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Serena Vicario

Researcher, University of Kent

Serena is a Postdoctoral Research Associate affiliated with the ESRC Centre for Care and based at the Centre for Health Services Studies, University of Kent. She is working with Dr Nadia Brookes on the projects ‘Digital Care and Innovation: Realities, Risks, and Rewards’      and ‘Care workforce change: organisation, delivery and development’. 

Before joining the Centre in 2022, she completed a PhD at the University of Sheffield’s Centre for Health and Related Research, an MA in Social Policies from the University of Padua, and a BA in Social Sciences and Social Work from the University of Venice. 

Serena’s research is interdisciplinary, combining theoretical and applied approaches to health and social care. Her interests include digital and non-digital innovation in long-term care, improvement and sustainability in welfare systems, and the sociology of care and care work. These themes are closely connected to those explored in her PhD, in which she examined the epidemiological and sociological aspects of women’s alcohol consumption through the lenses of gender and social class. She is a member of several international and national research networks, including the Transforming Care Network, International Long-Term Care Policy Network, Italian Society of Social Work Research,  and the British Sociological Association. 

Serena is primarily a qualitative researcher. She has experience with a range of research methods, including narrative-biographical interviews, focus groups, photo-elicitation techniques, and systematic evidence synthesis. Her background as a social worker supporting patients with complex needs and underserved groups has contributed to the development of her interest in and practices around inclusive, participatory, and co-produced research.

Supervision

Tendai Ncube (co-supervisor with Nadia Brookes) – Care Technologies for Living in Place and Intersectionality

Serena has been pleased to supervise and tutor numerous students throughout their academic and professional growth. She welcomes inquiries from prospective students who are passionate about her areas of research and value open and transparent scientific work.

Research interests

  • Social policy & policy evaluation 
  • Innovation & improvement studies
  • Sociology of care and care work
  • Digital care 
  • Inequalities in health and social care
  • Qualitative and creative methods, participatory research
  • Systematic evidence synthesis 
  • Gender studies
  • Alcohol and substance use: sociological and treatment aspects

Publications

  • Vicario, S., Gui, L., & Sinigaglia, M. (2024). Embedding sustainability in local welfare systems: bottom-up contributions from social workers and care professionals in public and third sector organisations. European Journal of Social Work, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2024.2368259
  • Vicario, S., Buykx, P., Peacock, M., Hardie, I., De Freitas, L., Bissell, P., & Meier, P. S. (2023). Women’s alcohol consumption in the early parenting period and influences of socio‐demographic and domestic circumstances: A scoping review and narrative synthesis. Drug and alcohol review. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13643 
  • Vicario, S., Peacock, M., Buykx, P., Meier, P. S., & Bissell, P. (2021). Women’s informal surveillance of alcohol consumption in intimate heterosexual relationships during the early parenting period. Social Science & Medicine, 291, 114499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114499. 
  • Vicario, S., Peacock, M., Buykx, P., Meier, P. S., & Bissell, P. (2021). Negotiating identities of ‘responsible drinking’: Exploring accounts of alcohol consumption of working mothers in their early parenting period. Sociology of Health & Illness, 43(6), 1454-1470. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13318   
  • Vicario, S. (2020). Exploring women’s drinking practices in the transition to motherhood through a social class lens: a qualitative study (Doctoral dissertation, University of Sheffield).
  • Vicario, S., Saia, M., Caroli, D., Scribano, L., De Lazzari, F., Rosa-Rizzotto, E. and Lobello S. (2018) Hospitality discharge for alcohol-related problems in north-eastern Italy in a sixteen-year period: influence of new population at risk. Published poster. Journal of Hepatology, 68 (suppl 1), S162. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-8278(18)30536-1  
  • Vicario, S., Rosa-Rizzotto, E., Peraro, L., Caroli, D., De Lazzari, F., Vendramin, A. and Lobello, S. (2015) Social and health integrated approach to Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs): An Italian experience in a specialist service. Published abstract. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 50(S1), i1-i67 50(suppl 1), i35. https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agv076.128

Other contributions

Conference presentations

  • Vicario, S., & Brookes, N, Identifying ‘hidden’ phenomena for social policy research: methodological reflections from a project exploring Long-Term Care workforce innovation. ESPAnet Conference, Tampere, 28-30 August 2024 
  • Vicario, S. & Brookes, N., Social innovation and resilience: Examples from the Long-Term Care (LTC) workforce in England. 16th International Social Innovation Research Conference (ISIRC). Bern, 2-4 September 2024
  • Vicario, S. & Brookes, N., Identifying ‘hidden’ phenomena for social policy research: methodological reflections from a project exploring Long-Term Care workforce innovation. Social Policy Association Annual Conference 2024, Glasgow, July 2024.  https://social-policy.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SPA-2024-Abstract-Booklet.pdf   
  • Vicario, S. & Brookes, N., What is the contribution of workforce innovation to the resilience of the social care system in the UK? BSA Virtual Annual Conference 2024, online, 3-5 April 2024.  https://www.britsoc.co.uk/media/26488/ac2024_abstract_book_day3.pdf    
  • Vicario, S., Gui, l., Sinigaglia. M., Sustainability in local welfare systems. Perspectives and critical analyses from social workers and practitioners in public and third sector organisations. II annual meeting Italian Sociological Association – Social Policy Section. Trieste, 9-10 May 2024 
  • Vicario, S., Fisher, D., Kispeter, E., ‘Care workforce change: drivers, unionisation, innovation’. CHSS Seminar Series, University of Kent. Canterbury, 13 March 2024 
  • Vicario, S., Women’s informal surveillance of alcohol consumption in intimate heterosexual relationships during the early parenting period: a caring practice. 6th Transforming Care Conference Sheffield, 26-28 June 2023. Transforming Care 2023 – Book of abstracts (transforming-care.net) 
  • Vicario, S., Women’s informal surveillance of alcohol consumption in intimate heterosexual relationships during the early parenting period. BSA Medical Sociology Annual Conference.  Lancaster, 13-15 September 2022. https://www.britsoc.co.uk/media/25915/medsoc22_day3final_abstract_book.pdf
  • Vicario S., Buykx P., Bissell P. & Meier P. (2018) Understanding women’s drinking practices in the transition to motherhood through a social class lens, 44th Annual KBS Symposium, Chang-Mai, 28 May – 1st June 2018.  https://www.kettilbruun.org/web_archive/chiangmai_2018/participants_list.html