The Academy 2021 Cohort

Implementation of a digital information resource for homeless people in Scotland

Emily has an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science and spent 5 years working in the development of global health programmes and policy internationally. Her current role in homelessness crisis intervention in Edinburgh will inform the direction of her PhD project. 

Supervisors: Professor Stewart Mercer (Usher Institute), Dr Fiona Cuthill (Centre for Homeless and Inclusion Health)

Workpackage: New Models of Care

Frailty and its impact on older people's views about 'quality of life' and 'quantity of life'

Victoria's background is in clinical medicine, having worked latterly as a palliative medicine doctor. She is changing paths and plans to focus on academia with a view to using her clinical experience to ensure relevance of the project.  

Supervisors: Professor Gillian Mead (Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences), Professor Heather Wilkinson (School of Health and Social Science)

Workpackage: Understanding the Person in context

Music and the ageing brain: can personalised music provision support communication skills and quality of life?

Anna has a BA in Music from Columbia University and an MSc in Music by Research from the University of Edinburgh. During her MSc, Anna worked on a project with Dr Tom Russ and Dr Katie Overy that explored the use of music in Edinburgh care homes.

Supervisors: Dr Tom Russ (Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, Division of Psychiatry), Dr Katie Overy (Reid School of Music) and Professor Heather Wilkinson (School of Health and Social Science)

Workpackage: Understanding the Person in context New Models of Care

Improving prediction of ageing outcomes by integrating social, environmental, and genetic information

Jonny has a BSc in Psychology and MSc in Developmental Psychopathology. He has experience with twin studies, molecular genetics, and structural equation modelling, and is interested in exploring ageing outcomes and biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases.

Supervisors: Dr Michelle Luciano (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences), Dr Tom Russ (Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, Division of Psychiatry), Dr Alan Marshall (School of Social and Political Science)

Workpackage: Data-Driven Insight and Prediction

The right to decide? Supported decision-making in care transitions with older adults who lack capacity.

Lauren is originally from the United States and completed her undergraduate degree in Religion, Philosophy, and Psychology at American University in Washington DC. She moved to Edinburgh in 2012 and obtained her Master’s in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Edinburgh in 2014. Prior to starting with the ACRC Academy, Lauren was a frontline Social Worker within Health and Social Care and Criminal Justice. 

Supervisors: , Dr Pearse McCusker (School of Social and Political Science), Dr Susan Shenkin (Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences), Professor Anne-Maree Farrell (School of Law)

Workpackage: Understanding the Person in context

What happens next? An exploration of trajectories and decision making after hospital discharge

Clare has a BA in European Studies, BSc in Occupational Therapy and an MSc in Health Inequalities and Public Policy from the University of Edinburgh. She has worked as a clinical occupational therapist with the NHS since 2008, and hopes her clinical background will help inform her PhD study.

Supervisors: Dr Sarah Rhynas (School of Health in Social Science), Jackie Gulland (School of Social and Political Science) and Dr Susan Shenkin (Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences)

Workpackage: Understanding the Person in Context New Models of Care

Understanding care transitions in remote communities

Noah studied geography at university before working as part of a clinical trials team investigating the clinical and cost effectiveness of treatments for hip fractures in older people.

His project combines interests in rural areas and ageing. For it, he is adopting a comparative ethnographic approach to better understand care transition decisions and alternatives in two remote communities, one in Scotland and one in the North East of England.

Supervisors: Dr Sue Lewis (School of Health in Social Science), Dr Eric Laurier (School of Geosciences), Dr Linda McKie (School of Social and Political Sciences)

Workpackage: Understanding the Person in context

What can data tell us about our frailty?

Lara has an Msc in Psychology of Individual Differences. Previously she worked at Public Health Scotland and in consulting in a variety of analytical, management and business development roles. For her PhD Lara will use statistical machine learning techniques to investigate measures of frailty in ageing populations.

Supervisors: Dr Sohan Seth (School of Informatics), Dr Alan Marshall (School of Social and Political Science), Dr Atul Anand (Usher Institute)

Workpackage: Data-Driven Insight and Prediction

An investigation into socially acceptable long term anonymous video monitoring for assessment of behaviour changes in ageing adults

Chris has worked in various roles in care homes for the last 7-8 years whilst working his way through university, doing a BSc Hons in Computer games technology at UWS and getting his Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Strathclyde. 

Supervisors: Professor Bob Fisher (School of Informatics), Larissa Pschetz (College of Art), Kate Brittain (Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University)

Workpackage: Integrated Technologies of Care

A Sense of Frailty

Recently graduated from the University of St Andrews after spending 5 years doing an undergraduate and master's in computer science. Here with the ACRC, Cameron will be focussing on using his computer science background specifically to tackle Cerebral Visual Impairments in respect to the older population. 

Supervisors: Professor Ian Underwood (School of Engineering) and Bal Dhillon (Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences)

Workpackage: Integrated Technologies of Care