Lauren Sprackling

Lauren Sprackling is a Black feminist researcher, social justice activist, and holistic health advocate. She joined the SHF Scholar and Fellow Network in 2025 after being awarded a WRDTP Studentship to complete an MA in Social Research and a PhD in Sociology at the University of Sheffield.

Her doctoral research explores the intersectional lived experiences of Black women in UK gynaecological healthcare, examining how the Black female body has been racialised and the embodied impacts of this. It offers a counter-narrative by highlighting Black women’s resistance and resilience through activism, advocacy, and self-determined womb healing rooted in Indigenous and ancestral practices.

Lauren is co-founder of Groundation, a Black community organisation in Sheffield focused on social justice and decolonial liberation through healing and community (re)building. Groundation facilitates initiatives that create safe spaces for Black collective healing and the restoration of culture, empowerment, and community well-being.

Lauren is certified by the Ayurveda Institute UK as an Ayurvedic lifestyle and nutrition consultant and has completed 200-hour Hatha yoga teacher training at AyurYoga EcoAshram India. Her research and practice is deeply grounded in her lived and learned experiences, intuitive and ancestral knowledge, and a holistic, decolonial approach to both research and healing.