Blog

November 20th marks 35 years since the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, celebrated as World Children’s Day. ALPHA member… Read More »ALPHA blog – Children’s Rights: A Century On

Trine Brøns Nielsen, a PhD student at Aarhus University in Denmark, reflects on her six-week study visit to DECIPHer. I am a physiotherapist by background… Read More »‘Very valuable, professionally and personally.’ Trine’s DECIPHer placement

A recent study found that girls and women are less likely to engage in regular physical activity than boys and men across Wales. But what… Read More »Removing barriers to exercise – period

Psychology student Emma Wassell looks back on her placement at DECIPHer, where she polished her data research skills on international project FLOURISH. I have always wanted… Read More » ‘More than just a placement’ – Emma’s year at DECIPHer

Frederik Martiny is a medical doctor by background, currently working as a PhD student at the University of Copenhagen. He recently visited DECIPHer for six… Read More »‘An amazing environment where everybody is just as nerdy as me about complex interventions.’ Frederik on his DECIPHer research visit

Three students look back on their time with the DECIPHer team ‘This internship allowed me to contribute to a real-world public health initiative.’ Grace Hummerston… Read More »Our summer internships – Grace, Raquel and Sophie

Dr Jemma Hawkins and Prof Graham Moore discuss a productive and rewarding research trip In June this year, we made our first trip to Peru… Read More »Visiting Peru for launch of dementia research study ‘IMPACT Salud’

Prof James Lewis feeds back on the June 2024 course ‘Development, Evaluation, Adaptation and Implementation’. I started working with DECIPHer in October last year, and… Read More »Prof James Lewis: Thoughts on the 2024 DECIPHer Short Course

Two members of DECIPHer’s youth research group, ALPHA, tell us what it means to them. Plus, they take us behind the scenes of ALPHA’s new… Read More »‘We are all so unique but somehow our ideas all fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle.’ Catching up with team ALPHA

Dr Max Ashton joined DECIPHer in April 2024 as Research Assistant at The School Health Research Network (SHRN). Here he explains how his health research… Read More »Meet the Researcher: Max R. Ashton on complexity and pluralism in relationships and sexuality education (RSE) and health research

Where can an early-career research post at DECIPHer take you? Three researchers describe their career trajectories Dr Caitlyn Donaldson: ‘I have found the transition from… Read More »DECIPHer and beyond

DECIPHer PhD student Isabel Lang writes about her three-month placement in the Children, Young People and Education research team within Senedd Research My passion for… Read More »My internship at Welsh Parliament’s Senedd Research

DECIPHer Research Assistant Jess Lennon updates on the SCeTCH project, which asks: Could providing free e-cigarette starter kits in homeless services aid smoking cessation? Up… Read More »Reflections on SCeTCH – where are we now?

Megan Hamilton recently completed a Master’s Degree in International Criminology and Criminal Justice and has previously completed an Undergraduate Degree in Psychology. Here, she discusses… Read More »Megan’s Research Assistant internship : ‘My placement gave me the skills for a career in research’

A key element of DECIPHer’s methods research programme is our suite of short courses that provide training on methods for public health intervention science, covering… Read More »DECIPHer 2023 short courses – how did we do?

Schools are seen as an important setting for supporting the mental health and wellbeing of all children and young people, but there are few school-based interventions that are specifically designed to support care-experienced students

Sneha Salel is a Master’s Psychology Student who took on a three-month summer placement at DECIPHer I have always had a keen interest in people,… Read More »Sneha’s internship: ‘I have learned so much and have so many great memories.’

Christine Jenkins looks back on her summer placement at DECIPHer, which involved drawing on her data handling skills Summer internships are a rite of passage… Read More »Christine’s internship: ‘It was a transformative experience’

Dr Rebecca Anthony discusses her four-year Fellowship funded by Health and Care Research Wales. The Fellowship will examine care-experienced children and young people’s social support,… Read More »‘Feeling loved and appreciated’: My Fellowship focusing on the relationships of children and young people in care

A growing number of nations are advocating for a whole school approach to emotional and mental wellbeing. In 2021, Welsh Government published a framework outlining… Read More »Taking a whole-school approach to mental health in Wales

In June 2023, Dr Rhiannon Evans and Dr Honor Young visited Namibia to work on the pilot of the Namibian School Health Research Network (SHRN).… Read More »Developing a Namibian School Health Research Network (SHRN)

Alice McHale researched literature regarding Child-to-Parent-Violence during her CUROP internship at DECIPHer. I study Human and Social Science (BSc) at Cardiff University and undertook this… Read More »Alice’s internship: ‘Having these opportunities exposed me to different industries and career paths’  

Rowan Kitchener is a third-year student studying Biomedical Science at Cardiff University. Here she discusses her CUROP placement at DECIPHer researching public perceptions on food… Read More »Rowan’s internship: ‘I’m now certain a career in social science research is something I’d love to pursue’

Criminology and Sociology student Emma Dixon recently completed a summer internship at DECIPHer. She reflects on her experiences and what she has learned. I will… Read More »Emma’s internship: ‘This will shape what I pursue in the future’

Dr Samantha Garay attended the DECIPHer short course ‘Methodological Innovation in Public Health Intervention Science: Development, Evaluation, Adaption and Implementation’. Here are her thoughts In… Read More »From task and finish to table tennis – the DECIPHer short course

In March 2023, the Equality and Social Justice Committee launched an inquiry into the public health approach to preventing gender-based violence. In June 2023 it held… Read More »Evidence for change: Reporting to the Senedd on gender-based violence

Postgraduates Brianna Bowen and Katy-May Price reflect on their experiences as researchers on a DECIPHer school-focused project. In September 2022, Brianna, a doctorate student of… Read More »Meet the researchers: Brianna and Katy-May

DECIPHer PhD student Bethan Pell reflects on her experience of taking part in the Three Minute Thesis ( 3MT®) competition, where she presented on her… Read More »3MT® and me

To mark the beginning of Neurodiversity Celebration Week, Abbey Rowe discusses her PhD on how secondary schools affect the mental health and wellbeing of neurodivergent… Read More »Meet the researcher: Abbey Rowe on neurodiversity in secondary schools

Wales welcomed its new Curriculum for Wales last autumn, including changes to the way learners and schools are assessed, and changes to the way educators are trained… Read More »A curriculum for children’s health and wellbeing

Dr Jeremy Segrott, Dr Hayley Reed and Dr Nick Page discuss their project on strengthening pupil and school relationships  High rates of anxiety and depression… Read More »Building mentally healthy schools – what are the active ingredients? 

Rebecca Anthony, Research Associate at DECIPHer and Wolfson Center for Young People’s Mental Health, discusses her new paper Young People’s Online Communication and its Association… Read More »How does online communication affect young people’s mental well-being?

DECIPHer recently hosted a five-week visit from researcher Devy Elling from Stockholm University. Here, she looks back on on her time with us and how… Read More »Reflections on a research visit

What’s it like completing a summer research internship at DECIPHer? Five Cardiff University students discuss their experiences.

Henry Amery looks back on his 12-week placement at DECIPHer, which he undertook as part of his MSc Psychology Conversion. My time at Cardiff University… Read More »From music to methodology

Research Assistant Safia Ouerghi feeds back on ‘Development, Evaluation, Adaptation and Implementation’, which took place in June 2022. After joining DECIPHer in September 2021, I… Read More »Safia: My take on the DECIPHer short course

Alice Porter discusses her PhD research on age-appropriate portion sizes for preschoolers and reflects on her placement with DECIPHer Portion size is the amount of… Read More »What’s the right amount of food for preschool children?

Rakel Kavena Shalyefu (known as Kavena) is an Associate Professor in Lifelong Learning and Community Development at the University of Namibia, and one of the… Read More »Meet the Namibian Fellows: Kavena Shalyefu

The six Namibian Fellows are now ten weeks into their visit to DECIPHer. In blog four, Dr Rachel J Freeman explains how their experience reflects… Read More »Meet the Namibian Fellows: Dr Rachel J Freeman

The Phoenix Project has arranged for DECIPHer to host six mid-career Namibian professionals to collaborae with out researchers. Here, in blog three, we ask Ndinelago… Read More »Meet the Namibian Fellows: Ndinelago (Dina) Shilongo

DECIPHer is currently hosing six mid-career Namibian professionals, in a scheme arranged by the Phoenix Project. The Fellows are spending three months collaborating with our… Read More »Meet the Namibian Fellows: Cynthy K. Haihambo

Senior Public Involvement Officer Sophie Jones was recently interview by Emma Yhnell for Health and Care Research Wales for their latest Where Would We Be… Read More »The 25-year-old championing young people’s voices in research

DECIPHer is currently hosting six mid-career Namibian professionals, in a scheme arranged by the Phoenix Project. The Fellows are spending three months collaborating with our… Read More »Meet the Namibian Fellows: Ayesha Wentworth

Up to 82 per cent of people experiencing homelessness smoke – which is much higher than the UK average of 14.1 per cent. Could providing… Read More »Could having free e-cigarettes help people experiencing homelessness to quit smoking?

New statutory guidance was introduced by Welsh Government in 2021, requiring all schools in Wales to embed a whole school approach (WSA) towards mental health and emotional wellbeing… Read More »Assessing the whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing

Lorna Stabler discusses her research into the experiences of an under-recognised group: sibling carers. What is the issue? Most people know that families are not… Read More »Siblings raising siblings: the ‘invisible’ kinship families

DECIPHer (Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement) has run ALPHA (Advice Leading to Public Health Advancement), a research advisory group made up of… Read More »ALPHA – skills development and career inspiration

As DECIPHer prepares to move into its new home sbarc | spark, Sally O’Connor explains how innovation and ideas will thrive in this creative hub. A… Read More »Join us in society’s new ‘Superlab’

Research Associate Hayley Reed explores co-production in a school setting What is the issue? Attempts to change young people’s health through schools has relied on running standard programmes with… Read More »How can secondary school stakeholders inform health programmes?

Sophie Jones, 24, is the new Senior Public Involvement Officer at DECIPHer and is a long -running member of the ALPHA team. Here she tells… Read More »A catch-up with DECIPHer’s new Senior Public Involvement Officer

A researcher has joined the Wolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health, working in partnership with the DECIPHer Centre at Cardiff University. Dr Rebecca Anthony… Read More »Meet the researcher: Dr Rebecca Anthony

It is with great sadness that we note the death of our valued colleague Dr. Heather Trickey. Heather joined DECIPHer in January 2012, completed her… Read More »Remembering Heather Trickey

In 2022, Wales welcomes a new school curriculum prioritising young people’s health and wellbeing. Dr Sara Long’s Welsh Government fellowship is informing and evaluating this major… Read More »Wales’ new curriculum: Findings so far

PhD student Amy Simpson examines the methods we use to support and grow education research As part of a six-month internship at the Welsh Government, I conducted an evidence review titled Developing… Read More »How does DECIPHer build its research capacity?

Molly Burdon, a second-year Psychology student at Cardiff University, looks back on her seven-month placement at DECIPHer I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to… Read More »My DECIPHer work taster

March 11 2021 saw the launch of the independent evaluation report of the Pathfinder project, conducted by Cardiff University. The project was the first systems-change… Read More »On the right path

On 18th March 2021, Dr Kelly Morgan attended the International Public Policy Observatory on COVID-19 roundtable discussing summer support programmes for schoolchildren. She reports back… Read More »What support do children need this summer?

To mark International Women’s Day 2021, our colleagues at the Social Science Research Park (SPARK) interviewed staff from a range of different roles and research… Read More »International Women’s Day: Interview with Dr Sara Jones

Bethan Pell discusses the practical activities helping children and young people express themselves during sensitive research In December 2020, I was awarded an Early Career Researcher Bursary from… Read More »When research is child’s play

On 28th January 2021, Peter Gee, Jeremy Segrott, ALPHA members and Health and Care Research Wales ran the first online session of the short course ‘How to Involve Young People… Read More »Taking our short course online: How did it go?

Rachel Parker, a DECIPHer-based PhD researcher and mental health consultant, reflects on working with community-based projects during the pandemic. My research area is adolescent self-harm… Read More »Working with youth mental health services during COVID-19

In October 2020, Dr Rachel Brown and Dr Rhiannon Evans were invited to teach an adapted online version of their long-running methods course on Process Evaluation to colleagues from Aalborg University,… Read More »On course for Denmark

Dr Rhiannon Evans, Dr Kelly Buckley and Bethan Pell presented a virtual workshop at this year’s Health and Care Research Wales conference discussing the future of research into domestic violence and abuse.… Read More »Hosting a DVA research workshop online – what did we learn?

At the start of 2020, Cardiff University challenged postgraduate researchers from across the University to present their research in just three minutes and with only… Read More »The magic number: My take on the three-minute thesis

ALPHA members presented at Cardiff University’s event, which connects Grangetown locals with mentors, experts and opportunities. DECIPHer’s Engagement Officer Peter Gee reported back Before lockdown, ALPHA had grand… Read More »Locked down, speaking up!

In this blog, originally published in BERA, Dr Graham Moore discusses school closures, deepened inequality and disrupted transition in the light of Covid-19. Children’s education and… Read More »School transition, socioeconomic inequalities in wellbeing and the COVID-19 pandemic

Dr Sarah MacDonald and Dr Rhiannon Evans provide an overview of new DECIPHer-led research, the CHIMES study (Care-experienced children and young people’s Interventions to improve… Read More »Improving mental health and well-being: how can we best support children and young people in care?

Doctor Sara Long provides an overview of a complex, yet exciting study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which commenced in October 2019. Previous… Read More »New study: How does local authority care affect the health and education of vulnerable children?

Doctor Graham Moore looks at the social impacts of lockdown and the importance of post-pandemic strategies for society’s most vulnerable members The start of 2020… Read More »The need for equity-focused public health action and research, in the aftermath of COVID-19

Today (30th January) is Young Carers Awareness Day, a day of campaigning for improved support for young carers. Ed Janes is a DECIPHer-based researcher whose PhD focuses… Read More »How can research shape the future of young carer services?

In 2022, Wales will welcome a new school curriculum prioritising young people’s health and wellbeing. Dr Sara Long’s new Welsh Government fellowship will inform and evaluate… Read More »The mother of all fellowships

Emily Lowthian is a PhD Student and Research Associate at DECIPHer. Her research interests are parental behaviours and child wellbeing outcomes. She attended and facilitated… Read More »DECIPHer goes to Cape Town

Gemma Sawyer is a final year psychology student. She spent summer 2019 as a CUROP student at DECIPHer. For the past eight weeks, I have been working… Read More »‘An incredibly valuable experience’ – Gemma on her CUROP placement

Elpida Petrovits is a second-year Human and Social Sciences student. During summer 2019 she took a CUROP placement at DECIPHer. My plan during the first year of… Read More »A CHARMING opportunity – Elpida’s CUROP placement

This article, by Emily Lowthian and Simon C Moore, is republished from The Conversation We all know that the use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs harms our own health.… Read More »Parents’ drug, alcohol and tobacco use negatively effects all areas of child well-being – new study

Eve Benfield is going into her fourth year of medicine and is currently completing a placement at DECIPHer via Cardiff University’s CUROP scheme Having completed a project during the third… Read More »Eve: My placement so far

Nick Page is a Research Associate at DECIPHer. He attended the short course ‘Developing and Evaluating Complex Public Health Interventions’ in June 2019 and reported… Read More »Reflections on a DECIPHer short course

Fatma Avşar works as a full-time research assistant and is studying for her PhD in the School of Health Science Department of Public Health Nursing at… Read More »DECIPHer, diversity and daffs: My research visit

On the 20th of May 2019, DECIPHer hosted the Supporting Teacher Mental Health & Wellbeing Schools Event. PhD student and WISE assistant Danielle Couturiaux shares her thoughts on the… Read More »WISE event – what did we learn?

Dr Rhiannon Evans has been awarded funding from the British Academy for the development of a Sociology of Suicide Research Network. Here she discusses her plans for this… Read More »The sociology of suicide – progressing the research agenda

Lena Hohwü works as a postdoc in the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University, Denmark. In March, she visited DECIPHer for a month. We asked… Read More »Q&A – Denmark to DECIPHer

Rachel Brown and Rhiannon Evans recently taught a DECIPHer short course to researchers from Welsh Government. Here are Rachel’s thoughts on the day. In March, myself and Rhiannon Evans delivered DECIPHer’s… Read More »Process evaluation and policy: presenting to GSR

From English teacher to researching teachers’ mental health: How has one informed the other? SHRN Research Assistant Amy Edwards looks back on her career trajectory The morning… Read More »Toddlers, teaching and transferable skills

A study by DECIPHer PhD student Luke Midgley explores the influence of school substance misuse policies on young people’s risk of cannabis, mephedrone and NPS use. This article… Read More »School policy and young people’s risk of cannabis, mephedrone and novel psychoactive substances (NPS) use

Lianna Angel I have recently taken up the position of Research Associate at DECIPHer and will primarily be leading on the Children’s Heath, E-cigarettes and Tobacco… Read More »Meet our new Research Associates

Dr. Caroline Wright recently attended the ‘Implementing Digital Health Interventions for Cancer Prevention’ Sandpit Workshop in Potomac, Maryland. Here she describes the experience.  Portrait courtesy of the… Read More »My first sandpit: Digital health interventions for cancer prevention

Aleksandra Goudie, third-year joint honours Law and Sociology student, recommends her CUROP placement at DECIPHer  I was actively seeking to obtain a summer placement which would help… Read More »‘An invaluable experience!’ Aleks’ CUROP placement

Danielle Couturiaux, a second-year Politics and Sociology student, completed a summer CUROP placement at DECIPHer. At the start of this year it dawned on me that my third-year… Read More »Dani: My CUROP DECIPHer placement

Marianne Davies, a first-year Social Analytics student, describes her CUROP placement at DECIPHer I initially applied for a CUROP placement because I was really interested in the… Read More »‘A brilliant opportunity’ – Marianne’s CUROP experience

Chloe Ryce, a second-year psychology student, reflects on her CUROP placement at DECIPHer. I first learnt about the DECIPHer CUROP project when I came across an email advertisement… Read More »‘I felt part of a community’ – Chloe’s CUROP placement

Heather Trickey is a Research Associate in DECIPHer and a Senior Researcher for NCT.  Earlier this year she spoke to www.ourmilkyway.com on the need for a whole-system,… Read More »Infant feeding and a changing public health policy direction

Lopa Banerjee, a fourth year Medicine student at Cardiff University, has just completed her Cardiff University Research Opportunities Programme (CUROP)placement at DECIPHer. I applied for the… Read More »‘Fascinating and rewarding’ – Lopa’s CUROP placement

As visiting PhD student Torill Rotevatn prepares to return to Aalborg University, Denmark, she looks back on her six-month research stay at DECIPHer In September 2016, I started… Read More »From Denmark to Wales: My time at DECIPHer

This year, DECIPHer has a bumper intake of seven CUROP students (Cardiff University Research Opportunity Placements). CUROP provides opportunities for Cardiff University undergraduate students to gain experience working on… Read More »Meet DECIPHer’s new CUROP students

Rachel Brown is a DECIPHer Research Associate. Her paper ‘Contrasting Staff and Student Views on Alcohol Education Provision in a UK University’ was recently published in the journal Drugs:… Read More »Blog: Alcohol education in universities: effective or a waste of time?

This blog was first published by BioMed Central. With a movement towards feasibility and pilot work in public health interventions, the need for clearer guidance on how… Read More »Blog: Why we need clearer guidance on pilot and feasibility studies

This article, by DECIPHer Research Associates Heather Trickey and Rachel Brown, was published on May 22, 2018 by The Conversation. Heather also works part-time as a Senior Researcher… Read More »Blog: Women need better information about drinking in pregnancy

G.J. is a Senior Lecturer  in Social Sciences and Health. He has taken the artistic route to introduce himself and his academic journey to DECIPHer…

I joined DECIPHer in December 2016 as the Public Involvement Officer, but I’ve been employed with Cardiff University for over four years, mainly based at the… Read More »Getting to know you: ALPHA’s Peter Gee

The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is a major public health concern. Recent policy commitments across England and Wales have demonstrated… Read More »Wellbeing in Secondary Education – A WISE Study Update