NIHR Maudsley BRC researchers win prestigious awards

Two researchers supported by the NIHR Maudsley BRC have received prestigious Investigator Awards from the Wellcome Trust.  

Dr Stephani Hatch, Senior Lecturer in Social Epidemiology in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience’s (IoPPN’s) Department of Psychological Medicine, and Diana Rose, Professor of User-Led Research in the IoPPN’s Department of Health Services & Population Research, received the awards for two different scientific research projects designed to improve the quality of healthcare.

Dr Hatch’s five year award will help to support research on discrimination in health services, which is one of the highest indications of low quality of care, unsatisfied patients and staff.  Despite discrimination being one of the driving forces of inequalities and health service barriers, there have been few studies dedicated to it explicitly.  

“The Wellcome Investigator award will provide me with the flexibility to apply innovative methods in conducting interdisciplinary and translational social science research,” says Dr Hatch.  “My team will use mixed methods to identify the biases and discrimination by health care providers, which contribute to health inequities and develop interventions to mitigate these influences.  The IoPPN affords the ideal setting to achieve excellence as a scholar and contributor to equality policies and practices.”

The three year award given to Professor Rose will fund a pioneering project bringing together for the first time the different elements of user-led research, going beyond the current highly influential patient and public involvement (PPI) in research’ model, to explore other approaches in the UK and abroad. Professor Rose’s group will investigate the historical developments of different service user movements across the world and their impact on policy and practice, and will analyse the philosophical bases of this terrain and how they have challenged mainstream theories of knowledge. 

Professor Rose says: “This is my dream project. Nearly 30 years ago, I was involved in one of the first ever pieces of user-led research carried out by my local user group. So much has happened in the intervening years and this programme of work seeks to capture and conceptualise all these developments across the globe. It is a very exciting time although not always easy work to do. I hope this will be my legacy and of use to the new generation that is pushing forward the boundaries of user-led research today and in the future.”

The Wellcome Trust is the world's largest medical research charity, and funds research into human and animal health.  Its Investigator Awards offer support to researchers at all career stages working on important questions of relevance to health and science.


Tags: Staff News -

By NIHR Maudsley BRC at 21 Sep 2016, 12:17 PM


Back to Blog List