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Ian.Marsh

Dr Ian Marsh

& Research Supervisor

Ian is a Reader within the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Work, and the University Suicide-Safe Lead.

I am a Reader in the School of Allied Health at Canterbury Christ Church University, and the University Suicide-Safer project lead. I am interested in critical approaches to health and social care, particularly as they relate to suicide and suicide prevention. I am currently involved in research on online harms for UK Samaritans, and on suicide in public places for the railway industry, National Highways, and at coastal locations. I am academic lead for the Kent and Medway Suicide Prevention Group, and was a founding member of the Critical Suicide Studies Network. My publications include Suicide: Foucault, History and Truth (Cambridge University Press, 2010); Critical Suicidology: Toward Creative Alternatives (UBC Press, 2016) and Suicide and Social Justice: New Perspectives on the Politics of Suicide and Suicide Prevention (Routledge, 2020).

  • Suicide Prevention
  • Discourse Analysis
  • Disability Studies

Research interests & Supervison

Do you want to do a research degree? Are you interested in Medicine, Health and Social Care or related topics? Then I would be pleased to hear from you.

2023-2026: Effectiveness of Surveillance Technologies to Prevent Suicides at High-Risk Locations - NIHR Public Health Research (PHR) Programme

2020-2022: Coastal Suicide Project – East Sussex County Council / Kent County Council / South East Service Led Improvement Grant

2020-2021: Factors Deterring and Prompting the Decision to Attempt Suicide on England’s Strategic Road Network: A Multi-Methodological Analysis - Highways England

2019-2020: Suicide on the Railways in Great Britain: A Multi-Disciplinary Analysis (with Middlesex University and SOAS) - Network Rail

2019-2020: Coastal Suicide / National Trust - Kent County Council 

Research Projects

  • A Qualitative Study to Explore the Experience of Therapeutic Self-Disclosure and Shared Lived Experience in Occupational Therapy Practice. Researcher(s): Ms Sarah Harvey. Supervisor(s): Dr Ian Marsh, Professor Douglas MacInnes. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Advice provided in the report. Researcher(s): Mrs Gail Sheppard. Supervisor(s): Dr Ian Marsh, Professor Eleni Hatzidimitriadou. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • An exploration of the factors impacting on Student Mental Health Nurses' development towards empathic post-registration practice. Researcher(s): Mr Niall Mclaughlin. Supervisor(s): Dr Ian Marsh, Professor Douglas MacInnes. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
  • Developing a suicide prevention implementation plan for older adults in Kent and Medway. Researcher(s): Dr Ian Marsh. [Project report]
  • Developing a suicide prevention programme to address the increase in prison suicides in Kent. Researcher(s): Dr Ian Marsh. [Project report]
  • Mental health and Wellbeing of Prison Officers. Researcher(s): Dr Sarah Maginn. Supervisor(s): Professor Douglas MacInnes, Dr Ian Marsh. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Primum non nocere A Critical Realist Evaluation of Civility in the Healthcare Setting; what works for whom, in what contexts and why?. Researcher(s): Ms Dee Munro. Supervisor(s): Professor Kim Manley, Dr Ian Marsh. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
  • Sites of resistance: an online ethnography of harm reduction work within community drug treatment services.. Researcher(s): Miss Adele Phillips. Supervisor(s): Professor Shane Blackman, Dr Ian Marsh. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Suicide Prevention: A cross-sectional study of working-age adults with high functioning autism* and the relationship to suicidal behaviours.. Researcher(s): Mrs MARGARET DEAN. Supervisor(s): Dr Ian Marsh, Dr Ian Marsh. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Suicide, society, power and hate: a feminist, intersectional, social-justice orientated analysis of fatal and nonfatal suicidal behaviour. Researcher(s): Ms Annie Hayford. Supervisor(s): Dr Toni Wright, Dr Ian Marsh. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Ten years on: the impact of embedded discourses on the culture of adult safeguarding practice in England under the Care Act 2014. Researcher(s): Mrs Erin King. Supervisor(s): Professor Janet Melville-Wiseman, Dr Ian Marsh, Dr Alex Cockain. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Universities UK 'How to Respond to a Student Suicide' and 'Reducing Access to Means' Reference Group.
  • Beachy Head Operations Group
  • Academic Lead for Kent and Medway Suicide Prevention Steering Group
  • Critical Suicide Studies Network