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Research in Health, Wellbeing and Education

Our research creates impact in the arenas of Health, Wellbeing and Education through work with communities of practice such as nursing, midwifery, social work, the allied health professions and teaching.

We promote health and wellbeing and effective teaching and learning through our extensive research in sport and exercise, biomechanics and biomedical science, and psychology, and our work in the area of education supports access and inclusive pedagogic practice.

Research centres

Our interdisciplinary approach to research means you will find research in the field of Health, Wellbeing and Education in a range of different centres across our University.

Staffordshire Centre of Learning and Pedagogic practice (SCoLPP)

Led by Prof Stella Jones-Devitt, SCoLPP strives to develop evidence-informed pedagogic practice in a collegial manner which connects learning and teaching to enhanced social mobility.

Centre for Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Technologies (CBRT)

Our aim is to improve health, quality of life and healthcare provision by solving complex biomechanical issues through highly innovative and integrated approaches. Our vision is to advance the understanding of musculoskeletal biomechanics through research and scholarship.

Centre for Business, Innovation and the Regions

Bringing together internationally-recognised academics with a commitment to applied impactful research that engages with policy and practice. Analysing inequalities, employment and welfare; innovation and leadership; and regional economic development, regeneration and foundational economies.

Centre for Health and Development (CHAD)

We are an inter-disciplinary, university-wide centre focused on the science and application of health and health equity research. Our purpose is to undertake translational, applied research to improve the health and wellbeing of our local population and help reduce social and health inequalities.

Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research

We pride ourselves on the applied nature of our research work. We are a vibrant community of psychologists with a clear focus on ensuring that our work has meaning for the academic community as well as for those whom we research, practitioners, patients, policy makers and the wider public.

Research projects

This is just a sample of the exciting research currently ongoing at Staffordshire University.

View all projects

Postgraduate research

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Current PhD opportunities

See our wide range of PhD opportunities and topics. They include self-funded PhDs and those offered through fully-funded scholarships.
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Postgraduate research courses

Find out more about our professional doctorates, which combine taught modules with in-depth research. The research skills relate to professional practice.

Our researchers

Professor Nachiappan Chockalingam

Professor Of Clinical Biomechanics

As Professor of Clinical Biomechanics, I direct the Movement Analysis Laboratory and lead the biomechanics team and research at Staffordshire University. I am also an Affiliate Professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta

Nachiappan's profile

Dr Jim Pugh

Director - Inst. Of Ed. - Assoc Prof.

I am proud to be the Director of the Institute of Education leading an innovative group of professionals, educators, researchers and working with our creative and exciting students, partners and community.

Jim's profile

Robert Needham

Senior Lecturer

Robert's research background is in the areas of sport and clinical biomechanics. The focus of his research is on the application of non-linear data analysis techniques to quantify movement coordination and coordination variability. Robert's rese…

Robert's profile

Dr Panagiotis Chatzistergos

Associate Professor

My current role is focused on applied research in the fields of musculoskeletal biomechanics and medical devices and among others involves identifying funding opportunities, preparing grant applications and participating in industry-led research…

Panagiotis's profile

Dr Aoife Healy

Associate Professor

Aoife is a researcher within the Centre for Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Technologies. Her area of research is clinical biomechanics, with a focus on mobility assistive technology, diabetic footwear, gait analysis and plantar pressure measurement.

Aoife's profile

Professor Roozbeh Naemi

Professor In Biomechanics

Roozbeh leads the Professional Doctorate in Healthcare Sciences, an award within the School of Health Science & Wellbeing. As a Professor in Biomechanics, he has made seminal contributions to generating knowledge in the area of biomechanics sin…

Roozbeh's profile

Professor Gillian Forrester

Professor Of Education Policy

I lead the Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD), which is a vibrant research degree programme for professional educators. I supervise doctoral students (PhD and EdD) and I am involved in several externally funded research projects.

Gillian's profile

Professor Christopher Gidlow

Professor Of Applied Health Research

Following an undergraduate in Applied Biology (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), I completed an MSc at in Physical Activity, Nutrition and Public Health (University of Bristol).

