Rate My Professor Virginia Braun

Virginia Braun is a Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland. She completed undergraduate and master's studies in psychology at the University of Auckland before earning her PhD from Loughborough University in 2000 with a thesis titled "The vagina: an analysis." She returned to the University of Auckland as a lecturer in psychology in 2001 and was promoted to full professor in 2017.

Her expertise lies in critical, feminist, and health psychologies, with research specializations including sex and sexuality, sexual health and wellbeing, gendered bodies, genital cosmetic surgery, body hair, and constructions of healthy eating. Braun is widely recognized for her collaborative work with Victoria Clarke on qualitative research methods, particularly thematic analysis; their 2006 paper "Using thematic analysis in psychology" is among the most highly cited articles of the 21st century. She has authored or co-authored books such as Successful Qualitative Research (2013) and Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide (2021). Braun served as editor of Feminism & Psychology from 2008 to 2013. She received the Distinguished Leadership Award from the American Psychological Association's Committee on Women in Psychology in 2013, the Marsden Medal from the New Zealand Association of Scientists in 2021, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2022. She delivered her inaugural lecture at the University of Auckland in 2017.