Members

The network links together academic partners from the UK with a track record in exploring resilience in both young and older people. It joins with stakeholders and lay members with interests in healthy ageing across the life course.

 

 

 

Dr. Gill Windle is a Research Fellow based in the Dementia Services Development Centre, Institute of Medical and Social Care Research at Bangor University. She studied Psychology at Bangor University and obtained her PhD in 2006. Her research interests are in health promotion, mental health and resilience in later life; the interplay between the individual and their physical, social and environmental contexts and the effects on well-being.  An integral part of her research is multi-disciplinary collaboration, working with user groups, public representatives and policy development.  She is responsible for supporting, co-ordinating and /or leading the development of research for two of the Welsh Assembly Government thematic research networks relating to ageing (OPAN and NEURODEM).  She has been considerably involved in policy development in Wales, co-authoring a number of literature reviews to inform the development of the Strategy for Older People in Wales (Welsh Assembly Government 2003) and the Healthy Ageing Action Plan (Welsh Assembly Government, 2005). She was seconded to the Older People’s Strategy Unit at the Welsh Assembly Government during the 2006/07 interim review period and was a member of the Strategy Advisory Group. She leads a research development group for NEURODEM which focuses on the wider social aspects that are important for people with dementia, specifically the role of housing.

Beryl Riley After retirement Beryl became involved in the Rural Wide project at Bangor University by interviewing older people in her local area.  This led to giving presentations at the British Society of Gerontology Conference (2006) in Bangor, ERA AGE "The Future of Ageing Research in Europe" in Belgium and her attendance at the launch of NISCHR in Cardiff plus a few others.  Beryl continues to work closely with academics involved in research. Beryl is a member of OPAN, Gwynedd Older People's Council and Involving People.  She enjoys being involved with ResNet which brings together different interests and involvements.

Dr. Kate Bennett is a  Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the School of Psychology at the University of Liverpool. The major focus of her work is the psychology of later life including the interplay between physical and mental health and social relationships. Kate is carrying out research into the longitudinal effects of gender and marital status on health and psychological wellbeing in older people. This work was funded between 2003 and 2005 by a Leverhulme Fellowship, and the research is ongoing. She is also interested in the relationship between social engagement and physical and mental health, and in exercise and nutrition in later life. At the same time Kate has become interested in the lives of young adults including educational achievement and early parenthood.

http://www.liv.ac.uk/~kmb/home.html

 

Amanda Hopkin is an Occupational Therapist working for Whizz Kidz, a national charity providing equipment and training for children and young people who use wheelchairs. In addition to a clinical role Amanda is involved in developing and delivering training packages for Whizz Kidz across the UK and has undertaken special project work in Northern Ireland. She is also an occasional guest lecturer to the Occupational Therapy Programme, Bangor University. Amanda has worked within a variety of services for children and families in health based and community settings in North Wales and Cambridgeshire.  Amanda completed a Masters Degree in Child Health (Cardiff) in 2008. She continues to pursue her interest in her dissertation pilot project investigating the use of photo diaries as an effective communication tool for children and young people who use wheelchairs to access their day to day activities.  Amanda is currently working on a paper for publication exploring the findings of the project.

Judith Oades (Involving People/lay member) Judith studied Gerontology at Surrey University in 1988. She  later embarked upon a Community Care Course at Twickenham College and obtained her City & Guilds N.V.Q level 2 Adult Health and Social care Work based and City& Guilds N.V.Q level 3 Adult Health and Social care  Work based. Judith gained her City & Guilds A 1 Assessors Award Adult Health and Social Care at Coleg Menai.  Since moving to North Wales and as a volunteer for Age Concern Judith has worked with researchers from Bangor University on the Rural Wide project and participated in Volunteer Training in research Short Courses:Bangor University/Age Concern, Social Gerontology, Interview Techniques, and Data Analysis. She has been a member of the Involving People Advisory Group for the past two and a half years and is currently the chair. Judith is currently working with researchers at both Bangor University and Swansea University on research projects. Judith has attended training courses with Involving People in relation to working with researchers, meetings and  social care research methods. Since working on The Rural Wide project and being a member of Involving people she has attended research and development conferences and meetings involving research and health and social care.

