The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology

Professor Carla Willig graduated from the University of Manchester in 1986. She then embarked upon postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge where she was awarded an MPhil in Criminology in 1987. She stayed at Cambridge in order to conduct her doctoral research into the ′Social Construction of AIDS Knowledge′ which she completed in 1991. Professor Willig has held teaching positions at the University of Plymouth (1991-3) Middlesex University (1993-9) and City University London (1999 onwards). From 2001, she undertook additional training at Regents College, London, and qualified as an Existential Counselling Psychologist in 2005.

Wendy is a critical psychologist, working mainly, these days, in health. On the basis of her work on alternative approaches to health behaviour, she was appointed by the UK′s NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) to its Development Group on Behaviour Change, preparing and disseminating recommendations to the National Health Service and other statutory bodies on ′best practice′ in relation to behaviour change interventions and programmes at individual, community and population levels. Wendy is currently the chair of the International Society for Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP).