Dr Danielle Jones

Biography

Dr Danielle Jones graduated with a first class honours degree in Sociology from the University of York (2006), and continued to gain a distinction in her MA in Social Research (2009), before completing her PhD at the University of York (2012). Danielle’s research specialism is a methodology called Conversation Analysis (CA). CA is a qualitative, micro-analytic, systematic method for studying real-life interaction. It uses audio- and video-recordings of authentic interactions to enable direct  observation and fine-grained analysis, focusing not only on what is said but how it is said. It is widely recognised as the leading methodology for investigating everyday interaction. Danielle has used this method to explore the implications of Alzheimer’s disease for family communication and relationships. Through this research, she developed a unique approach to helping families manage the sometimes-difficult interactions that arise as a result of the condition.

As part of Danielle's post-doctoral research she was involved in a pilot clinical research study, which was funded by the National Institute for Health Research, Research for Patient Benefit programme (NIHR, RfPB). Along with collaborators from the departments of Neurology and Neuropsychology at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield and colleagues at Loughborough University, they investigated communication in memory clinic encounters and identified patterns and features of interaction during memory assessments which aided in the differential diagnosis of dementia and functional memory complaints. This project demonstrated the potential for CA approaches to aid practitioners with clinical decision-making during the assessment and diagnosis of dementia. Danielle has continued this work to look at the administration of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive examination in clinical practice. Danielle has used this research to inform her teaching on the Postgraduate Certificate for Practitioners with a Special Interest in Dementia's module on Assessment and Diagnosis in Dementia, for which she is programme leader.   

Danielle has taken a leading role in the Dementia education that has been developed and delivered in the Centre for Applied Dementia Studies, most notably acting as programme leader on the BSc Dementia Studies, and more recently designing the curriculum for the MSc Advanced Dementia Studies (launched in 2019). 

Danielle is the founder of the Dementia Communication Research Network (DCRN), an international network of scholars involved in undertaking research on Dementia and Communication, she is a member of the International Society for Conversation Analysis (ISCA) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

Professional activities