Overview
My skills across different academic and creative arts subjects and natural dyslexic systems-thinking brain/big picture cognition orientation have given me a breadth of expertise. I approach my research, analytical, conceptual design, and advisory work as a behavioural and social scientist, environmental psychologist and public health researcher with a wide palet of academic and creative disciplines, methods, techniques, and knowledge that can be blended together to create stronger and more systemic approaches than just working with a single discipline. I have worked in many different sectors during my career including with UN and EU agencies and government international development departments, a non-profit environmental think tank, a private humanitarian medical company, civil engineering and energy companies, human rights, refugee and other international NGOs, and I started my career as a radio reporter with the BBC. When I am hired as a consultant, organisations and governments get a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral problem-solver, rather than a narrowly focused expert!
Being Differently Wired = Born With A Systems-Thinking Brain
As a dyslexic and dyspraxic person, I have some ‘natural’ advantages. These include ‘big picture’ or ‘global overview’ thinking – seeing everything from top-down and as a system with dynamics, interconnected parts; and also able to visualise it from bottom-up and in 3D; advanced psychological sensitivity and perception; a high level of emotional intelligence and empathy; and expert social relationship-building and social communication skills. My leadership style is based on understanding each person’s unique strengths (and how to utilise the strengths of neurodivergence), listening and empathising to get the best out of the people I manage, straightforward, direct speech, and the ability to get along with and build relationships with people of all background and at all levels, with a modicum of silly humour.
I've Studied A Lot Of Different Subjects
I am also extremely lucky to have both creative and academic skills, which has lent itself to having studied a range of subjects for university degrees. I conducted interdiscplinary research across psychology, social anthropology, sociology, public health and epidemiology, public policy and urban planning for my Post-Doctoral studies. My D.Phil (PhD) research and fieldwork study blended theory and methods from social and cultural anthropology, social psychology and sociology.
I am currently doing an M.Sc Psychology for my 4th masters degree. I hold previous Masters degrees in Public Health (epidemiology, biostatistics, behavioural and social science, disease prevention and health promotion, global health policy), Visual Anthropology (using film, photography and art to document and analyse cultures), and Social Anthropology of the European region with a dissertation specialism in Icelandic music and culture. For my BA Music & Media Studies, I studied performance on the flute, musical composition, including film soundtracks, as well as radio, film and TV production and analysis, media and communications, and ethnomusicology of Finnish folk music.
My Academic Qualifications & Professional Certifications
| Academic Degree Name | Institution | Professional Certification | Training Provider |
| 2026- (candidate) M.Sc Psychology (Conversion) | University of Glasgow (online), UK | July 2026 (forthcoming) Intermediate: Applied Principles and Practice of Behaviour Change | University College London (UCL) (5 days) |
| Thesis title: | TBC | United Nations Certifications | Individual UN Agencies |
| 2016-2021 MPH Master of Public Health | University of New South Wales, Australia (distance learning). Result: High Distinction (1st) | Feb 2026 Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergencies and Displacement | IOM Training,IOM – UN Migration (IOM) (30 hours) |
| Research Project Title: 'Qualitative Meta-Synthesis on women’s role in the implementation of environmentally-based prevention of dengue fever in the Global South'. | Focus on environmental and mental health, and social/behavioural epidemiology. | Feb 2026 Psychosocial Health of Migrants | IOM Training, IOM – UN Migration (IOM) (4 hours) |
| 2006-2012 DPhil (PhD) Social and Cultural Anthropology, Sociology and Social Psychology | University of Oxford, UK | Dec 2025 BSAFE | United Nations Department of Security |
| Thesis Title | Thesis Title: ‘Locating Britishness? Mediating Ethnicity, Identity, Community and Place in Multi-Ethnic Swindon‘. | Dec 2025 Ethics and Conduct at IOM: The Values We Share | IOM Training, IOM – UN Migration |
| 2003-2005 M.Sc Visual Anthropology | University of Oxford, UK | Dec 2025 Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), | IOM Training, IOM – UN Migration |
| Thesis title: | The Imaging of Diversity in Britain: The Production, Circulation and Consumption of Visual Publicity at a Local Multicultural Carnival | Nov 2025 Designing and evaluating Behaviour Change Interventions: Applying the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology | University College London (UCL) (2 days) |
| 1999-2001 MA Anthropology of Europe | University of Sussex | July 2025 Introduction to Behavior-Centred Design | RARE Center for Behavior and the Environment (12 hours) |
| Thesis title: | Stories of Self: Musicking, Nation and Identities in Iceland | Jan 2025 Introduction to Behaviour Change Interventions | University College London (UCL) (online, 4 weeks) |
| 2000-2001 Study Abroad, Anthropology Department | University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland (research for MA dissertation) | Jan 2024 Introduction to International Human Rights Law | University of Edinburgh Continuing Education (10 classes) |
| 1996-1999 BA Music and Media Studies: 2:1 | University of Sussex | April 2017 Energy Provision (including Renewables) | Centre for Alternative Technologies, Wales (6 days) |
| Dissertation Title | Finnish Folk Music and Nationalism | July 2016 Social Determinants of Health Summer School | University College London (UCL) (5 days) |
| 1995 | A Levels: English Literature, Sociology, Music | Nov 2014 Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Training Course | University of Liverpool, (5 days) |
| 1993 1992 | GCSE French GCSE Music And 8 other subjects grades A-C | May 2012 Achieving the Full Potential of Social Impact Assessment | (16hr) IAIA, Porto, Portugal |
Dr Cathy Mungall-Baldwin 