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Dr Sohail Jannesari

Lecturer in Global Health
E: S.Jannesari@bsms.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)79 2323 2006
Location: Global Health and Infection Department, Brighton and Sussex Medical School Medical School Teaching Building, University of Sussex, Falmer, BN1 9PX

Areas of expertise: Research Ethics, Qualitative Methods, Participatory Approaches, Migration and Mental Health

Research areas: Migration, Modern Slavery, Mental Health, Decolonisation

Other relevant positions: HEA Associate Fellow, City of Sanctuary Advisory Board Member, Doctors of the World Expert Consortium Member, Inspiring Ethics Co-Convener, Stolen Tools Founder

Twitter handle: @SohailJannesari

Preferred gender pronouns: He/him

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Biography

Sohail is a Lecturer in Global Health, having completed a postdoctoral position at King’s College London researching outcomes for survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery. He completed a PhD on the effects of the asylum process on the mental health of Iranians and Afghans using a participatory approach and a postcolonial lens. He is also the project lead on the Stolen Tools anti-racism journal, co-convener of the Inspiring Ethics group and co-developed a guide for mental health professionals working with Afghan sanctuary seekers. He founded the Migrant Connections Festival and Walk and Talk Migrant Welcome Tour charities, and co-founded the Cotton Tree Trust. You can find out more about his work on his website.

Research

Sohail is interested in the intersection between migration, colonialism and mental health, and has used a postcolonial lens to examine the violence of the asylum process as well as people’s resistance to it. He uncovered the orientalism of the government and charity responses, explored the everyday struggle of people seeking asylum, looked at cultural concepts of mental health, and detailed people’s coping strategies. You can find summaries of his findings in the research sections of his website.

A large part of Sohail's research focuses on how to develop ethical research practices and researchers. He looks at extraction in the research process and the challenges innovative qualitative methods produce. He is interested in re-forming ethics committees, facilitating the creation of community ethics boards and understanding ethical values across cultures. You can join their ethical discussion group by emailing Sohail or inspiringethics@kcl.ac.uk.

Lastly, he is interested in research that has a direct, positive impact on the people it works with. He uses participatory methods to work with participants to try and achieve this. This has resulted in non-academic, practical outputs such as a guide for mental health practitioners working with Afghan sanctuary seekers, and a poetry anthology around asylum and mental health.

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Teaching

Sohail aims to adopt decolonial practices and agendas wherever possible in his teaching, and draw on participatory approaches. His actions and aspirations include decentring whiteness in the curriculum, developing more horizontal modes of learning such as peer assessment, encouraging reflective practice around researcher/student positionality and identities, using different mediums in the teaching process, creating learning materials that are free to access wherever possible, and building in impact.

Publications

Jannesari (2022). Exploring the challenges of working with migrants, migrant organisations and migrant communities: An ethnography of participatory action research projects. New Sociological Perspectives.

Jannesari, Khyber, Modasser, Yousofi, Amini, Akbari-Noor (2022). Working with Afghan Sanctuary Seekers: A guide for mental health professionals. ESRC Policy Institute.

The association of migration and ethnicity with use of the Improving Access to Psychological Treatment (IAPT) programme: a general population cohort study

Bhavsar, V., Jannesari, S., McGuire, P., MacCabe, J., Das-Munshi, J., Bhugra, D., Dorrington, S., Brown, J., Hotopf, M. & Hatch, S., Nov 2021, In: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. 56, 11, p. 1943-1956

Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
How does context influence the delivery of mental health interventions for asylum seekers and refugees in low- and middle-income countries? A qualitative systematic review

Jannesari, S., Lotito, C., Oram, S., Turrini, G. & Barbui, C., 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: International Journal Of Mental Health Systems.

Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Seeking sanctuary: rethinking asylum and mental health

Jannesari, S., Hatch, S. & Oram, S., 13 Aug 2020, In: Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences. 29, p. e154 e154.

Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Post-migration social environmental factors associated with mental health problems among asylum seekers: a systematic review

Jannesari, S., 2 May 2020, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of immigrant and minority health.

Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
What affects the mental health of people seeking asylum in the UK? A narrative analysis of migration stories

Jannesari, S., Molyneaux, E. F. L. & Lawrence, V. C., 7 Mar 2019, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Qualitative Research in Psychology.

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