Jenny Perry, the network researcher, has been a Research Officer at Bangor University since 2005, previously working for the All Wales Alliance for Research Development in Health and Social Care until taking up her present post with ResNet. Jenny has worked on various projects with the Older People’s Ageing Research Network Cymru; the Carers Strategy projects in England and Wales for the Department of Health and the Welsh Assembly Government; the Older People’s Strategy for the Welsh Assembly Government and an Inequalities in Health Review for a Local Health Board in North Wales. Jenny comes from a sociological, philosophical and criminological background. Her research interests lie in the sociology of education, social gerontology, western esotericism and spirituality and qualitative research methods. Jenny’s particular areas of expertise are ethnography, discourse analysis, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis.

Professor Jane Noyes is a health services researcher specialising in children’s health and social services research and cost consequences at Bangor University. Her programme includes child-centred research, evaluation and consultancy concerning policy, clinical practice, service delivery and organisation, cost consequences, and children's and family perspectives.  Jane is also interested in qualitative and mixed method systematic review methodology, and is Lead Convenor of the Cochrane Qualitative Research Methods Group. She is also an Editor of Journal of Advanced Nursing and Trustee of Whizz-Kidz the mobility charity for children.

http://www.bangor.ac.uk/healthcaresciences/research/people/noyes.php.en

Professor Amanda Sacker is a Research Professor at the Institute for Social & Economic Research at Imperial College, University College London. Her research includes social inequalities in health and life-course social epidemiology. Her particular interests are the statistical modelling of complex longitudinal processes and the developmental origins of poor physical and mental health in adult life. In particular, Amanda is interested in the use of mixture models which combine categorical and continuous latent variable modeling techniques in longitudinal studies.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/icls/people

http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/people/asacker#journal-articles

Dr. Cherie McCracken is a lecturer in the Division of Psychiatry in the School of Population, Community and Behavioural Sciences at Liverpool University.  She specializes in the epidemiology of cognitive function and ageing in those aged 65 years and older.  Cherie is particularly interested in the effects of both nutrition and social activity on healthy ageing.  Her academic background includes an MSc in medical statistics and epidemiology and a PhD in the prevalence of dementia subtypes.  She has been involved in the multi-centre study of cognitive function and ageing funded by the Medical Research Council, MRC CFAS, since its inception in 1989 (http://www.cfas.ac.uk).

Barbara Jones (OPAN/lay member) has been involved with voluntary organisations since her schooldays. A lot of her time has been devoted to the Red Cross, for many years working with the Youth members. However, in later years, Barbara’s interests have been gradually turning towards her own age group. She worked as a volunteer researcher in the 1970’s for Professor Clare Wenger of Bangor University, interviewing many elderly people in the area. She has since gained her BA (Hons) in Education and Training and very much enjoyed the research aspects involved. Barbara has more recently been involved with the RuralWide Project with Professor Vanessa Burholt, now of Swansea University and Dr. Gill Windle of Bangor University. This again was a work involving older people. She is also a representative on the Gwynedd Older People’s Forum.

Eryl Roberts works for CRC Cymru (North Wales) at Bangor University as a Clinical Studies Officer and began her current post in November 2008. She provides research support and is currently involved in numerous projects including ResNet (Resilience Network), Extracare (examining whether extra care facilities are meeting the needs of fit or frail older people), REMCARE (RCT of reminiscence therapy in dementia), Mindfulness (Staying well after depression) and FolATED (Evaluation for depression: a randomised controlled trial). Eryl has a BSc in Molecular Biology and an MSc in Pathology andToxicology. She has worked on variety of projects such as Eye Movement Abnormalities in participants with Schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and during natural ageing. Eryl has experience in genetic research, clinical trials and research in learning disabilities and challenging behaviour.

