The University of Manchester (UMAN) is one of the world’s top 50 universities. Research is at the heart of the University, no fewer than 20 former staff and students have gone on to be Nobel laureates and the university currently has 4 Nobel laureates as members of the academic staff. The University has over 1,800 staff active in research and over £190m of funding for research earned each year. The University participated in participated in 380+ FP7 projects and coordinated 39. The University has also hosted 33 ERC grants and 27 Marie Curie Initial Training Networks. The University is currently participating in 40+ H2020 awards.
The Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences combines all of the disciplines in health sciences research and education, providing opportunities for wide-ranging and clinically relevant research.
Prof Chris Todd. Chris has >25 years’ experience leading research and project coordination >200 peer reviewed publications (h-index=44). A health services researcher (psychology and epidemiology) (formerly Director HSR, University of Cambridge) involved in successful EC projects: under BIOMED-1&2 (EVOS, EPOS, SAHFE). Chris led FP5 Prevention of Falls Network Europe: ProFaNE and was a partner in FARSEEING (FP7-ICT), leads ProFouND the EC CIP FP7 funded Prevention of Falls Network for Dissemination and is a member of the EC EIP-AHA AG2 on falls prevention. Chris is PI/Co-PI/Co-investigator on a number of ongoing studies in UK; Chris has sat on numerous funding panels in UK and Europe including presently NIHR HS&DR Board.
Dr Lis Boulton is a Research Associate at the University of Manchester. For PreventIT, Lis is working on developing the motivational strategy for the intervention and is leading on the collection and analysis of qualitative data. Previously, Lis worked on the EU funded FARSEEING project looking at older adults’ perceptions of technologies, how to encourage adoption and maximise use. She has published peer-reviewed and public-facing documents on technology use amongst the older population.
Lis’s PhD thesis: “Promoting physical activity amongst older adults: what if we asked them what they want?” presented a two-phase research study (a qualitative study to ascertain the essential ingredients of interventions to promote physical activity amongst older adults, then an action research study to apply those ingredients to the promotion of community-run physical activity sessions). A social ecological model for promoting physical activity amongst older adults was developed, highlighting the need to have a diverse range of well-supported activity groups for motivated older adults to access.
Prior to commencing her PhD in 2010, Lis had worked in Social Care for 15 years. She worked as a commissioner for older adult and physical disability services in local government and has 21 years’ experience of working in the charity / voluntary sector, continuing to provide support and supervision to two voluntary sector organisations in the north of England. Lis is on the Board of the local branch of Age UK and sits as a patient representative in a local GP practice, both of which keep her feet firmly on the ground!
Dr. Helen Hawley-Hague obtained her PhD from the University of Manchester in 2011, her work focused on older adults’ uptake and adherence to exercise classes and the role of the exercise instructor. She has worked both in Public Health and in research looking at falls and fracture identification and prevention and exercise pathways for over 12 years. She was awarded the MRC Centenary Award in 2012 to further develop her PhD work as a postdoctoral researcher and looked at the delivery of evidence based strength and balance exercise programmes in practice. She was the Research Associate and Communication and Dissemination Manager for the FARSEEING project and led the work on the taxonomy and on behaviour change and attitudes towards technology, including advising on the design of technology so as to encourage older people’s engagement with it. For further information please go to farseeingresearch.eu. She was the Scientific Coordinator for ProFouND- The Prevention of Falls Network for Dissemination, profound.eu.com/ and is now an NIHR Postdoctoral Research Fellow (focused on smartphone technology and delivery of evidence based strength and balance for falls prevention within health services) and a Co-Applicant on PreventIT (an EC funded project looking at smartphone an smart watches and the prevention of functional decline).
Professor Brenda Gannon joined the Centre for Business and Economics of Health, at The University of Queensland in 2016, having worked at The University of Manchester from 2013-2016.