Christopher's profile

Dr Naomi Ellis

Associate Professor Of Health Research

I've been involved with a number of research projects relating to physical activity and mental health, green space and health; health in mid-life; sport and mental health in prisons.

Naomi's profile

Fiona Mccormack

Research Officer

Dr Victoria Riley

Research Associate

I completed my undergraduate degree at Staffordshire University in 2012 and then went on to complete the MSc in Health Psychology also at Staffordshire University in 2013.

Victoria's profile

Konstantinos Spyropoulos

Research Associate

Professor Jon Fairburn

Professor

Professor Jon Fairburn is active in teaching, research, bid writing and public engagement. He has incorporated credited work experience into geography and tourism degrees as well as the MSc Digital Marketing Management.

Jon's profile

Professor Wilfred Mcsherry

Professor

Wilf is a Professor of Nursing and an active researcher in delivery patient centered care. His main area of interest is how we can prepare nurses, midwives and healthcare professional to be confident and competent in this dimension of care.

Wilfred's profile

Professor Elizabeth Boath

Professor Of Health And Wellbeing

I am Liz Boath, Professor of Health and Wellbeing. I have three decades experience of Health and Social Care education and research and expertise in perinatal mental health and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).

Elizabeth's profile

Dr Edward Tolhurst

Senior Lecturer

I am a Senior Lecturer and qualitative researcher in the field of dementia, ageing and care. I am based in the Postgraduate team and course leader for the MSc in Medical Education. I am also a member of the University Research Ethics Committee.

Edward's profile

Dr Adam Boughey

Lecturer

I have a professional background in nursing and currently registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as a Registered Adult Nurse (RN(A)).

Adam's profile

Dr Sarahjane Jones

Associate Dean - Research&Innovation

Sarahjane is a safety researcher with a particular interest in the utilisation of big healthcare data for quality and safety improvement. She also works in research capacity building in non-medical professions and healthcare and data ethics.

Sarahjane's profile

Dr Ruth Hudson

Associate Dean - Curriculum

Ruth's profile

Matthew Slater

Professor Of Sport & Exercise Psychology

Matt is a Professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology and recognised as an internationally leading scholar on the psychology of leadership and group dynamics.

Matthew's profile

Karla Drew

Lecturer

I am a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, and Course leader for the MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology programme. I am also a BPS Chartered, and HCPC Registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Karla's profile

Dr Stephanie Romano-Smith

Lecturer

I am the course leader of Distance learning Sport and Exercise Psychology BSc (Hons) degree programme. I also have teaching responsibilities across undergraduate and postgraduate awards in the area of sport and exercise psychology.

Stephanie's profile

Fiona Cust

Associate Professor

Fiona is a Registered General and Children’s Nurse and Health Visitor who has had a varied career in children’s nursing within acute and community settings. Fiona is actively engaged in research and regularly contributes to The Nursing Times Journal.

Fiona's profile

Trust Diya

Lecturer

Trust is biomedical scientist whose core discipline is histology and cytology. His main area of interest is lipidomics and nutrition with a focus on the effects of flavonoids on adipogenesis.

Dr Ahmad Haidery

Lecturer

Ahmad's profile

Dr Chloe Heys

Lecturer

I am a Lecturer in Microbiology for Biological and Biomedical Sciences with an extensive background in Zoology. I am fascinated by the microbiome and how an individual’s collective microbes can work together to influence the host.

Chloe's profile

Dr Claire Barlow

Course Director

Claire's research is primarily focused on children's drawings with further projects focussing on the development of expressive drawing, and more specifically how this compares to the development of representational drawing skill, longitudinal de…

Claire's profile

Dr Emily Buckley

Senior Lecturer

I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology working part-time for the University (Weds-Fridays).

Emily's profile

Dr Amy Burton

Senior Lecturer

Dr Amy Burton is a Health Psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and a chartered psychologist with the British Psychological Society.

