{{short description|Academic in psychology and gender studies}} {{COI|date=January 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=June 2014}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Virginia Braun | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|FRSNZ|size=100%}} | image = <!--(as myimage.jpg, no 'File:')--> | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = <!-- {{Birth date|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | birth_place = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} --> | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | fields = thematic analysis and gender studies | workplaces = University of Auckland | patrons = | alma_mater = Loughborough University | thesis_title = The vagina: an analysis | thesis_url = http://lb-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/LB_VU1:local:LOUGH_DSP2134/7539 | thesis_year = 2000 | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = Sue Wilkinson and Celia Kitzinger | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | signature_alt = | website = <!-- {{URL|www.example.com}} --> | footnotes = | spouse = | children = }} '''Virginia Braun''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|FRSNZ|size=85%}} is a New Zealand psychology academic specialising in thematic analysis and gender studies. She is particularly known for her scholarship on the social construction of the vagina<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Braun|first1=Virginia|last2=Kitzinger|first2=Celia|date=2001|title=The perfectible vagina: Size matters|journal=Culture, Health & Sexuality|volume=3|issue=3|pages=263–277|doi=10.1080/13691050152484704|s2cid=143982758 }}</ref> and designer vagina cosmetic surgery,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Braun|first=Virginia|date=2010|title=Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery: A Critical Review of Current Knowledge and Contemporary Debates|journal=Journal of Women's Health|volume=19|issue=7|pages=1393–1407|doi=10.1089/jwh.2009.1728|pmid=20509791}}</ref> body hair<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Terry|first1=Gareth|last2=Braun|first2=Virginia|date=2016|title="I think gorilla-like back effusions of hair are rather a turn-off": 'Excessive hair' and male body hair (removal) discourse|journal=Body Image|volume=17|pages=14–24|doi=10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.01.006|pmid=26907912|hdl=10292/12579|hdl-access=free}}</ref> and heterosexuality.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Braun|first1=Virginia|last2=Gavey|first2=Nicola|date=2003|title=The fair deal'? Unpacking accounts of reciprocity in heterosex|journal=Sexualities|volume=6|issue=2|pages=237–261|doi=10.1177/1363460703006002005|s2cid=144614304 }}</ref> She is perhaps best known for her collaboration with British psychologist Victoria Clarke around thematic analysis and qualitative research methods. Together they have published numerous papers, chapters, commentaries and editorials on thematic analysis and qualitative research, and an award-winning and best selling qualitative textbook entitled [https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/successful-qualitative-research/book233059 Successful qualitative research]. They have a [https://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/our-research/research-groups/thematic-analysis.html thematic analysis website] at The University of Auckland. More recently - with the [https://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/our-research/research-groups/story-completion.html Story Completion Research Group] - they have published around the story completion method.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Clarke|first1=Victoria|last2=Braun|first2=Virginia|date=2019|title=Using Story Completion Methods in Qualitative Research|journal=Qualitative Research in Psychology|volume=16|issue=1|doi=10.1080/14780887.2018.1536378|doi-access=free|hdl=2292/49988|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
==Academic career== After undergraduate and masters studies in psychology at the University of Auckland, Braun received a Commonwealth Scholarship to Loughborough University with Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson as her advisors for her 2000 thesis, ''The vagina: an analysis''.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Braun |first1=Virginia |title=The vagina: an analysis |url=https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/The_vagina_an_analysis/9480512 |publisher=Loughborough University |language=en |date=1 January 2000|type=thesis }}</ref>
Braun returned to as a lecturer in psychology Auckland in 2001, rising to full professor in 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/news-and-events/events/events-2017/06/inaugural-lecture-by-professor-virginia-braun.html |title=Inaugural lecture by Professor Virginia Braun: Telling tales of gendered bodies – The University of Auckland |publisher=Psych.auckland.ac.nz |date=15 June 2017 |access-date=27 June 2017}}</ref>
Her 2006 paper "Using thematic analysis in psychology" with Victoria Clarke in ''Qualitative Research in Psychology'' has more than 240,000 citations according to Google Scholar. It is also - according to Google Scholar - the most cited academic paper published in 2006, and according to ''Nature'', the 9th most cited research paper of all time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01124-w |title=These are the most-cited research papers of all time |publisher=Nature |date=25 April 2025 |access-date=11 May 2025}}</ref>