Brenda is an international expert in the field of health and ageing economics and health econometrics and has won over $20 million in collaborative research income with economics, medicine and social science with academic and industry. Her research carries a dual role, (1) as a methodologist (applied health economist and econometrician using big and complex data), utilising health economics theory and concepts to test the validity of causal hypotheses, (2) collaborator across all Faculties leading critical economic evaluations.
Brenda's methodological econometrics work is currently funded by Australian Research Council Discovery Grant. She is the lead economist on two major new Randomised Control Trials in dementia (SENSE-Cog) and emergency care (PEDOCELL), funded by EU H2020 and Health Research Board Ireland, Feasibility Trials in falls (PREVENTIT) funded by EU H2020, phase 1 trial research in diabetes and evidence synthesis in stroke (SNNAPIEST) funded by NIHR HS&DR. All studies incorporate methodological innovations and applied research.
Previously she was an associate professor at The University of Manchester and University of Leeds from 2011-2016. Prior to that she was a senior research officer and deputy director at the Irish Centre for Social Geronotology/Department of Economics at the National University of Ireland, Galway and researcher at the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin, Ireland, under the Health Research Ireland, Health Economics and Inequalities programme of research.
Brenda is currently an Expert Evaluator for the EU Commission funding applications and recently a member of the UK National Institute for Health Research RfPB (Research for Patient Benefit) Advisory Committee. She is a member of the Australian Medical Services Advisory Committee Evaluation Sub Committee, for Commonwealth Department of Health. She recently joined the Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners (BDHP) Ageing Theme, focusing on health economics of ageing across academia, industry and policy makers.
I am the EU Project Manager based within the Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work at the University of Manchester. I have worked as a project manager in Higher Education for over 15 years working on social inclusion and widening participation, employability, creative media and in more recent years in the field of health and falls prevention through active ageing. During the past 3 years I have been working on the Prevention of Falls Network for Dissemination (www.profound.eu) EU funded project and have recently taken up the role within PreventIT to support Professor Chris Todd in his role as compliance manager for the project. In addition to this, I am also Manager of the EU Falls Festival which includes all aspects of organisation and delivery of this annual event, having been a key member of the original group who established it (www.eufallsfest.eu). When not in the office I work as a freelance open space practitioner and occasional event manager delivering programmes across Europe. I also act as a homestay family to international and home students, the latter being as an foster carer for young paraolympian athletes. I love to cycle and hill walk and am currently working my way through the 5 highest peaks of the UK.
Dr. Fan Yang is a Research Associate at the Manchester Centre for Health Economics, The University of Manchester. She is currently working on two European Union funded projects, SENSE-Cog and PreventIT. For PreventIT, Fan is working on developing the economic models to assess the cost-effectiveness of the interventions to slow down functional decline.
Fan has some experience in trial-based and model-based economic evaluations of medical treatments and health interventions. In 2016, Fan won the Young Scientist Award for her oral presentation "Cost-effectiveness of haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis for patients with end-stage renal disease in Singapore" at the Society for Medical Decision Making 2nd Biennial Asia-Pacific Conference in Hong Kong.
David French is Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Manchester. He completed his PhD at Guys, Kings and St Thomas Medical School, London, and a Wellcome Trust Training Fellowship in Health Services Research at the University of Cambridge. He then worked at the University of Birmingham and Coventry University, before moving in October 2012 to the newly formed Manchester Centre of Health Psychology.
His research centres on the development and evaluation of interventions to change behaviours which impact on health. He is particularly interested in developing interventions with wide reach that result in people maintaining changes in behaviour. He has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including seven in the BMJ, and has been awarded over £12M in funding from bodies such as the Medical Research Council, European Commission, and NIHR (several funding streams). He is currently a member of funding panels for NIHR (Public Health Research) and MRC (Methodology). He is co-Editor (with Prof Alison Wearden) for the official journal of the British Psychological Society: British Journal of Health Psychology. In 2012, he was elected Fellow of the European Health Psychology Society.