Bob Woods is Professor of Clinical Psychology with Older People  at Bangor University. Bob studied Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge, before qualifying as a clinical psychologist at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1975. He worked for several years in the NHS in Newcastle, as a clinical psychologist with older people where he established groups for carers with Age Concern, as well as developing therapeutic approaches for people with dementia. In 1980, Bob moved to London, combining extensive clinical work with older people at the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals with an academic appointment at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. He worked with the Alzheimer’s Society to develop information for family carers and undertook a number of research projects on family care-giving, as well as developing new services. In 1992, he moved to University College London, where he continued to be heavily involved in training clinical psychologists in work with older people, as well as in service developments in the NHS and in research on caregiving. Bob has published widely, including research papers on dementia care and depression in older people, has published books for family carers and has developed training packages. He continues to work clinically in an NHS Memory Clinic. Bob is Co-Director of the Dementia Services Development Centre Wales, Director of the Institute for Medical and Social Care Research (IMSCaR) and a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Panels of the Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Disease International. Bob’s recent research has focused on caring relationships and the evaluation of interventions designed to assist carers.

Professor Martin Orrell  (FRCPsych PhD). Martin is Professor of Ageing and Mental Health at University College London.  At North East London Foundation Trust, Martin Orrell works as an Honorary Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist, Associate Medical Director for Academic Developments, and Director of Research and Development. Martin was Specialist Advisor to the Health Advisory Service and Clinical Advisor to the Audit Commission and recently a member of the Healthcare Commission Expert Reference Group on Mental Health Services for Older People. He is Chair of the Strategy Group for the London Centre for Dementia Care. Martin’s research interests include psychosocial interventions for dementia. He has published over 150 academic papers. He is Editor of the journal Aging and Mental Health and Course Director for MSc in Ageing and Mental Health at UCL.

 

Professor Vanessa Burholt Vanessa Burholt is Professor of Gerontology and Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre on Ageing at  Swansea University. Vanessa joined Swansea University in 2007 from Bangor University, where she was Director of the Centre for Social Policy Research and Development (CSPRD). Vanessa is a social gerontologist with a background in sociology and psychology and had 12 years experience as a contract researcher at Bangor. Vanessa was a researcher on the 20-year Bangor Longitudinal Study of Ageing. More recently she has been Principal Investigator on projects that span local (Gwynedd, North Wales), national (UK), European (e.g. Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Luxembourg) and international (e.g. India, Bangladesh) locations. These include: Families and Migration: Older People from South Asia; Housing for an ageing population: Planning Implications and; a six-country study entitled Ageing Well: European Study of Adult Well Being. She also directed a joint project with Age Concern Gwynedd a Môn (Rural North Wales Initiative for the Development of Support for Older People – RuralWIDe) involving training older volunteers as researchers. Her areas of expertise include intergenerational relationships; support and social relationships; rurality; attachment to place, housing and migration of older people (including ethnic minority elders) and she has published widely on these topics. Vanessa sits on two Wales Office of Research and Development Research Funding Scheme Committee (for Health Research, and for Social Care Research). She has acted as an advisor for Age Alliance Wales, and is currently a member of the Wales Centre for Intergenerational Practice Advisory Group. She is a Regional Lead for Wales Older People and Ageing Research and Development Network (OPAN).  

Dr. Gopal Krishnan Netuveli  Gopal has a background in Natural Sciences (BSc) and Dentistry (BDS, MDS) and has a PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health.  He is a Research Fellow at Imperial College London in social epidemiology and Associate Director of International Centre for Life Course Studies in Society and Health. He chairs the International Committee of the Centre. Gopal’s expertise are in quantitative data analysis and advanced social statistics, systematic reviews and meta-analysis. His current research interest include ageing, wellbeing and quality of life, welfare state regimes, resilience, chronic diseases, and health service policies, all studied within a life course frame work using comparative international data. Between 2003 and 2007 he was a member of ESRC Priority Research Network on Human Capability and Resilience.

