I have a medical background with intercalated BSc and MSc research degrees in biomedical sciences and interdisciplinary medicine and engineering, as well as a PhD in the area of neurology and psychiatry. I secured my first post-doctoral position as a research associate in the area of health and social care research in the Division of Population Health, Health Services Research and Primary Care at The University of Manchester. 

During my time at PSSRU (2014 to 2019), I worked across a number of different projects that employed a range of methodologies and involved various stakeholders at different levels, the details of which can be found under the 'research and projects' tab on my profile. I also managed the social media outputs for PSSRU in various formats such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and the unit Website. 

In 2019, I became a member of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration for Greater Manchester (NIHR ARC GM) research team to work within the Healthy Ageing theme, as well as crossover and collaborations with the other ARC themes in Greater Manchester. I also became a member of the UoM's Healthy Ageing Research Group (HARG). In addition to this, I am a dissertation tutor for the Masters in Public Health Programme, supervisor for the NIHR ARC-GM Internship programme and I am also in the process of completing the New Academics and Fellows Programme, which is accredited by the Higher Education Academy (HEA). 

Skills/experience: 

I have experience of randomised controlled trials (RCTs), drug formulation and dosing trials, large prospective studies, NHS research, working in multidisciplinary teams (community and acute hospital), clinical research, conducting clinical assessments, working with vulnerable patient populations, implementation science, health services research and social care research. 

My methodological knowledge and interests include designing and conducting studies, project management, survey and questionnaire design, narrative reviews, literature reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analysis, quantitative research design and analysis, use of software such as Revman, SPSS and STATA for statistical analysis and modelling, multivariate statistical models, multilevel analysis, survival analysis, large administrative datasets (e.g. NHS Digital, (HES) Hospital Episodes Statistics), secondary data analysis, cost-utility measurement, cost-effectiveness of services, test validation studies, qualitative research design and analysis, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, thematic analysis, constructing typologies, mixed-methods, long-term care, integrated health and social care, health services research, health policy and service design/delivery and utilising innovative methodologies and tools for the implementation of health services delivery. 

Elderly Medicine, Geriatrics, Gerontology, Neurology, Neuropsychiatry, Dementia, Delirium, Healthy Ageing, Inclusive Ageing, Ageing Research, Clinical Research, Applied Health, Mental Health, Health Care, Social Care, Global/ Public Health, Use of Technologies in Health/ Digital Health, Evidence Synthesis, Health Inequalities, Epidemiology, Large Dataset Analysis, Quantitative Data, Qualitative Data, Mixed Methodologies. 

NIHR ARC GM (2019 to present):
Since joining the team in December 2019, I have begun work on the Healthy Ageing Theme as part of the the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration for Greater Manchester (NIHR ARC GM). The projects I haved worked/ working on are as follows: 

• Behaviour Change Interventions in Later Life 
  Involvement: 
• Acceptability of the Signpost for Health intervention for pre-frail adults
  Involvement: 
• The impact of Covid-19 lockdown on physical activity trends and changes in exercise patterns - in collaboration with the Economic Sustainability theme 
  Involvement: 
• The impact of Covid-19 lockdown on physical and mental health of homeworkers - in collaboration with the Economic Sustainability theme 
  Involvement: 
• Keep On Keep Up (KOKU): Developing & implementing a digital falls prevention & healthy ageing technology with older adults 
  Involvement: 
  
• Understanding older South Asian perceptions of digital health technologies for exercise & falls prevention and testing a translated and adapted Keep on Keep up (KOKU) digital application
  Involvement:
• What is the evidence on non-pharmacological interventions targeting pre-frail community dwelling older adults aged over 50 years to prevent frailty? Review of reviews
  Involvement:
• The association between delirium and falls in older adults in the community: a systematic review
  Involvement:
• Randomised controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of a digital falls prevention program versus usual care to improve balance, falls risk and function in community-dwelling older adults at risk of falls, frailty and functional decline.
  Involvement:
• Effect of protein intake on lean body mass and functionality in community-dwelling adults aged over 50 years living with multiple long-term conditions: a systematic review
  Involvement:
• Exergames Systematic Review
  Involvement:

PSSRU Projects (2014 to 2019):
I joined PSSRU in October 2014 and during this period I worked on the following projects: 

• NIHR Community Mental Health Teams for Older People - Support Workers in Community Mental Health Teams for Older People: Roles, Boundaries and Practice Implications
  Involvement: Exploring specific roles in CMHTs by analysing qualitative interviews conducted with various staff roles within the selected CMHTs, constructing themes, placing the findings in the context of the quantitative data collected for this project and writing up the findings for publication.
  
  
• Dementia My Health My Community - in collaboration with Pennine Care NHS Trust building on work from the North West Dementia Centre 
  Involvement: Meeting with external stakeholders (e.g. NHS Trusts, Carer groups etc) in order to explore their views, collaborating/ engaging with clinical experts to share their knowledge, producing information sheets/ a series of topic guides for patients and carers on aspects relating to dementia care and finding new ways to share information in order to increase public engagement/ awareness on the topic of dementia.
  
