Dr Sarah Kantartzis (DipCOT, MSC, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in the Occupational Therapy & Arts Therapies Division. She is also an Associate member of the Centre for Applied Social Sciences and the Centre for Person-centred Practice Research.
- Overview
- Research Interests
- Research Publications
- Teaching & Learning
Sarah has worked in the UK and Greece, with experience in mental health and child and family services, but primarily working in education at Bachelor, Master and Doctoral level. Throughout her career she has been active in developing international collaborations, with learning and research opportunities for students and colleagues.
Interested in the development of the profession she has been active in national and international professional organisations; Greek delegate to the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT), Secretary to the Hellenic Board of Ergotherapists, (Vice) President of the European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education (ENOTHE), and most recently Chairperson of Occupational Science Europe.
Deepening interest in occupation, diversity, cultural relativity and power, led to doctoral studies reconceptualising occupation in the Greek context. Developing ideas around family and collective occupation, as well as processes of participatory citizenship, social inclusion and social transformation through occupation have guided her work, including coordination of the ELSITO European Learning Partnership, membership of the ENOTHE citizenship project group, and she co-founded the Social Transformation through Occupation network. She is currently coordinating QMU’s partnership in the P4Play European Joint Doctoral Programme in occupational science and play including supervision of three doctoral candidates.
She positions occupation as central to processes of change and to supporting all people’s health and well-being, while recognizing the situated nature and social determinants of occupation. She supports the contribution of occupational therapists and occupational scientists in the development and implementation of policy and practice related to supporting the health of communities as well as individuals. She is involved in research and scholarship related to citizenship, social transformation, occupation (including the concept of collective occupation and the occupation of drinking alcohol). She currently delivers educational modules in occupational science at Doctoral, Masters and Bachelor level education, is academic lead on final year students’ dissertation projects collaborating with external partners, and supervises doctoral candidates.
Affiliations/Memberships to Other Organisations:
- British Association of Occupational Therapists. Hellenic Association of Occupational Therapists. International Society for Occupational Science. Occupational Science Europe. European Social Anthropology Assocation.
Research/Knowledge Exchange Centre Membership:
- Associate member of the Centre for Applied Social Sciences
- Associate member of the Centre for Person-centred Practice Research
My doctoral research, exploring the concept of occupation within the Greek context, was positioned within the discipline of occupational science. I am particularly interested in the relationship between the occupation of everyday life in our communities (individual, family and collective occupation) and health and experiences of well-being. This particularly focuses on the impact of space and time as well as the social on the construction of daily occupation and its iterative relationship with the social world.
I am co-editor of a book on “Occupation-based social inclusion” (publication early 2017), with proposal for ongoing work with authors and editors towards research and practice developments.
As a member of the ENOTHE European project group on Citizenship, with members from UK, Tunisia and Spain, we are exploring the concept of citizenship, particularly participatory citizenship, and its relation to occupation in practice and education.
Active Research Interests:
- Social inclusion; citizenship; collective occupation and community development and cohesion; occupation, health and well-being; culture and occupation.
Research Methods:
- Ethnography; Narrative
Sarah's seminars and lectures focus on occupational science; occupation, health and well-being; collective occupation; community development; social inclusion; final year projects; occupational therapy theory; citizenship; occupation-based public health and health promotion.