Professor Jo Rycroft Malone Jo is a Professor of Health Services and Implementation Research at the Centre for Health-Related Research at Bangor University in the United Kingdom. Her particular expertise and interests lie in knowledge translation research and evidence-based practice processes. She has successfully obtained national and international level competitive grants, to study the process and outcome of evidence into practice interventions in topics such as peri-operative fasting practice, care of older people and continence, improving pain management as well as studies exploring protocol-based care. Over the last 10 years she has been working with colleagues to develop and refine a conceptual framework for the implementation of evidence into practice (the PARIHS framework). Through her work Jo has established national and international links in the field of knowledge utilisation and transfer She sits on a number of international and national and strategy development, ‘think tank’ and funding groups including the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Implementation Strategy Group and the Canadian Institute for Health’s Research Knowledge Exchange and Translation Committee.  Jo has published widely and has presented at numerous national and international health care conferences. She has also been the editor of Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing for the last 6 years – a peer-reviewed, quarterly international journal.

Lizzie Chambers, Association for Children's Palliative Care Lizzie has worked in the voluntary sector for 18 years, 8 of which have been for ACT (Association for Children’s Palliative Care).  Lizzie was appointed Chief Executive of the organisation in April 2005 and prior to this was ACT’s Information & Projects Manager, responsible for the development of a number of ACT’s documents, including the ACT Care Pathways. ACT is the only organisation working across the UK to achieve a better quality of life and care for every limited child/young person and their family.   ACT is working in partnership with the Department of Health to support the development of children’s palliative care networks across England and is also providing support to the developing networks in Scotland and Wales and supporting the development of children’s palliative care in Northern Ireland. Lizzie is involved in the ResNet project to learn about how children and young people living with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, often over many years, develop resilience and coping skills.

Martin Riley (OPAN/lay member) Martin is a retired clergyman who is interested in community work. He is involved with Gwynedd Older People's Council, OPAN, the North Wales Clinical Strategy Stakeholders' Group, and ResNet . 

Iwan Gethin Jones (Gwynedd Older People’s Strategy Officer) Iwan is an Older People Strategy Officer in Gwynedd. This is a National Strategy that is being implemented on a local level. He is part of a team that works on this in Gwynedd, working on various projects for the over 50’s in Gwynedd so that people could stay independent and active. Iwan is the co-ordinator for the Gwynedd Older People Council which meets regulary every 6 to 8 weeks to discuss various issues and anything that is a worry for older people. This is now going from strength to strength and they are now reacting to consultations, collecting evidence from members and sharing information.

Dafydd Gwynne is a Health Partnerships Advisor at Ynys Mon County Council. His main duties and interests include: developing the Ynys Mon Health, Social Care and Well-being Strategy which is delivered in partnership between the Council, Local Health Board (now Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board) and the voluntary sector; developing the Council as a Health Improvement Agency focusing on tackling the wider determinants of health; promoting and developing preventative services; developing strategic needs assessments and monitoring and evaluation frameworks; applying research and evidence into practice at a local level.  A recent example of this includes the commissioning of a Community Based Falls Prevention Pilot Project for Older People, which has been further expanded to an Island wide initiative.

Dr. Kathryn Evans is a Clinical Tutor and Clinical Psychologist with the Oxford Doctoral Training Course in Clinical Psychology, Oxford University.

Roy Oades (Involving People/lay member)

Roy’s working life has been an assortment of trades. He did an apprenticeship in photography, then National service, was a Grave Digger, Bakers rounds man, milkman,  department manager (electrcial), plumber, electrician, postman (22yrs) and on retirement he continued working part-time in various occupations.On moving to North Wales, Roy was given the opportunity to volunteer in a project which ‘Age Concern & Bangor University were involved in, working with researchers from Bangor University on the Rural Wide project and during which Roy participated in Volunteer Training Short Courses in research at Bangor University, Social Gerontology, Interview Techniques, and Data Analysis. He has been a member of the Involving People Advisory Group for the past two and a half years and will be leaving in the new year, so that others can bring their own experiences into the group. Roy is currently working with researchers at Bangor University on research projects. Roy has attended training courses with Involving People in relation to working with researchers, meetings and social care research methods. Since working on The Rural Wide project and being a member of Involving people he has attended research and development conferences and meetings involving research and health and social care.

John Clifford Jones, Age Concern Gwynedd a Mon

Diana Lamb, National Public Health Service

Elfyn Owen, Care and Repair Cymru