Christina is a Research Associate at the University of Glasgow, working on the WHO Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Her current work focuses on understanding the health and wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland within a broader international context. Christina has extensive experience in quantitative research and analysis, particularly in relation to contextually-sensitive measures of childhood adversity, mental health, and evaluating the role of social protection interventions in mitigating long-term mental health outcomes.

Before joining the University of Glasgow, Christina completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh. Her doctoral thesis, embedded within the ERC-funded INTERRUPT_VIOLENCE project in South Africa, explored how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) shape adult mental health outcomes, and whether social protection interventions in the form of cash transfers can mitigate poor mental health in low-resource, high-ACE contexts. During her subsequent research fellowship on the same project, she explored identifying "interrupters" of the intergenerational continuity of violence.

Christina has a strong track record of working in interdisciplinary and international teams, with collaborations across academia, NGOs, and policy. Her research is driven by a commitment to producing evidence that can directly inform policy and practice, improving health and wellbeing outcomes for children and families.

Alongside her academic career, Christina has practitioner experience, where she worked one-to-one with children and families in the field of child protection. This frontline experience continues to shape her research, grounding it in the realities of children and young people and strengthening her focus on policy and practice impact.

Christina is a convenor for the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect's Network for Emerging eXperTise in Child Protection (ISPCAN NEXT)

1. Mental health
2. Context specific adverse childhood experiences 
3. Social protection interventions 
4. Social determinants of health 
5. Intergenerational transmission of violence 
6. Protective and interrupting factors 
7. Child and adolescent health behaviours

Prior publications