Dr Daria Ukhova
- Research Associate (Sociological & Cultural Studies)
- Associate (School of Health & Wellbeing)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9554-8604Biography
I am an interdisciplinary feminist social scientist with interest in sociology of health and well-being. I am currently a Research Associate in Sociology leading policy workstream of the Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling. I am also an Associate at the School of Health and Wellbeing’s Social Scientists in Health group.
Before joining UoG, I completed a Ph.D. in Sociology at the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (2021). I also hold an M.Sc. in Comparative Social Policy (health) from the University of Oxford (2010); an MA in Women's and Gender Studies from Central European University & Utrecht University (2009), and a BA (hons) in Psychology from St.Petersburg State University (2007).
I have more than ten years of experience in applied social research. Prior to and in parallel with my Ph.D., I held in-house research and policy positions and provided research consultancy services at Oxfam, WHO, and European Institute for Gender Equality.
Research interests
I am a feminist social scientist with an interdisciplinary background in psychology, gender studies, health policy, and sociology. My main research interests lie at the intersection of these (inter-)disciplinary fields and currently focus on 1) how gender and class–as social structures–impact health and well-being; and 2) equitable health and social policy. I also have broad interests in sociology of gender and feminist research methodologies that I was lucky to have time to explore as part of my Ph.D. Being a Russian speaker and having spent significant parts of my academic and professional life in post-socialist countries, I have conducted multiple empirical studies in those contexts. However, my work has brought me all around the world – from Latin America to Western Pacific, and I also enjoy working on large-scale regional and global comparative policy research projects.
Projects I particularly enjoyed working on included:
- Evidence review on gender inequities in health in Western Pacific region and development of gender mainstreaming resource
- Baseline assessment of health system reponses to violence against women in WHO European Region
- Case study on how a community led national alliance of Indigenous women’s organisations has improved the delivery of healthcare for Indigenous women in Guatemala
- Evidence review on women's health and well-being in Europe that has served as an evidence base for the Strategy of Women's Health and Wellbeing in WHO European Region
- Providing policy advice and background research for Oxfam's global Even It Up campaign
- Assessment of gender responsiveness of the National Child and Adolescent Health and Development Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period 2008-2015
Having always maintained a strong interest in mental health and its structural determinants, in 2021, I joined UoG where I work as part of Gambling Research Glasgow team currently preparing Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling (LPHCG). At LPHCG, I lead policy workstream looking at how countries around the world are integrating public health approaches into their policy responses to gambling-related harms. While in this post, I also co-authored a study on young women sports bettors in the UK (forthcoming in an edited collection).
For more details, check my Linkedin and my google scholar profiles.
For Russian speakers out there, in these podcasts I discuss my feminist research work on gambling and beyond.
Research groups
Grants
Research funding
2019: WHO: Development of products on gender mainstreaming for WHO Western Pacific Region (Co-PI)
2018: WHO: Evidence report and factsheet on the relation between SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment) (PI)
2018: WHO: Technical support to country teams working on the success factors case studies of multisectoral collaboration to improve maternal, newborn and child health in Germany and Guatemala (Co-PI)
2016: Oxfam: Briefing paper on women's work in Asia for WEF ASEAN 2016 (Co-PI)
2016: Oxfam: Case studies on tax system in Lagos, Nigeria and on health insurance system in Ghana for the Oxfam West Africa regional report on inequality (PI)
2015: WHO: Assessment of the implementation of the National Child and Adolescent Health Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period 2008-2015 from the gender and health equity perspective (PI)
2015: WHO: European Women’s Health Report (Co-PI)
2011-12: World Bank/University of Pennsylvania: Research on foreign-educated academic professionals in Russia
Scholarships
DAAD STIBET Dissertation Completion Scholarship, University of Bremen, Germany; 2020
Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences Study Abroad Scholarship (DAAD standards), Germany; 2017
Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences Ph.D. Fellowship, Germany; 2015-2018
CEU Summer University Scholarship, Hungary; 2011
Hill Foundation Scholarship, UK; 2009-2010
Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, European Commission; 2007-2009
Supervision
At Masters level I have supervised dissertations on:
- Challenges in applying anti-domestic violence law in China (MSc. Global health, 2024)
- Cultural norms, gender inequality, and menstrual stigma in India (MSc. Global health, 2025)
Teaching
At UoG, I co-teach on two courses in the School of Social and Political Sciences. I teach on gender and health in a BA course on Sociology of Gender and on reproductive labour in an MA Contemporary Approaches to Gender Relations course.
During my PhD, jointly with Dr Anna Wolkenhauer, I designed and taught an undergraduate course Social Policy in International Development at the University of Bremen, Germany. In that period, I was also an invited lecturer on Critical Approaches to International Development at the Annual Alumni Workshop (2017), Hertie School, Berlin, Germany.
Prior to starting the PhD, I had gained experience in adult training design and facilitation within the international development sector. In 2012-2013, at Oxfam, I designed a training on research for advocacy and delivered it for 50+ staff in four country offices (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia). In 2011, at WHO/EURO, I co-designed and co-facilitated a training on gender mainstreaming for the Ministry of Health of Turkmenistan.
In 2008, during my master’s in gender studies, I was a tutor at the NOISE summer school on intersectionality and interdisciplinarity at Utrecht University, Netherlands.