  
• Effective Home Support in Dementia Care: Components, Impacts and Costs of Tertiary Prevention - specifically involved with project 2 (national survey), project 5 (observational study) and project 7 (analysis of costs)
  Contributions made to the overall nine interlinked projects within the programme with more detailed contributions made to the following:
  - Involvement in Project 2: Compiling databases of key contacts within NHS Trusts and Local Authorities (LA) within England, designing the survey questionnaire, liaising with NHS Trust R&D departments, CCGs and LA’s, ethics application and adoption into the CRN portfolio, dissemination, co-ordination and overall administration of the survey responses, cleaning, coding and analysing the quantitative data, writing up findings for publication and presentation of findings at national conferences. 
  - Involvement in Project 5: Contributed to questionnaire design, interacting with PPI groups, identification of suitable sites to ensure a good case mix for observational study, approaching CMHTs, LAs, carer groups and providers of services such as respite care, day care and home care for site setup and recruitment of participants, ethics application, gaining informed consent of vulnerable patient populations, conducting interviews with participants using health assessments, quality of life measures and service receipt questionnaires, cleaning and coding quantitative data, analysis of data complemented by external secondary demographic data and writing up findings for publication.
  - Involvement in Project 7: Researching unit costs for service receipt in health and social care, cleaning and coding quantitative data, data analysis and writing up findings for publication. 
  
  
• Home Care in Dementia: Critical Components for Effectiveness - specifically involved in the evidence synthesis study, the home care provider qualitative study and the naturalistic data study
  Four separate strands of work within the programme.
  - Involvement in strand 1: Evidence synthesis (compiling search terminology, conducting databases searches and application of inclusion/exclusion criteria, critical appraisal of selected studies and writing up findings for publication).
  - Involvement in strand 2: Home care provider interviews (constructing interview schedules, approaching providers for participation, consent and conducting semi-structured interviews, coding, analysing and constructing themes from the qualitative data and writing up findings for publication).
  - Involvement in strand 3: Naturalistic study (consenting and conducting interviews with service users and their carers, cleaning and coding the quantitative data, constructing groups for analysis, analysis of data complemented by external secondary demographic data to explore service provision relationships and carer outcomes and writing up findings for publication).
  - Strand 4: Carer consultation (working with external stakeholders such as PPI groups for their input). 
  

Training and Development: 

• New Academics and Fellows Programme (NAP) (University of Manchester, registered December 2018 currently ongoing)
• Social Media Data Analysis (Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research (CMI), University of Manchester, 2020)
• Developing Funding Proposals in Applied Health and Social Care: First Grants (NIHR Research Design Service North West, 2019)
• Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health Fellowship Grant Retreat (University of Manchester, 2019)
• Visual Storytelling with Data: An Infographic Workshop (Guardian Masterclasses London, 2019)
• NIHR Clinical Research Network Seminar (University of Manchester, 2019)
• GDPR: Data Protection Training (University of Manchester, 2018)
• Lone Worker Training for Field Researcher (University of Manchester, 2016)
• Care Act Compliant – Adult Abuse Awareness (Manchester City Council, 2016)
• Statistical Modelling in Health Research (University of Leeds, 2013)
• Statistical Inference in Health Research (University of Leeds, 2013)
• Analytic and Intervention Research (University of Leeds, 2013)
• Courses attended during PhD training (University of Leeds, 2009 to 2013) 
• Mental Capacity Act Training (NIHR, 2011)
• Patient Informed Consent for Clinical Trials and Research (LTHT, 2011)
• Good Clinical Practice (The University of Manchester 2009 and University of Leeds, 2011)
• Qualitative Methodologies (University of Leeds, 2010)
• Bio2work Graduate Employability Programme (Syben and IPI, 2007)
• Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (University of Bradford, 2006)

Prizes and Awards: 

• 1st Prize for Tweet your Thesis (via UoL PGR conference)
• 3rd Prize Showcase Movie (via UoL PGR conference/ Leeds Doctoral College) 
• 1st Prize Poster Presentation (via UoL Faculty of Medicine and Health)
• 2009 PhD Scholarship (CLAHRC for Leeds, York and Bradford)
• Prize Awarded for MSc 'Best Project 2009'
• Prize Awarded for MSc 'Highest marks 2009'
• 2008 Masters Scholarship (MIMIT in collaboration with CEAS)

Conference attendance: 

