Doctoral Researchers

We offer a collaborative and supportive research environment where doctoral researchers can engage in discussions with peers, staff from the Department of Applied Dementia Studies and the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research, as well as with experts by experience. 

All doctoral researchers have the opportunity to join our annual Writing Retreat and monthly research and innovation meetings where they can hear from internal and external presenters, as well as present their own work.

Our diverse team includes experts from a range of disciplines, including gerontology, sociology, psychology, speech and language therapy, and more, providing a rich, interdisciplinary approach to applied dementia research.

We have staff who are specialists in specific methods, such as conversation analysis, participatory approaches, quantitative methodology and systematic reviewing.

We welcome both national and international applicants, including those studying in person or via distance learning.

International and Honorary Advisors

Our doctoral researchers have been supported by a number of internationally recognised scholars in dementia care such as Professor Steve Zarit, Professor Richard Fortinsky and Professor Myrra Vernooj-Dassen.

We also have honorary professors, including Professor John Keady and Emerita Professor Gail Mountain who bring expertise and richness to our research discussions.

Current Doctoral Researchers

Our current doctoral researchers are carrying out a range of research into a variety of different topics. Many of our doctoral researchers have received prestigious funding scholarships, for example, from the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership.

Get to know about our students and their projects:

• JiaYen Eng
• Beulah Shadrache
• Amanda Briggs
• Daniel Kelleher
• Vidhya Kaleeswaran

Previous doctoral researchers

Our doctoral researchers have produced impactful research that spans a wide range of topics related to dementia. Our alumni have gone on to pursue successful careers in academia and practice.

Some have secured faculty positions at prominent universities, while others have taken leadership roles in health and social care organisations driving forward research and policy on dementia care.

Many also remain closely involved in our research community, contributing to ongoing projects and collaborations. Here are some of recently completed PhDs:

• Akhlak Rauf: Optimisation of care transitions: Understanding coping strategies of South Asian family carers of a relative with advanced dementia
• Alison Ellwood: The influence of psychological and social factors on the lived experience of ageing with co-existent frailty and cognitive impairment
• Andreia Fonseca
• Helen Wells: A Narrative Study Carried Out with Older Women with Dementia who Live Alone: Storytelling about Their Living Arrangements and  Wishes for the Future.
• Lindsey Collins: Understanding the eating and drinking experiences of people living with dementia and dysphagia in care homes
• Oladayo Bifarin: Intersections between culture, sociodemographic change and caring: a qualitative study of current and prospective family caregivers in mainland China.
• Shabana Shafiq: A hermeneutic phenomenology study exploring the barriers and facilitators to accessing support for UK South Asian families living with frailty
• Saba Shafiq: Using the self-regulatory model to explore cultural understandings of dementia and inform a culturally sensitive intervention
• Wendy Andrusjak: Hearing and vision can provided to older people residing in care homes