Professor Sally Kendall

Having started professional life as a nurse and health visitor Sally entered academic nursing in the late 1980’s and completed her PhD in 1991. She has a personal belief that health research should always be relevant to the people who use the health service, as well as staff and policy makers. She has focused her work around health in primary and community care settings with an emphasis on the user experience. She has worked in diverse fields such as the experience of epilepsy and the evaluation of parenting support initiatives.

As a result of her research interests she has been the co-convenor of the international organisation ICCHNR which supports community nursing research, since 1995. Sally is also the co-editor of Primary Health Care Research and Development, an international journal published by Cambridge University Press. She is a Visiting Professor at Washington State University and represent CRIPACC and nursing on a number of national committees.

Laura Davidson-Dean

I am a Senior Lecturer and Leadership/Professional Development Coach in Post Graduate nursing at the University of Hertfordshire where I have worked since 2005. My nursing background is in Primary Care where I have held a number of leadership positions.

I am a qualified Coaching Supervisor, becoming a graduate of The Coaching Supervision Academy (CSA) in 2014. I hold a PGDip in Coaching and Mentoring from Oxford Brookes University (2012). I am a member of the EMCC (European and Mentoring Coaching Council) and The International Foundation for Action Learning (IFAL). I also have a MA in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and Bsc(Hons) Specialist Community Nursing (District Nursing).

My mentoring and coaching work involves one to one confidential mentoring/coaching sessions, teaching clinicians coaching skills to apply in their field of practice, team coaching and facilitating groups. I deliver tailor- made staff development mentoring/coaching programmes for health professionals in lead roles. I also lead post graduate modules in Coaching Skills for Leading/Coaching to Enhance Leadership.

Professor Sabine Bahn

Professor Sabine Bahn is a practising psychiatrist, Chair in Neurotechnology and Director of the Cambridge Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research at Cambridge University. Her main research interests are to understand the molecular basis of neuropsychiatric disorders, with a focus on schizophrenia and mood disorders. Professor Bahn has published many articles in high impact journals. In 2005, she co-founded Psynova Neurotech Ltd, which has launched the first blood test aiding in the early diagnosis of schizophrenia. In 2011 Psynova Neurotech was acquired by Myriad Genetics, a NASDAQ listed company. In 2015 she incorporated a new company, PsyOmics Ltd which aims to develop blood tests for the early diagnosis of mood disorders. In 2014 she was appointed as a gender equality champion for the School of Technology. She is a fellow of Lucy Cavendish College.

Dr Isabel Clare

Dr Isabel Clare is a Consultant Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, and works in the Enduring Disabilities and/or Disadvantage Theme of the NIHR CLAHRC East of England at Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. Here, reflecting her clinical experience and one of her main areas of research interest, she leads a project examining the design and delivery of services by Community Learning Disabilities Teams to men and women with learning (intellectual) disabilities and additional mental health and/or behavioural needs. Isabel is also an Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry in Cambridge, and has previously held posts as a clinical academic at King’s College London (Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience) and the University of Kent (Tizard Centre). She  has long-standing research interests relating to adults with intellectual (learning) disabilities and/or autism a) whose behaviour brings them, or places them at risk of being brought, into contact with the criminal justice system; or  b) who are at risk of being unable to make one or more decisions for themselves. She is an ad hoc Specialist Advisor to the CQC and Clinical Expert for NHS England’s ‘Transforming Care’ Care & Treatment Reviews, a member of the Psychology panel of NIHR Academic Training Advocates and also a member of the University of Cambridge Psychology Research Ethics Committee.

Professor Mary Hickson 

Professor Mary Hickson qualified in 1989 as a dietitian. She has over 30 years clinical experience in the UK and Australia. In 1998 she began a study to investigate ways to improve nutritional care on acute elderly medicine wards, which finally led to her doctorate in 2002, with Imperial College London. She continues to research nutrition and ageing, malnutrition, frailty, nutritional screening and hospital food, as well as aspects of dietetic practice.

Mary has recently moved to Plymouth University as Professor of Dietetics.  She will work with the team at Plymouth to increase the capacity and capability to produce high quality research that impacts on dietetic practice and health care.

Mary’s previous role was the Therapy Research and Education Lead, a post established to increase the research capacity in Therapy Services at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London. It involved training and education of staff in research skills; providing an advice and support service for clinical therapy staff to help them undertake research; and developing and implementing a research strategy to create a centre for therapy research.

