I am Professor of Health Services Research, and a behavioural scientist who is interested in improving behaviours to improve health. I am especially interested in improving resilience in rural communities to improve health and well-being.  I apply models of public participation and patient and public involvement in research. I am co-director of the Scottish School of Primary Care and Head of Research in the Department of Nursing and Midwifery at UHI. I have published over 130 papers in peer-reviewed journals. My methodological expertise is in qualitative methods applied to the design, implementation and evaluation of complex interventions, including feasibility and pilot studies, full RCTs and process evaluations.

Current research projects include:

• Covid Health and Adherence Research in Scotland (CHARIS), funded by the Chief Scientist Office (CSO), Edinburgh via their Rapid Research in COVID-19 Programme.
• HALT: Hernia Active Living Trial, funded by Bowel Research UK, Ileostomy & Internal Pouch Association and Kingston Trust CIO
• Health and social care provision in rural areas during the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a research leader in my field, I am regularly invited to review for national and international research funding bodies.  

Education  PhD  University of Sunderland  1997

Computing Science  MSc  University of Newcastle Upon Tyne  1993

Post-Graduate Certificate in Education University of York 1988

Sociology/Social Policy  BA Hons  University of Leeds  1986   

• Supervisor of 12 PhD/MPhil/Clinical doctorate students (9 currently graduated to date)
• External examiner for 12 PhD/MPhil students;

Throughout my career, I have had several post-graduate course leadership responsibilities.  At UHI, I currently take responsibility for research-related topics on post-graduate and under-graduate teaching programmes. I am module lead for the ‘research dissertation’ module in the Advanced Practitioner Masters degree programme. I have a PGCE.