Joanna studied International History and Politics at the University of Leeds, before moving into research by completing a MSc in Applied Social Research. She was awarded an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship to complete her PhD in 2016, which she completed within The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). During this time, she published research papers on sexual activity in later life and the interactions between religion and health in Irish older adults.
Joanna joined QMUL and the Prendergast group in 2020, to research the determinants and outcomes of poor childhood growth in the UK. Recent publications include a mapping of short stature prevalence across England using data from over 7 million children, and an analysis of the longitudinal associations between short stature and language development in UK children.
Her research interests include the social determinants of health and lifecourse health trajectories.
The Prendergast Group 