Mary continues to have a productive honorary relationship with Imperial College London as an Adjunct Professor involved in research supervision, and is a member of the Nutrition and Dietetics Research Group.

Mary is also active nationally in developing Clinical Academic Careers for non-medics. She sits on the Association of UK University Hospitals working group, is a member of the NIHR awards panel for the Integrated Clinical Academic Programme, and actively supports research careers within her profession and throughout Allied Health Professions.

In this unique role Mary was able to facilitate the collaboration for this current scheme – Mentorship for Health Research Training Fellows. She believes this scheme will be vital in ensuring the award holders are appropriately supported to attain what is expected of them; to become the clinical research leaders of the future.

Dr Nikki Petty

Nikki Petty qualified as a Chartered Physiotherapist from Newcastle Polytechnic in 1979. She completed a Graduate Diploma in Manipulative Therapy in Melbourne Australia which was later upgraded up to an MSc from Coventry University. She developed and ran the MSc Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy programme for over ten years until 2009 after which she was Programme Leader for the Professional Doctorate in Health and Social Care until 2015.

She has written two successful textbooks on Neuromusculoskeletal Examination and Assessment which is in its 4^th edition, and Principles of Neuromusculoskeletal Treatment and Management in its 2nd. The examination and assessment book has sold around 50,000 copies worldwide and has been translated into 6 languages. She has 27 publications in peer-reviewed journals (7 of which relate to qualitative research methodology) and has presented on clinical reasoning and decision-making in musculoskeletal (MSK) physiotherapy at 39 national and international conferences, 16 of which were as keynote/invited speaker. Her Doctorate in Physiotherapy in 2009 explored the learning transitions of MSK physiotherapists and their development towards clinical expertise.

She is currently Associate Professor in the Centre for Health Research at the School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton. Her main role is Course Leader of the MRes (Clinical Research) which offers NIHR studentships. She teaches qualitative research to Masters level students and supervises doctoral students completing grounded theory studies. She has six doctoral completions and is currently supervising five students. She co-manages the Health Education Kent Surrey and Sussex Internship funding as well as some School Research funding. Both these funding streams aim to enhance research capacity and capability in the region. Nikki is Hub leader for Sussex and Surrey Council for Allied Health Professions Research (CAHPR) Network.

Professor Pauline Pearson

Revd Professor Pauline Pearson BA, PhD, PGDipSocRes, CertT&L(HE), DipThMin, RGN RHV

Pauline Pearson has been Professor of Nursing at Northumbria University since 2009. She was previously Senior Lecturer in Primary Care Nursing at Newcastle University. She completed her first degree (BA Nursing) at Newcastle Polytechnic and worked in A&E before training as a health visitor. Pauline practised as a health visitor until 1993, completing a part-time PhD in 1988. She first moved to an academic post in 1993. She is a member of the National Institute for Health Research, and has been Chair of the CPHVA and of its Research Advisory Group and Vice Chair of the Academy for Nursing Midwifery and Health Visiting Research. Her research on interprofessional education has attracted interest from across UK as well as from Italy, Australia and Canada. She has undertaken research on workforce change, patient safety and educational development as well as aspects of public health and primary care practice. She led the development and delivery of the national training programme for Building Community Capacity for Health Visitors. Current research includes evaluation of a professional development framework for nurses working with older people. She has supervised 17 doctoral students to completion and has a further eight in progress. She believes that we need to offer the next generation support as it has been offered to us, in particular to help people who are finding their way through the boggy ground of postdoctoral research, to enable them to become research practitioners and leaders who will influence the wider health research agenda.

Professor Gary Frost

Professor Christine Norton

I was appointed as Florence Nightingale Foundation of Clinical Nursing Research as a joint appointment between a University (King’s College London) and an NHS Trust (Imperial Healthcare London) in 2012. I have been a continence nurse for over 30 years, retiring from my NHS role as Nurse Consultant in 2014. I have has a joint clinical academic appointment since 2004. My major clinical interest is improving quality of life for people with chronic gastrointestinal disorders, both clinically and via research. I have chaired national and international guidelines on faecal incontinence. My research interests include developing and evaluating interventions to manage gut symptoms and improve quality of life. I am a Cochrane reviewer and editor. Current funded work includes RCTs of interventions for constipation and faecal incontinence, qualitative studies of patient experience and development of patient reported outcome measures. I am passionate about developing future clinical academics and helping aspiring clinical academics negotiate the tricky balance between clinical and academic demands.

Lindsey Parker