Hi - I'm Claire - a researcher and consultant based in the North East of England .
Welcome to my website
Creativity in Research and Consultancy
I’m a "creative doer" and researcher with over 30 years of experience in making creative things happen.
My previous background in the arts and charity sectors directly fuels my research, co-making and project management work in health and wellbeing.
It has taught me how to facilitate creative spaces, engage diverse communities, and to both collaborate and lead.
These transferable skills ensure that my work is empathetic, deeply rooted in human experiences, and has real world impact.
Remote Healthcare for Eating Disorders
The Challenge: Remote care for eating disorders Online and digital healthcare offers huge opportunities, but it also comes with unique challenges—especially for sensitive areas like eating disorder recovery. I work as part of the RHED research team at Northumbria University, and our mission is to improve remote care across the UK by co-designing tools that work for real people.
The Innovation: ConnectED on The Journey Toolkit: Together with healthcare providers and individuals with lived experience, we co-designed the ConnectED on The Journey Toolkit to support people navigating remote treatment. We are currently translating these vital research insights into official policy guidance for eating disorders remote care in England.
My Role as a Creative Doer & Researcher I bridged the gap between academic rigour, creative storytelling, and policy action by:
📋 Research & Ethics: Co-designing the official research protocol, created materials, and secured ethical approvals.
🤝 Community Workshops: Designing and delivering creative research workshops, focus groups and one-to-one interviews.
📊 Data & Dissemination: Handling data analysis and shared our findings with the wider healthcare community.
🎬 Creative Production: Acting as producer as part of a creative team in making an award-winning short animation co-made with and featuring the voices of people with lived experience.
🏛️ Policy Impact: Currently co-leading a series of policy guidance roundtables with key healthcare stakeholders across the UK place it with what you want to write. Use the advanced editor to design this content page.
Lived Experience of Hoarding
The Research Focus: Supporting older people with lived experience of hoarding disorder Moving into sheltered accommodation is a massive life transition. My role as part of a research team at Northumbria University investigated the decision-making processes older adults face during this move—with a deep focus on the unique, sensitive barriers and challenges experienced by older individuals struggling with hoarding. I also explored the vital support networks required to make these transitions successful.
My Role as a Creative Doer & Researcher
📋 Research & Ethics: Co-authored the official research protocol, developed materials, and secured full ethical approvals.
👥 Stakeholder Leadership: Co-led a project steering group uniting local authority housing teams and older people's charities.
🗣️ Qualitative Fieldwork: Conducted sensitive 1-to-1 interviews with people with lived experience and housing wardens to uncover hidden systemic challenges.
🎬 Creative Production: Collaborated directly with an animation studio to turn our research data into an accessible short animation
Expanding the Impact: Social Media & Peer Support: My subsequent research builds on these findings, examining how individuals leverage social media to access informal help and support networks for hoarding.
Grassroots Action: I don't just research—I do. I co-run "Less is More," an informal peer support group for individuals with lived experience of hoarding. We meet on the first Monday of every month in Gateshead to provide a safe, communal space for shared experiences.
Belief, Science, and Digital Discourse
PhD Research: Belief, Science, and Digital Discourse
I am currently undertaking a PhD by Publication exploring how communities and individuals debate paranormal phenomena in digital spaces.
Specifically, I look at how the design of different social media platforms shapes, helps, or hinders these complex conversations.
Key Research Themes:
🌐 Networked Publics: How online communities form, create content, and challenge traditional science communication.
⚖️ Science vs. Pseudoscience: Where we draw the line between mainstream science and alternative beliefs online.
🧠 Belief & Scepticism: How people make sense of, conceptualise, and express their personal convictions.
🔒 Polarisation & Moderation: How online censorship and echo chambers warp public discourse.
🤝 Safe Digital Spaces: Designing practical, inclusive tools so people can safely share deeply personal experiences and engage in open dialogue.
My research in this field is generously supported by a scholarship from Alex Tanous Foundation for Scientific Research
Remote Healthcare for Eating Disorders
Branley-Bell, D., Murphy-Morgan, C., & Malowaniec, P.D. (2025). From Paper to Pixel: Demonstrating the Power of Non-Digital Serious Games for Informing Digital Health Solutions. CHI 2025 Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.3719943
Brown, R., Murphy-Morgan, C., Downs, J., & Branley-Bell, D. (2025). A call for strategy on eating disorders: the need for a comprehensive eating disorder strategy in England and specific guidance for the remote delivery of eating disorder services. Journal of Eating Disorders, 13, 54. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-025-01224-y
Murphy-Morgan, C., Brown, R., Love, C. and Branley-Bell, D. (2024). “Some distance between us”: a UK mixed methods study exploring experiences of remote care for eating disorders during COVID-19. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1383080
Murphy-Morgan, C., Collingham, H., Shaddock, H., & Branley-Bell, D. (2024). “In the Only House in the Whole World but Everyone Doing the Same” Co-designed Animation as a Method of Critical Enquiry to Explore HCI Considerations for Remote Eating Disorder Support. In Extended Abstracts of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 648, 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613905.3649117
Branley-Bell, D., Talbot, C.V., Downs, J., Figueras, C., Green, J., McGilley, B., & Murphy-Morgan, C. (2023). It’s not all about control: challenging mainstream framing of eating disorders. Journal of Eating Disorders, 11(25), https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-023-00752-9
Lived Expereince of Hoarding
Murphy-Morgan, C., Hodgson, P., Pollet, T. V., & Neave, N. (2024). “Making It Easier to Live, You Know?” A Qualitative Study of the Impact of Hoarding Behaviours and Social Networks on Older People’s Supported Housing Decisions. Health & Social Care in the Community, 2024(1), 5513833. https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/5513833
Clark, L., Murphy Morgan, C., Neave, N., Punton, G., Rivers, H., & Sillence, E. (2026). Understanding the barriers and facilitating factors to mental health help-seeking in adults with hoarding behaviours: a preliminary investigation. Clinical Psychologist, 30(1), 15-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/13284207.2025.2579009
Sillence E, Murphy-Morgan C. A thematic analysis of an online discussion forum for people with problematic hoarding behaviours. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. Published online 2026:1-13. doi:10.1017/S1352465826101295
Belief, Science and Digital Discourse
Murphy-Morgan, C., & Smith, L. A. (2023). Assessing Public Perspectives of Parapsychology through Facebook: A Discourse Analysis Utilizing Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement. The Journal of Parapsychology, 87, 76-78. https://doi.org/10.1177/02762366251384885
Murphy-Morgan, C., & Cooper, C. E. (2024). Parapsychology and cyberpsychology. Australian Journal of Parapsychology, 24(1), 17–37. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.T2024071600005400548078699
Murphy-Morgan, C., Cooper, C .E., & Smith, L.-A. (2022). Assessing public perspectives of parapsychology through YouTube commentaries. Australian Journal of Parapsychology, 22(2), 153-177. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.842894052777850
Get in touch with me
- Gateshead, UK