• NIHR Academy Members' Conference 2020 - Virtual (Attendee)
• NIHR SSCR Annual Conference 2019 - London, UK (Attendee) 
• Culture and International Mental Health Conference (CIMH) 2018 - Manchester, UK (Attendee)
• South Asian Self-Harm Initiative (SASHI) Networking Event 2018 - Manchester, UK (Attendee)
• British Society of Gerontology (BSG) 2018 - Manchester, UK (Poster Presentation)
• Population Health Away Day 2017 - Manchester, UK (Oral Presentation)
• Celebrating 40 Years of PSSRU 2014 - London, UK (Attendee)
• Manchester Faculty of Life Sciences Conference 2014 - Manchester, UK (Poster Presentation and Flash Talk Presentations)
• The Annual University of Leeds Postgraduate Research Conference 'Celebrating Excellence in Postgraduate Research' 2013 - Leeds, UK (Showcase Movie, Poster, 3 Minute Thesis, Image Competition, Tweet your Thesis)   
• British Geriatrics Society (BGS) 2013 - Harrogate, UK (Poster Presentation)
• North East Postgraduate Conference (NEPG) 2013 - Newcastle, UK (Poster Presentation)
• European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) 2013 - Venice, Italy (Poster Presentation)
• European Delirium Association (EDA) 2013 - Leuven, Belgium (Poster Presentation) 
• Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) 2013 - Edinburgh, Scotland (Poster Presentation)
• 16th International Psychogeriatric Association Congress 2013 - Seoul, Korea (Attendee)
• Faculty of Medicine and Health 2013 - Leeds, UK (Poster Presentation) 
• Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research & Care (CLAHRC) 2013 - Yorkshire, UK (Poster presentation)
• Thesis Twitter Conference 2012 (Participant)
• Faculty Postgraduate Symposium 2011 - School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health (Poster Presentation)
• Faculty Postgraduate Symposium 2010 - School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health (Oral Presentation) 
• Faculty of Medicine and Health Conference Day 2009 - Leeds, UK (Attendee)
• European Delirium Association (EDA) 2009 - Leeds, UK (Attendee)

For further details, please refer to my LinkedIn profile. 

NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (NIHR ARC GM)  
Healthy Ageing Research Group | School of Health Sciences | Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health 
Room 6.312, 6th Floor Jean McFarlane Building | Oxford Road | The University of Manchester | M13 9PL
Phone +44 (0)161 306 7915 | Email [email protected] 


NIHR ARC Healthy Ageing Theme Staff Group:
Neil Pendleton - Professor of Medical Gerontology 
Chris Todd - Professor of Primary Care and Community Health 
Emma Vardy - Consultant Geriatrician and Clinical Dementia and Delirium Lead at Salford Royal Hospital
Alison Littlewood - Programme Manager 
AnneMarie Money - Research Fellow 
Helen Hawley-Hague - Research Fellow
Reena Lasrado - Research Associate 
Ashley Gluchoswki - Research Associate 

NIHR ARC for Greater Manchester (NIHR ARC GM) Wider Staff Group: 
Nicky Cullum - Director
Matt Sutton - Deputy Director, Theme Lead for Economic Sustainability and NIHR ARC National Lead for Economics
Karina Lovell - Theme Lead for Mental Health
Neil Pendleton - Theme Lead for Healthy Ageing
Niels Peek - Theme Lead for Digital Health 
Damian Hodgson - Theme Lead for Organising Care 
Paul Wilson - Theme Lead for Implementation Science 
Pete Bower - Theme Lead for Evaluation
Caroline Sanders - Lead for Public and Community Involvement, Engagement and Participation
Jane Griffiths - Lead for Capacity Building

NIHR ARC GM Strategic Partners:
Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC)
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT)
Centre for Ageing Better
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)
Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership Trust (GMHSCP) 
Greater Manchester Ageing Hub
Greater Manchester Older People’s Network (GMOPN)

Affiliated Departments: 
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC GM)
FBMH Healthy Ageing Research Group (HARG)
Health Innovation Manchester (HinM)
NIHR Policy Research Unit in Older People and Frailty (PRU)
Healthy Ageing Research Group in MICRA
Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing (MICRA)
Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) - renamed Social Care and Society @ Manchester in 2019
Institute of Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health - Five year strategic plan
Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB)
Manchester: Improving Medicine with Innovation and Technology (MIMIT) in collaboration with CEAS - Academic and Research (Health)  
Manchester Medical School
Applied Health
MPH Public Health

PSSRU Staff Group:
Catherine Robinson - Director of PSSRU at The University of Manchester 
Paul Clarkson - Deputy Director of PSSRU/ Senior Research Fellow at The University of Manchester 
Mark Wilberforce - Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Manchester 
David Challis - Director of PSSRU at The University of Manchester (Former) 
Jane Hughes - Senior Research Fellow at The University of Manchester (Former)
Helen Chester - Research Fellow at The University of Manchester (Former) 

• Member of the NIHR ARC-GM Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group 
• Member of review panel for NIHR ARC Healthy Ageing, Dementia and Frailty National Priorities area
• Member of the Healthy Ageing Research Group (HARG)
• Member of National Institute of Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration for Greater Manchester (NIHR ARC-GM)
• Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing (MICRA)
• Fellow, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Social Care Research (SSCR)