Poppy Ellis Logan is a postdoctoral researcher based in the Department of Psychological Medicine (Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience) and School of Education, Communication & Society (Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy) at King's College London.

Her PhD thesis investigated health inequalities and health equity in disasters, using power outages as a case study. She is now designing a research project focused on health protection for pet owners, and owners of service animals, in emergencies.

Before joining King’s, Poppy studied Education with Music at the University of Cambridge, where she developed an academic interest in equity, diversity and inclusion. Her undergraduate research led her to work on the students’ union, writing a university suicide policy and creating an independent mediation service for students and supervisors.

She later worked for City and Hackney Mind, and NHS mental health services where she developed a specific patient support process for university students, including guidance on inclusive teaching for their respective universities.

In 2019, Poppy went on to lecture at Middlesex University, developing a module on Personal and Professional Development for student nurses which focussed on diversity, inclusion and cultural competence within mental health nursing practice. She completed her PGCHE and became a member of the HEA in the same academic year.

Poppy joined King’s in 2020 to complete a Masters in Mental Health Studies, before starting her PhD here in 2021. As President of the KCL Neurodiversity and Mental Health Society, she organised careers events and collaborative workshops for staff on inclusive teaching and assessment. In 2025, she became the second PhD student to ever win the faculty-wide Social Sciences and Public Policy Research Impact Prize. She was a semi-finalist of the 2026 King’s Three Minute Thesis competition.

Research

Poppy’s PhD investigated population-wide engagement in hazard-agnostic health protection behaviours. She worked with emergency responders and the public to codesign a cross-sectional survey (the MAP) measuring all-hazard preparedness requirements, behaviours, intentions, risk perceptions, and registration to vulnerability lists. She also ran a qualitative study with people who experienced prolonged power outages.

One strand of her research focussed on how people view themselves and their identity and whether this aligns with discourse regarding “vulnerable people” in current policy. The findings have been highly impactful, catalysing changes to national risk communications and projects.

Her thesis is interdisciplinary, supervised by Professor James Rubin (Psychological Medicine, the late Professor Gabriella Rundblad (Education, Communication and Societies), and Dr Chris Tang (Education, Communication and Societies).

Poppy is now developing a fellowship application focussing on understanding animal-owners knowledge, attitudes and behaviours in emergencies. The purpose of this work is to inform nationwide emergency preparedness and public health strategy. She welcomes collaborations from vets, charities, and teams across local and national Government.

Poppy holds an academic honorary contract with the United Kingdom Health Security Agency, is a member of the Cognition, Learning and Communities Lab, and is the Research Inclusion lead for the NIHR Health Protection Research Focus Award in Outbreak-Related Behaviours (ORB).

Research interests

• Discourse and communication
• Public health
• Health inequalities
• Health equity
• Research integrity