RESEARCH
My most recent research at Centre 33 has looked at the barriers young
people face when seeking mental health support. In 2019, I found that young people experiencing multiple intersecting challenges, such as homelessness, trauma or discrimination, often dropped out of counselling, but returned for more ad-hoc support for their practical needs, and used this avenue instead as a way to explore concerns with their mental health. This research won the organisation a £750k NHS funding bid. In my role as data analyst, I was also responsible for preparing regular monitoring and evaluation reports, and also researching broader trends in children and young people's services in the UK.
Prior to this I worked as a freelance researcher for a number of projects and have in-country experience in Brazil, Cuba, India and China. Projects include writing a scoping study for the Thailand Institute of justice on gender and justice in South-East Asia; analysing survey data for the non-profit organisation CAMTRA on the impact of mega-events on street vendors in Brazil; evaluating the Theory of Change for the restorative justice charity, Khulisa, based in London, and conducting an independent evaluation into gender at the Deshpande Fellowship Programme in India.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
"Shame and Supremacy City Tours" - in ironic tourist guide to Cambridge (password roehampton)
Droppelmann, C., Fennell, S. and McMahon, L. 'Women's Access to Justice: Perspectives from the ASEAN Region' Thailand Institute of Justice (Eds: Lapouge, M. Urapeepatanapong, S. and Sumrit, S.)
McMahon, L., 2017 ''Ungrievable' labour and 'unruly' politics:
Strategies of an NGO working with street vendors in response to the 2013-2014 protests in Brazil', in: Lazar, S., Alexander, A. (Eds.), Where are the unions?: Organised Workers and Mass Mobilizations in the Arab World, Zed Books
McMahon, L. (forthcoming 2019) ‘Violence and the BRICS’ in: Anand, P., Comim, F., Fennell, S., Weiss, J. (Eds.), Handbook on BRICS and Emerging Markets. Oxford University Press.
PhD Title: 'Going 'to the Door of Dilma's House'': Citizenship, Informality and the 2013-14 protests in Brazil. Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge, received May 2017.
Photos: Right- 'The police who repress in the street are those who kill in the favela' Independence Day Protest in Rio de Janeiro, 2013; Left - Protest against violence against women, CAMTRA's banner reads 'The city is ours, the street is ours, the body is mine'