Dr Maria Bissett is an interdisciplinary social and public health researcher working across colleges on GALLANT: Glasgow as a Living Lab for Novel Transformation and GRACE-Epi: Global Research on Arts, Cultural Engagement through advancing EPIdemiological methods. Her research focuses on developing inclusive, community-centred approaches to improving health and reducing inequalities, with a particular interest in arts-based and participatory approaches to health behaviour research. Maria completed her PhD in Social and Public Health (2025) at the University of Glasgow, where she developed a transcultural arts-based participatory approach to explore the drivers of diabetes and hypertension among African communities in Scotland and Malawi. Grounded in creative, decolonial, and participatory research principles, this work examined how culturally situated arts-based methods can deepen understanding of health behaviours and support more equitable research across diverse contexts. Her methodological expertise includes walkalong interviews, arts-based participatory workshops, photo-elicitation interviews, and co-design approaches to intervention development. She has worked closely with community members, artists, policymakers, and third-sector organisations to co-produce research and translate findings into accessible and impactful outputs. In her current role, Maria contributes to interdisciplinary research and intervention development spanning active travel, physical activity, arts and cultural engagement, and healthy ageing.

Health inequalities, physical activity and active travel, arts and cultural engagement, and arts-based participatory approaches

SCMH Research Theme: Metabolic Disease

List by: Type | Date