Rachel Forrester-Jones, PhD

Rachel Forrester-Jones headshot photo

Professor and Director

Room 203, HSB
519 661-2111 x86258
rforre@uwo.ca
Google Scholar

Education

  • PhD (University of Wales, Bangor)
  • Call to the Bar (Lincoln's Inn)
  • BA Laws, PGDBPS (University of Law)
  • GDL (College of Law)
  • PGCHE, PGDHE, MAHE (Distinction) (University of Kent)
  • BScEcon Hons with intercalary year (University of Wales, Swansea & University of Wisconsin La Crosse)

Graduate Program Supervision

  • Health and Rehabilitation Sciences MSc | PhD

Research In Profile

Professor Forrester-Jones’s research area scans the life course of people with intellectual disabilities and people with mental health issues, from early transitions to death and bereavement with a primary focus of advancing the social inclusion of vulnerable adults. This research has been conducted across Europe, UK and Brazil and more recently in the Middle East and North Africa. As a qualified Barrister, she is also interested in legal issues in relation to vulnerable adults. Professor Forrester-Jones was Director of the Tizard Centre, University of Kent, UK, Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy (CASP) and Head of Department of Social Policy and Sciences, University of Bath, UK before becoming Director of the School of Health Studies at Western. She has served as chair of various university ethics committees and has been contracted to edit a handbook on research ethics. Professor Forrester-Jones has over 280 research outputs including books, peer reviewed and practice-based articles, conference presentations and papers, peer reviewed research reports to NGOs, INGOs, governments, and various media invitations. She has won more than $16 million CAD in external research funding to date.

Featured Publications and Projects

Books

  • Forrester-Jones, R. (Ed) (forthcoming 2023) Handbook on Research Ethics in the Social Sciences (Contracted with Edward Elgar Publishing).
  • Malli, M. and Forrester-Jones, R. (forthcoming 2023) Tourette’s Syndrome, Stigma and Society (Contracted with Palgrave MacMillan)This book is co-authored with my former PhD student who is now a Research Associate at the University of Oxford.
  • Forrester-Jones, Rachel and Broadhurst, Sarah J. (2007) Autism and Loss. Jessica Kingsley, London, 207 pp. ISBN 9781843104339.
  • Forrester-Jones, Rachel and Grant, Gordon (1997) Resettlement from Large Psychiatric Hospital to Small Community residence: one step to freedom? Studies of Care in the Community. Ashgate Publishing Group, Aldershot, 226 pp. ISBN 9781859723630.

Select Chapters and Entries in Books and Dictionaries

  • Forrester-Jones, R, McCallion, P., McCarron, M., Stancliffe, R., Wiese, M. (2022) Accessible Funerals In Stancliffe, R. (Ed) End of life and people with intellectual and developmental disability: Contemporary issues, challenges, experiences and practice
  • Forrester-Jones, R. (2019) Legal Considerations. In Peter Baker and Tony Osgood (Eds) Understanding and responding to behaviour that challenges in intellectual disabilities. Pavillion, Shoreham by Sea 192 pp ISBN 978-1-911028-95-6
  • Sango, P. & Forrester-Jones, R., (2019), Spirituality and social networks of people with intellectual and developmental disability In: J. Clegg (Ed) New Lenses on Intellectual Disabilities. London: Routledge ISBN: 9780367335021
  • Palmer, N., and Forrester-Jones, R., (2018) Research Ethics Training: Using a Virtue Ethics Approach to Training to Support Development of Researcher Integrity. Chapter 3 In Nathan Emmerich (Ed) Virtue Ethics in the Conduct and Governance of Social Science Research, Advances in Research Ethics and Integrity, Volume 3, 65–82 SAGE
  • Forrester-Jones, Rachel (2014) Loss and People with Autism. In: Read, Sue, ed. Supporting people with intellectual disabilities experiencing loss and bereavement. Jessica Kingsley, London, pp. 165-174. ISBN 978-1-84905-369-3. http://kar.kent.ac.uk/48664/
  • Forrester-Jones, Rachel and Grant, Gordon (1995) Social networks, support and the resettlement of people with long-term mental health problems. In: Crosby, Charles and Barry, Margaret, eds. Community Care: Provision of Mental Health Services in North Wales. Studies of Care in the Community, Avebury, Aldershot, pp. 111-135. ISBN 9781856285315. http://kar.kent.ac.uk/33143/

