Dr Sara MacKian

Professional biography

I joined the Open University in 2008 as a Senior Lecturer in Health and Wellbeing. Prior to that I spent seven years as a Lecturer in Health Geographies at the University of Manchester. Previous positions have included Senior Research Fellow at Salford University and Project Consultant for the Co-operative Bank working on their community partnership strategy.

Research interests

I'm a geographer by training, and my research is driven by a curiosity for how people relate to health, illness and wellbeing within the contexts of the worlds around them. I'm particularly interested in how worlds of experience change as a result of lifecourse challenges. Previously, this has resulted in studies on ME, maternal health, health seeking behaviour and gay men’s health. More recently, inspired by the idea that the world is more mysterious and enchanted than we habitually think, I have used social science and art combined to explore the relationship between the real and the imaginary, the body and the spirit, this world and the otherworldly. Projects have explored alternative spiritualities beyond religion in the UK, as well as the everyday place of Spiritualism as a persistent, yet overlooked, religion in Britain today. 

I have a particular interest in qualitative methods and creative approaches to social science research and learning.

Recent projects

Spirited Stoke: Spiritualism in the Everyday Life of Stoke-on-Trent (SpELS)

SpELS was an AHRC-funded research project using participatory photography and ethnographic research to explore how spirit and Spiritualism are woven through the historic and contemporary fabric of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The overall aim of the project was to further theoretical understanding of the place of spirituality and spirit in everyday life, bringing insights from the practices of Spiritualist Churches and their congregations. You can find out more about the project through my publications and via the Spirited Stoke Facebook page.

The Spirituality of Everyday Life: spaces of experience and practice

This is an ongoing project following the publication of my book 'Everyday Spirituality: social and spatial worlds of enchantment', exploring the growing ‘spiritual turn’ in Western society. I am interested in exploring everyday alternative spiritualities at a variety of geographical scales, from the body to the nation, to provide a deeper exploration of the way in which apparently individualised appropriations of spiritual awareness impact and compound across society and space. You can learn more by visiting the Everyday Spirituality Blog, Beyond Belief free leaarning resource, or reading Reframing Death.

Teaching interests

Through all my teaching I aim to facilitate independent, creative thinking to empower students to develop their full capacity. I am committed to promoting equality of opportunity, fostering awareness of structural inequalities, and decolonialising the curriculum to ensure a more equal, diverse and inclusive learning environment for all.

At the Open University I have been involved in modules on leadership and management, adult health and social care, children and young people's wellbeing, mental health, and death, dying and bereavement. Teaching experience prior to joining the Open University included undergraduate and postgraduate courses on space, culture and society, health and wellbeing, and qualitative theoretical and methodological approaches in social science.