examining perceptions of breastfeeding in public with Dr Alexandra Kent (Keele University), and Dr Joanne Meredith (University of Wolverhampton).
Kirsty also has an interest in parenting. To date, her work has considered the way in which dominant discourses of 'good mothering' have implications for women's timing of motherhood, with reference to 'delayed motherhood', but also their experiences of the transition to motherhood and taking care of young babies.
She is interested in supervising PhD or MRes students in any of the above areas.
Ask Me About
- Feminism
- Gender
- Health
- Public health
Selected Outputs
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Budds K; Locke A; Burr V (2014) Combining Forms of Discourse Analysis: A Critical Discursive Psychological Approach to the Study of ‘Older’ Motherhood [Online]
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Jones GL; Budds K; Taylor F; Musson D; Raymer J; Churchman D; Kennedy SH; Jenkinson C (2023) A systematic review to determine use of the Endometriosis Health Profiles to measure quality of life outcomes in women with endometriosis. Human Reproduction Update, pp. 1-29.
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Kent A; Meredith J; Budds K (2023) ‘Surely a little discretion isn’t too difficult’? The discursive construction of discretion in users’ comments on UK newspaper articles about public breastfeeding. Psychology and Health: an international journal, pp. 1-19.
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Mcsorley L; Deighton-Smith N; Budds K; Wang X (2022) “Hang in there mama!”: The role of online parenting forums in maternal mental health. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace
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Budds K (2021) Validating social support and prioritizing maternal wellbeing: beyond intensive mothering and maternal responsibility. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 376 (1827),
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Budds K (2020) Fit to conceive? Representations of preconception health in the UK press. Feminism and Psychology
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Locke A; Budds K (2020) Applying Critical Discursive Psychology to Health Psychology Research: A practical guide. Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, 8 (1), pp. 234-247.
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Kent A; Berry DM; Budds K; Skipper Y; Williams HL (2017) Promoting writing amongst peers: establishing a community of writing practice for early career academics. Higher Education Research & Development, 36 (6), pp. 1194-1207.
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Budds K; Hogg MK; Banister EN; Dixon M (2017) Parenting agendas: An empirical study of intensive mothering and infant cognitive development. The Sociological Review, 65 (2), pp. 336-352.
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Banister EN; Hogg MK; Budds K; Dixon M (2016) Becoming respectable: low-income young mothers, consumption and the pursuit of value. Journal of Marketing Management, 32 (7-8), pp. 652-672.
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Budds K; Locke A; Burr V (2016) “For some people it isn’t a choice, it’s just how it happens”: Accounts of “delayed” motherhood among middle-class women in the UK. Feminism & Psychology, 26 (2), pp. 170-187.
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Locke A; Budds K (2013) ‘We thought if it’s going to take two years then we need to start that now’: age, infertility risk and the timing of pregnancy in older first-time mothers. Health, Risk & Society, 15 (6-07), pp. 525-542.
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Budds K; Locke A; Burr V (2013) “Risky Business”. Feminist Media Studies, 13 (1), pp. 132-147.
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Meredith J; Richardson E; Kent A; Budds K (2022) Designing qualitative research using online newspaper comments. In: The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Design. SAGE, pp. 821-834.
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Budds K; Locke A; Burr V (2017) Using Discourse Analysis in Social Psychology. In: Brooks J; King N ed. Applied Qualitative Research in Psychology. Macmillan International Higher Education, pp. 144-157.
News & Blog Posts
Representations of preconception health in the media