Peer-Reviewed Articles

  • James, M. L., & Forrester-Jones, R. (2022). Human-Centred Design in UK Asylum Social Protection. Social Sciences, 11(9), 387. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11090387
  • Malli, M. A., & Forrester-Jones, R. (2022). Stigma and Adults with Tourette’s Syndrome:“Never Laugh at Other People’s Disabilities, Unless they have Tourette’s—Because How Can You Not?”. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 34(5), 871-897. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-021-09829-2
  • Forrester-Jones, R., Beecham, J., Randall, A., Harrison, R., Malli, M., Sams, L. and Murphy, G. (2021). The Impact of Austerity Measures on People with Intellectual Disabilities in England. Journal of Long-Term Care, 241–255. http://doi.org/10.31389/jltc.59
  • Forrester-Jones, Rachel and Barnes, Anna (2008) On being a girlfriend not a patient: The quest for an acceptable identity amongst people diagnosed with a severe mental illness. Journal of Mental Health, 17 (2). pp. 153-172. ISSN 0963-8237. , DOI: 10.1080/09638230701498341
  • Forrester-Jones, Rachel and Cambridge, Paul and Carpenter, John and Tate, Alison and Beecham, Jennifer and Hallam, Angela and Knapp, Martin R J. and Coolen-Schrijner, Pauline and Wooff, David (2006) The Social Networks of People with Intellectual Disability Living in the Community 16. Years after Resettlement from Long-Stay Hospitals. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 19 (4). pp. 285-295. ISSN 1360-2322 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1468-3148.2006.00263.x
  • Forrester-Jones, Rachel and Jones, Samantha and Heason, Sophie (2004) Supported employment: a route to social networks. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 17 (3). pp. 199-208. ISSN 1360-2322.
    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1468-3148.2004.00199.x
  • Cambridge, Paul and Forrester-Jones, Rachel (2003) Using individualised communication for interviewing people with intellectual disability: a case study of user-centred research. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 28 (1). pp. 5-23. http://kar.kent.ac.uk/612/

Visit Google Scholar for a comprehensive list of publications.

Current Grants and Research Projects

Conflict and peace-building in the MENA region: is social protection the missing link?

  • This project brings together a host of UK and international leaders and partner organizations to undertake an ambitions program of cross-disciplinary innovation and capability development in the governance of social policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
  • Funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK

Policy labs for multi-stakeholder engagement on social protection: case studies in Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia

  • The aim of this project is to support more effective and efficient social policymaking in social protection (public health, disability policy and social security) within the Middle East and North Africa through:
    • Enhanced problem-solving skills among health, social care and social security policy makers
    • Stronger coordination between government and civil society groups;
    • Increased accountability towards citizens
    • Funded by the Ford Foundation

Bridging the translation gap between disability policy and practice in search of flourishing lives (recently completed)

  • This project uses a Capability Approach to explore how learning disabled people can be supported to lead flourishing lives. A Capability Approach highlights the importance of people being able to do the things they value which is the key to wellbeing but is rarely used in social care. This study examines what enabling support looks like to those who receive social care and how it can be put into practice.
  • Funded by National Institute for Health Research

Featured Graduate Student Projects

Children and Adolescents’ Obesity Prevention Policies in Qatar: Links, Gaps and Opportunities

  • Mariam Alisi (co-supervisor)

The impact of Universal Credit on low income and non-working families

  • Levana Magnus (second supervisor)

Withholding CPR from me in an emergency – do I get a say? Exploratory study of the barriers and facilitators to the participation of adults with intellectual disabilities in do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation decision making

  • Ivan Olbrechts (lead supervisor)

The Impact of Public Procurement on Specialist Women's Refugees in the UK

  • Baljit Banga (lead supervisor)

The impact of community-based social protection on the wellbeing of asylum seekers in the UK

  • Michelle James (lead supervisor)

Additional Information

Academic Appointments and Research Affiliations

  • Cross-Appointed Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Schulich Medicine & Dentistry
  • Middle East and North Africa Research Group (MENARG) member
  • Honorary Professor of Social Policy, University of Bath
  • Associate Member and Hon Prof of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy, University of Bath

Professional Activities

  • Member of Senate and SCUP, Western University
  • Legal Advisor Panel Member (CBF, MENCAP, NAS)
  • Faculty Consultant, International School of Disability Studies (ISDS), Abuja, Nigeria
  • Connecting Curriculum Undergraduate Health Sciences Programs member
  • Honorary Professor of Social Policy, University of Bath 2021-present
  • Associate Member and Hon Prof of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy, University of Bath
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Senior Fellow of the National Institute of Health Research School for Social Care
  • Co-Chair of the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) Task Force on ID
  • Co-Chair of the PEPIC Palliative and End of Life Care for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (now also during Covid-19) international research group,
  • Editorial Board Member: Tizard Learning Disability Review
  • Associate Editor: Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability
  • Scientific Board Member: Italian Sociological Review
  • Academic Reviewer: NIHR School for Social Care grant applications; NIHR Policy Research Programme RfPB Competitions.
  • Academic Reviewer Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disability; Disabilities Studies Quarterly; Journal for Intellectual Disability Research
  • Honorary member of the 1st 500 and 2nd 500 Club (University of Kent alumni from initial 1965 intake)

Media Highlights