Thereza is the NIHR PHIRST Fusion Research Administrator at Newcastle University. She has a wealth of experience in coordinating and contributing to the provision of professional expertise for EU and UK funded projects ensuring that the University provides high levels of stakeholder satisfaction. Thereza has a MSc in Business from Newcastle University, a certificate in Research Administration with ARMA (Association of Research Managers and Administrators) and a Certificate in Management with the Open University.
Cerian Harries is an Undergraduate student studying Biological Science at Loughborough University, currently completing her placement year as a Research Assistant with the PHIRST-Light team. She has an interest in women’s health and wellbeing, and works on numerous projects to increase awareness of menstrual health, as well as relative energy deficiency in sport. She is an ambassador for Project RED-S, as well as The Mintridge Foundation, and was selected as one of thirty five athletes on the Unlocked 2022 programme; giving her an understanding of the importance of a compassionate approach to people’s wellbeing. Through her work on the @ female_athletetriad_awareness Instagram page, she also has experience in opening conversations around health issues that are both sensitive and complex in nature. She is also a member of the Loughborough Swimming Leadership team, as well as the Loughborough Sport committee, giving her experience in making meaningful changes for those who rely on those systems.
Holly Knight is a senior research fellow at the University of Nottingham who has significant experience developing health programme evaluations. She has an interest in how we can better understand the factors that underpin successful intervention delivery and implementation, including the mechanisms predicting individual change. She has worked within multidisciplinary teams to explore lifestyle change for both diet and physical activity in chronically ill populations, with her PhD thesis focussing on supporting physical activity adherence in community exercisers. Her work has spanned academic, consultancy, and clinical settings, and draws from both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Holly has supported the delivery of multiple national trials with a range of stakeholders including patients, the public, local providers, and government bodies. Holly is also a clinical psychologist and has a specific interest in the evaluation of behavioural and mental wellbeing programmes.
Murali is a research associate at Newcastle University, placed within the public health nutrition team. Being an early career public health researcher, he works on different projects for the PHIRST Fusion team. Murali is a physician with training in sports and exercise medicine and occupational health.
Passionate about improving women’s health using physical activity, in his PhD, Murali developed a toolkit that will help healthcare/fitness professionals develop and deliver physical activity interventions for pregnant and postpartum women from different socioeconomic backgrounds with varied pre-pregnancy activity levels. He has also worked on several projects aimed at increasing the well-being of women, children, people from ethnic minorities and other individuals subjected to inequalities. His primary research interests are health promotion and disease prevention, more specifically focused on improving women’s health by targeting the wider determinants of health and health inequalities.
Dr Samantha Garay is a Research Associate within DECIPHer at Cardiff University. She has a background in mixed methods research and population cohorts, with a particular interest in health behaviours and the health and wellbeing of women and children.
Joy is a Senior Research Associate at the Division of Health Research, Lancaster University. Her research focuses on issues of migration, gender, racism and discrimination, UK race relations, social and health inequalities, adult social care, and others. Much of her work has focused on the positioning of nurses, care workers and domestic workers, in the NHS and the social care sector, in the UK and elsewhere, and more recently on the retention and recruitment of migrant nurses post-Brexit. She has a particular interest in social impact, public engagement and co-creation with stakeholders.
Robina has worked within the NHS and voluntary sector for many years and more recently within higher education. She believe in being proactive about bridging the gaps between service providers and the demographics they serve.
Robina has trained NHS professionals on areas of best practice and inclusivity so that equitable services can grow and develop. She currently hold a variety of roles where she represent the patient voice within research, public involvement, training, and development locally and nationally.
Her community development background brings a strong foundation of skills and understanding and an ability to challenge for change whilst encouraging good practice.
Robina enjoy encouraging others to recognise the value and respecting of equitable and fair access to services where diverse voices are influential and heard.
Robina has joined PHIRST with that same passion and commitment.
Emma is a Research Fellow in Public Health based at the University of Liverpool. Her research focuses on environmental and social influences on health. Emma’s interests include work to evaluate public health interventions, understand the determinants of health and health-related behaviours, and understand the impact of access to health services.
Layla is the Project Manager for PHIRST LiLaC, providing management support to ensure the operational aspects of the project are managed and carried out effectively. Prior to joining the University of Liverpool, she worked in NGOs and other higher education institutions project managing research and clinical trials in LMIC countries.
Outside of work, Layla loves to be outside and can usually be found rock climbing/bouldering with varying degrees of success. Also, a lover of scuba diving.
Lisa Miners is a Senior Research Associate based in the Health Economics Group at the University of East Anglia (UEA) (https://www.uea.ac.uk/groups-and-centres/health-economics-group). She previously completed her MSc in Health Economics at UEA. Since then, and before joining the PHIRST team, she has been working in private consultancy generating health economic and qualitative evidence for diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies. She currently splits her time between the PHIRST Connect and Health Economics and Prioritisation theme of the ARC EoE team (https://arc-eoe.nihr.ac.uk/research-implementation/research-themes/health-economics-and-prioritisation-health-and-social-care). She is interested in sexual health research and inequality of access in related healthcare and services.
Professor Denise Kendrick qualified from the University of Southampton with distinction in Bio-medical sciences in 1984. She completed the vocational training scheme for general practice and was awarded Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) in 1988, commenced training in Public Health Medicine in 1989 and was awarded Member of the Faculty of Public Health (MFPH) in 1992. She became a lecturer in Public Health Medicine in 1991 at the University of Nottingham, combined with part-time clinical general practice from 1992 to date. She was awarded the Department of Health Public Health Career Scientist Award in 2001, and completed her Masters in Medical Statistics at the University of Leicester in 2004. She was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners (FRCGP) in 2006, and then the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents distinguished service award for academic achievement in 2008. She was promoted to senior lecturer in General Practice in 1996 and became a reader in Primary Care Research in 2005. She was promoted to a Chair in Primary Care Research in 2008, and was joint Head of Division of Primary Care from 2008 to 2012.
