Contact details
About
Overview
Zivarna is currently working as a Research Associate in the Department of Health Services Research and Management in the School of Health and Psychological Sciences at City St. George’s, University of London on an National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded project understanding delays in organ donation after circulatory death. Zivarna was a co-applicant on the sucessful NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (RFPB) funding application for this study.
Prior to this role Zivarna worked as a Research Associate in the Health Professions Education Unit at the Hull York Medical School, University of York on a realist evaluation of 2 NHS Health Education England GP pilot schemes. The first an evaluation of the GP In-Contact training programme and the second an evaluation of a series of differential attainment interventions. She also worked on a project evaluating a novel postgraduate diversity in medical education (DiME) leadership programme.
Zivarna began this role after a Post-Doctoral Research Associate post at City, University of London working on the evaluating consent processes for interventional organ donor research study funded by NHS Blood and Transplant. She also advised on the NHS Blood and Transplant Consent Form Working Group as a result of the aforementioned study.
Prior to this she worked at the Hull York Medical School working on the PEOPLE-Hull and PRIORITY studies funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research which took an ethnographic pproach to understanding and improving access to cancer care in Yorkshire.
Zivarna completed her PhD in Human Sciences which explored body donation for medical education with a focus on identifying good practice in the interactions between Medical School Anatomy Unit staff and families after donor death. Zivarna originally took an integrated Masters degree (MAnth) in Biological Anthropology at Durham University gaining a 1st Class Honours and Durham University Academic Achievement Prize 2015 for the highest graduating mark in her discipline. Her previous research projects explored the revealing and concealing of human remains to the public within museum exhibitions and archaeological sites, and professional perspectives to the viewing and display of human remains within museums.
She has interests in the social aspects of body and organ donation; qualitative research methodologies and analysis, particularly ethnographic approaches; service evaluation; public and community engagement; outreach and widening participation; health inequalities; and, the display of human remains in museums.
Zivarna also has a ceramic artist practice based on similar themes to her academic work.
Qualifications
- PhD Human Sciences, Hull York Medical School, United Kingdom, 2015 - September 2019
- MAnth Anthropology, Durham University, United Kingdom, August 2011 - June 2015
Postgraduate training
- PGCert Research Training, Hull York Medical School, Hull, United Kingdom, 2015 - September 2019
Employment
- Research Associate, City, University of London, United Kingdom, January 2025 - present
- Research Associate, Hull York Medical School, United Kingdom, August - September 2024
- Visiting Lecturer, City, University of London, United Kingdom, August 2023 - July 2024
- Post-Doctoral Research Associate, City, University of London, United Kingdom, December 2021 - August 2023
- Problem Based Learning Tutor, Hull York Medical School, United Kingdom, October - December 2020
- Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Hull York Medical School, United Kingdom, February 2020 - October 2021
- Realising Opportunities Tutor and Summer School Facilitator, University of York, United Kingdom, June 2017 - July 2020
- Guest Lecturer, University of Bradford, United Kingdom, May 2017 - May 2019
Publications
Publications by category
Journal articles (6)
- Crampton, P.E.S., Omer, U., Ellawala, A., Murphy, Z., Dennis, C., Tiffin, P.A.... Kehoe, M. (2026). Curriculum Development for Postgraduate UK Veterinary General Practice Training: A Rapid Review and Documentary Analysis. The Clinical Teacher, 23(1). doi:10.1111/tct.70272
- Cooper, J., Murphy, Z. and Harvey, D. (2025). 323.1: ‘Information overload’: understanding experiences of seeking and providing consent for interventional research in the deceased organ donor. A qualitative study. Transplantation, 109(12S), pp. S91-S91. doi:10.1097/01.tp.0001175276.07245.35
- Cooper, J., Harvey, D. and Murphy, Z. (2025). P.13: Understanding delays in organ donation after circulatory death in the UK. Transplantation, 109(12S), pp. S113-S113. doi:10.1097/01.tp.0001175428.47221.5d
- Murphy, Z., Kehoe, A., Arjunan, M., Bishop, F., Pullinger, A., Blizzard, R.M.... Crampton, P. (2025). A Novel Postgraduate Diversity in Medical Education (DiME) Leadership Programme. The Clinical Teacher, 22(3). doi:10.1111/tct.70074
- Cooper, J. and Murphy, Z. (2025). Making organ donation after circulatory death routine: Preserving patienthood and reproducing ways of dying in the intensive care unit. Sociology of Health & Illness, 47(1). doi:10.1111/1467-9566.13824
- Murphy, Z.N., Cooper, J., Bazira, P.J., Green, T. and Seymour, J. (2024). Refused gifts: understanding the over and above work of Medical School Anatomy Unit staff when donor bodies cannot be accepted. Mortality, 29(4), pp. 849-866. doi:10.1080/13576275.2023.2248024
Other (2)
- Murphy, Z.(2018). The law and the dead.
- Murphy, Z.(2017). Death in a consumer culture.