Braun was editor of Feminism & Psychology between 2008 and 2013. She received a Distinguished Leadership Award from the American Psychological Association's Committee on Women in Psychology in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sexualpoliticsnow.org.nz/about/people/ |title=People |publisher=Sexual Politics Now |date=28 January 2015 |access-date=27 June 2017}}</ref>
In 2015/2016 Braun went public with her experiences seeking a tubal ligation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nowtolove.co.nz/health/body/the-kiwi-woman-who-campaigned-to-be-sterilised-13730 |title=The Kiwi woman who campaigned to be sterilised |publisher=Now To Love |date=17 May 2016 |access-date=27 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/parenting/pregnancy/74488372/motherhood-not-for-every-woman-professor-says |title=Motherhood not for every woman, professor says |publisher=Stuff.co.nz |date=27 November 2015 |access-date=27 June 2017}}</ref>
In 2021, Braun was awarded the Marsden Medal by the New Zealand Association of Scientists, in recognition of "her global impact on the development of qualitative empirical methods and for the generosity of spirit she expresses through this work."<ref>{{Cite web|title=2020 Award Recipients|url=https://scientists.org.nz/2021-Awards|access-date=2021-12-07|website=scientists.org.nz}}</ref> She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2022.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/who-we-are/our-people/our-fellows/view-our-fellows/ |title=View our fellows |website=Royal Society Te Apārangi |access-date=29 August 2023}}</ref>
== Areas of expertise == * Sex and sexuality * Sexual health * Gendered bodies * Genital cosmetic surgery * Body hair * Food * Feminist psychology * Critical psychology * Qualitative research * Thematic analysis
== Books ==
* Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke, [https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/thematic-analysis/book248481 ''Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide''].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Braun|first1=Virginia|title=Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide|last2=Clarke|first2=Victoria|publisher=Sage|year=2021|isbn=9781473953246}}</ref> 2021. * Virginia Braun, Victoria Clarke and Debra Gray, ''[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/collecting-qualitative-data/FF8186F212D9C28A1CBFA3C8FFA4FBDD Collecting qualitative data. A practical guide to textual, media and virtual techniques].'' Cambridge University Press. 2017. {{ISBN|9781107054974}} * Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke, [https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/successful-qualitative-research/book233059 Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners]. Sage. 2013. {{ISBN|9781847875822}}
== Selected journal articles and book chapters == {{Scholia}} * [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa Using thematic analysis in psychology] * [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2159676X.2019.1628806 Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis] * [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/capr.12165 Using thematic analysis in counselling and psychotherapy research: A critical reflection] * [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13645579.2016.1195588 (Mis)conceptualising themes, thematic analysis, and other problems with Fugard and Potts’ (2015) sample-size tool for thematic analysis] * [https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-981-10-5251-4_103 Thematic analysis] * [https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/854611 Feminist qualitative methods and methodologies in psychology: A review and reflection] * [https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781137510174 Innovations in qualitative methods] * [https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/902294/reflecting-on-qualitative-research-feminist-methodologies-and-feminist-psychology-in-conversation-with-virginia-braun-and-victoria-clarke Reflecting on qualitative research, feminist methodologies and feminist psychology: In conversation with Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Virginia_Braun ResearchGate] * [https://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/people/v-braun institutional homepage] * [https://twitter.com/ginnybraun Twitter] *[https://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/our-research/research-groups/thematic-analysis.html Thematic analysis] *[https://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/our-research/research-groups/story-completion.html Story completion]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Virginia}} Category:Living people Category:New Zealand women academics Category:21st-century New Zealand psychologists Category:New Zealand women psychologists Category:21st-century New Zealand non-fiction writers Category:21st-century New Zealand women writers Category:University of Auckland alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Auckland Category:Gender studies academics Category:Alumni of Loughborough University Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand