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 smoke in Wales (CHETS Wales 3) study.
I am currently on secondment from the Centre for Trials Research (CTR) where I have worked as a Data Manager since 2014.
At the CTR, I have gained diverse experience while working on multiple projects that sit within the CTR’s Behaviour Change, and Children and Young People themes. These projects comprised of CTIMPs, non-CTIMPs, intervention evaluation and data linkage; the outcomes of which have informed practice, changed policy and added to academic understanding. Recent data linkage work involved the creation of longitudinal datasets using numerous health, education and social care datasets. I will continue in this area at DECIPHer working on the MRC Mental Health Pathfinder study.
I have also been awarded my first successful Wellcome Trust bid as a co-applicant for a public engagement award centring around the development of an animation that explains complex concepts like data linkage, anonymisation, pseudonymisation and data sharing to the general public. I will work collaboratively with DECIPHer and the CTR to deliver this work in the coming months.
I graduated from the Open University in Oct 2018 with a First-class Honours degree in Combined Social Sciences (sociology and psychology). I am currently exploring a self-funded PhD opportunity which seeks to evaluate an exercise intervention as a treatment for early signs of mild mental health problems.
Dr Lauren Copeland
I have recently started working on DECIPHer projects WISE (Wellbeing in Secondary Education), ADAPT (Adaptation of evidence-informed complex population health interventions for implementation and / or re-evaluation in new contexts) and CHETS3 (Changes in Child Exposure to E-Cigarettes and Tobacco Smoke; Wales). Prior to this I worked in the Division of Population Medicine at Cardiff University on HealthWise Wales and a number of projects applying Motivational Interviewing interventions within public health settings.
Alongside my career as a researcher I am a trained counsellor in Person Centred Therapy and Motivational Interviewing in which I currently practice one evening a week. I work with clients with a range of mental health conditions and complex backgrounds.
My research interests lie in understanding how counselling techniques can help improve mental and physical outcomes. I am also interested in complex behaviour change interventions and their implementation. I am looking forward to working with the DECIPHer team to develop and evaluate complex health interventions.
Dr Nick Page
I have recently joined DECIPHer from the University of South Wales, where I worked as part of the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD) since April 2016. During my time with WISERD, I worked on a number of projects that involved the use of GIS (Geographical Information Systems) techniques, such as exploring the use of an alternative approach to measuring geographical access to services in the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation, which was cited in the recent Welsh Government consultation document for WIMD 2019.
Before joining WISERD, I undertook my doctoral work (and previously held a short Research Associate position) at Cardiff University, where I investigated trends and determinants of violence-related injury as part of the University’s Alcohol and Violence Research Group, based at the School of Dentistry. I continue to contribute to an annual report on violence trends in England and
Wales using anonymised hospital data.
In my new role, I will be working with Graham Moore and other DECIPHer colleagues on the TPD (Tobacco Products Directive) and MRC Mental Health Pathfinder studies. I am excited to be back working in public health research after a short GIS-fuelled hiatus and I am looking forward to getting to know my new colleagues over the coming months.