Dr Lucy Oakey is a Programme Manager within the PHRESH Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team (PHIRST) at the University of Birmingham. Following a research career in Molecular Metabolism, Lucy moved into research management and has extensive experience supporting the development, delivery and governance of large-scale research programmes. Her role focuses on enabling research teams to deliver high-quality studies through effective project management, stakeholder coordination, reporting and operational oversight, ensuring research is well positioned to influence policy and improve public health outcomes.
Lucy also has extensive expertise in public involvement and engagement, leading initiatives that embed public voices throughout the research process.
Louise Padgett, PHIRST REACH Research Associate
Louise Padgett is a Research Associate in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York. Louise joined the department in 2020 and has been involved in a number of research projects related to topics such as early years interventions, school food and diabetes. Her research interests include the evaluation of public health interventions using qualitative and evidence synthesis research methods.
Before joining the University of York, Louise worked at University of Leeds Clinical Trial Research Unit. Prior to her career in research, Louise worked within the NHS and voluntary sector delivering public health interventions across the Yorkshire region.
Dr Paul Lester is a Senior Research Associate in Public Health at Loughborough University.
Paul provides support conducting a broad range of evaluations following a mixed methods approach. Having worked as a Senior Intelligence Analyst with the United Kingdom Health Security Agency, Paul has experience delivering analysis, training, and knowledge mobilisation to address a wide variety of health inequalities whilst working in partnership with local communities, authorities, and healthcare organisations. Paul is based in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University and delivers a range of public health projects alongside PHIRST Light including the Leicestershire Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC).
Kirsty MacLeod, Senior Qualitative Research and Evaluation Officer
Kirsty’s role within the NIHR PHIRST EMPower Team is to support the delivery of the NIHR PHIRST evaluations with a focus on qualitative research, embedding co-production and lived experience approaches across evaluation projects.
Kirsty is a mixed methods researcher and policy professional, experienced in providing impactful evidence-based insights for local and national government policy makers.
Sam Dixon, PHIRST Elevate Research Fellow
Sam is a Research Fellow for PHIRST Elevate.
He is based in the Physical Activity for Health Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh.
Sam’s research interests include:
Clare Sharp, PHIRST Elevate Research Fellow
Clare is a Research Fellow for PHIRST Elevate.
She is based in the Physical Activity for Health Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh.
Clare has worked on a range of health and social research studies within government, academia and the commercial research sector. Her research interests include:
I am an Associate Professor in Sport and Exercise Sciences and Lead of the Sport and Exercise Science Research Group. My work explores how context shapes behaviour. I examine how environments and task design influence the decisions people make in physical activity and sport. By analysing how behaviour in context, I aim to better understand why/how people move or choose not to.
Working with sport coaches, schools, clubs, and local authorities both nationally and internationally, I research, teach, and advise on how thoughtfully designed environments and tasks can invite movement, develop skills, and support lifelong participation in physical activity across all ages.
Dr Shayesteh Moghadas, PHIRST Fusion Program Manager (Research)
Shayesteh has over 20 years’ experience overseeing complex, multi-partner programmes across academia, industry, and the public sector. She is particularly committed to ensuring research remains connected to public priorities, and is shaped around the needs of the communities it is intended to support.
Dr Calum Lindsay, PHIRST Fusion Research Associate
Calum is a Research Associate in the School of Health and Wellbeing, where he joined the PHIRST Fusion team to evaluate complex public health interventions. Calum recently finished work on a research project on ‘missingness’ in healthcare, which involved co-designing an intervention to address the problem of multiple missed appointments and low uptake of offers in primary care. Primarily a qualitative researcher with experience of participatory methods and realist methodologies, Calum has also worked on projects evaluating the Whole Family Wellbeing in Primary Care programme, and contributed to the Communiversity – a co-production initiative where peer researchers explored ways to increase physical activity in Partick, Glasgow.
Calum completed his PhD at the University of Stirling in 2022. His thesis used qualitative methods to explore the impacts of the UK’s hostile immigration policies on child and family wellbeing, and the role of services and other sources of support in the lives of those with precarious, unsettled or uncertain immigration status. Calum qualified with an MSc in Social Work in 2016 and has worked extensively in voluntary sector organisations working with refugee and migrant communities in Scotland. Prior to joining Glasgow University, he worked as a Research Fellow on at the University of Stirling on the Relations Study, an ethnographic project exploring the support systems around parents who use drugs in the UK.
