Peter Gardner

Biography

I am a psychologist by background with particular interests in human factors and human interaction with organisational systems and technology. I have a long history of working on applied issues particularly with a health focus and more specifically in areas related to patient safety.
Brief CV
I was awarded my first degree, in Psychology, from the University of Sheffield in 1984, and I went on to gain a MSc in Computer Studies from Sheffield City Polytechnic, and a PhD in Cognitive Science from the University of Sheffield. Following this, I was privileged to work with Donald Broadbent and Dianne Berry at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford before taking up a post to work with Toby Wall, Chris Clegg and Nik Chmiel at the MRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit in Sheffield (now the Institute of Work Psychology).
In 1995 I joined the University of Leeds as a lecturer, and became a Senior Lecturer in 2003. From August 2014 until January 2020, I was Head of the School of Psychology at the University of Leeds.
Current appointment
I joined the University of Bradford in February 2020. My role is to work collaboratively with colleagues in this University and in the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research (CAHR), in the area of Healthcare Quality and Safety. The Wolfson CAHR is a unique collaboration between the Universities of Leeds and Bradford and the Bradford Institute of Health Research.

Research

Key themes of my research include:

• Human and system factors in health settings;
• Health technology;
• Patient safety;
• E-health. 

Currently, I am co-Principal Investigator on an NIHR funded Programme Grant for Applied Research entitled "Improving the Safety and Continuity  of Medicines Management at Transitions of Care (ISCOMAT)". This is a £2m project lasting 5 years which has used Experience Based Co-Design methods to help design an intervention for improving medicines management following discharge from hospital for patients diagnosed with Heart Failure.  

Previous Research
Past projects have included:

• A Department of Health funded Patient Safety Research project to evaluate the implementation of a new design for a spinal connector;
• A portfolio of studies in collaboration with Cancer Help (the patient information website of Cancer Research UK) investigating the effects of different formats for representing side effect risk information;
• Involvement in a NIHR HS&DR funded project looking at the impact that robotic surgery has on communication, collaboration and decision-making in the operating theatre.

Supervision of PhD topics have included:

• The impact of a cancer diagnosis on teenagers’ engagement with education;
• Individual and organisational factors in patient safety;
• Spillover effects in pro-environmental behaviours 
• Smartphone use in clinical settings; 
• Evaluation of Experience Based Co-Design methods in a Cardiology setting;
• Factors influencing the use of Electronic Patient Health Records.

Teaching

Modules

• Quality and Service Improvement Project for Physician Associates - PHA7080-C

Publications