Amy's profile

Lisa Cowap

Lecturer

My expertise is within Health Psychology and conducting research employing both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Lisa's profile

Dr Sarah Dean

Senior Lecturer

Sarah's research has focussed on children and adolescents. Her PhD explored the effects that writing about stressful experiences has for early adolescents and why written emotional disclosure may not be a suitable intervention for them.

Sarah's profile

Dr Justine Drakeford

Senior Lecturer

I joined Staffordshire University as a senior lecturer in January 2012. My research interests are in the areas of cognitive neuropsychiatry and cognitive neuropsychology.

Justine's profile

Dr Daniel Herron

Senior Lecturer

Daniel's profile

Dr Jo Heyes

Clinical Director

Jo's areas of interest for research are early attachment relationships, parenting programmes and early childhood behaviour difficulties. She also has an interest in perinatal mental health and in the supervisory relationship.

Jo's profile

Sarah Higgins

Lecturer

Sarah is a Lecturer in Psychology, teaching across a range of psychology modules at all levels. Her research interests include eating behaviours and psychological interventions.

Sarah's profile

Dr Louise Humphreys

Senior Lecturer

I am a Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Psychological Research Methods. I am the course leader for the MSc Psychology (conversion) course.

Louise's profile

Dr Gemma Hurst

Course Director

I am the Course Leader for the MSc Health Psychology. My research focuses on measuring the impact of environment exposures on health and wellbeing and exploring the wider determinants of health in relation to health inequality. I am also experie…

Gemma's profile

Dr Richard Jolley

Associate Professor

My research interests mainly lie in children's use and understanding of representation, particularly in their making and understanding of pictures.

Richard's profile

Dr Erica Holland

Senior Lecturer

Erica's research interests lie in the area of human reasoning. Her PhD work was on relevance and rationalisation processes on the Wason selection task. She is particularly interested in the use of different methodologies that can be utilised t…

Erica's profile

Dr Yvonne Melia

Principal Clinical Lecturer

Yvonne is a Clinical Psychologist and the Academic Director of the Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Her expertise lies in the mental health of looked after and adopted children specifically, which informs her teaching and research.

Yvonne's profile

Dr Alison Owen

Lecturer

Dr Alison Owen is a Lecturer in Health Psychology, with an interest in research related to body image and appearance, and using appearance concern as a tool for health promotion.

Alison's profile

Dr Rachel Povey

Associate Professor

I'm the course leader for the Health Psychology Professional Doctorate. My areas of expertise are healthy eating, dietary change and psychological aspects of diabetes.

Rachel's profile

Dr Sarah Rose

Senior Lecturer

Sarah is a developmental psychologist with a particular interest in the influence of education on the development of children's creative abilities.

Sarah's profile

Dr Helen Scott

Research Director

I completed a BSc (Hons) degree in Psychology with German, and in 2004 completed my doctoral training in Clinical Psychology at Birmingham University.

Helen's profile

Nichola Street

Senior Lecturer

Nikki is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology, teaching across a range of psychology modules at all levels and acting as Level 6 tutor as well as research which is housed under the umbrella of psychological interventions.

Nichola's profile

Dr Jennifer Taylor

Senior Lecturer

Jennifer is a senior lecturer in qualitative psychological research methods. Jennifer is a qualitative researcher with research interests in several areas but mainly body image, maternal health, breastfeeding, and mindfulness.

Jennifer's profile

Dr Romina Vivaldi

Senior Lecturer

Romina's research interests are focussed on symbolic development as it relates to pictures and occupational gender stereotypes.

Romina's profile

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Contact Research, Innovation and Impact Services

The Research, Innovation and Impact Services team can provide information about all aspects of research at Staffordshire University.

in the UK for Quality Education

Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2023

for Career Prospects

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

for Facilities

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

for Social Inclusion

The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023

of Research Impact is ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Very Considerable’

Research Excellence Framework 2021

of Research is “Internationally Excellent” or “World Leading”

Research Excellence Framework 2021

Four Star Rating

QS Star Ratings 2021