Larissa is a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Employment Research. She holds a BA (Hons) in Sociology, and an MA in Gender and International Development from the University of Warwick. Added to this, is her MSc in Sociology from the University of Oxford.

Her research interests span the fields of the Sociology of health and illness, criminology, gender and the family, and educational inequalities. Currently, her research focuses on higher education, with a view of improving the participation rates of minority groups into post graduate research at Russell Group universities. This is part and parcel of ‘Race XChange’, an innovative and impactful programme to democratise higher education at the post graduate research level. Therefore, Larissa’s research is under the supervision of an inter-disciplinary team composed of Dr. Katharina Sarter, Professor Deanne Clouder (principal supervisor), and Dr Geraldine Brown.

Beyond academia, Larissa acts in a voluntary capacity as an Associate Governor at President Kennedy School and has worked in the public sector for Coventry City Council.