Meet the ACRC Team

The Advanced Care Research Centre Director is Bruce Guthrie, Professor of General Practice. He is joined by colleagues from across the University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University, bringing together top academics across all aspects of caring for those in later life.

Contact the ACRC team

Core Leadership

Director - Professor Bruce Guthrie

Bruce Guthrie is Professor of General Practice at the Usher Institute, in the Edinburgh Medical School.

Bruce is a mixed methods health services researcher with an interest in the quality and safety of health and social care, particularly in relation to multimorbidity and polypharmacy. As well as research, he works clinically as a GP and works closely with the NHS and government to improve healthcare quality and safety.

Find out more about Bruce Guthrie on their profile page

Academy Director - Professor Ian Underwood

Ian Underwood is Professor of Electronic Displays in the School of Engineering where he is Deputy Director of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Intelligent Sensing and Measurement, reflecting his current research focus on miniature sensor systems in a range of applications including biomedical and healthcare.

Find out more about Ian Underwood on their profile page

Academic Lead - Professor Heather Wilkinson

Heather Wilkinson is Professor of Dementia Practice and Participation and the director of the Edinburgh Centre for Research on the Experience of Dementia. She has a longstanding involvement in qualitative dementia research and activism and is also a trainee psychotherapist.

Find out more about Heather Wilkinson on their profile page

Academic Lead - Dr Jacques Fleuriot

Jacques Fleuriot is the Director of the Artificial Intelligence and its Application in the School of Informatics. His research focuses on AI modelling, which spans areas such as formal verification, process modelling, and explainable AI in healthcare and other complex domains.

Find out more about Jacques Fleuriot on their profile page

Academic Lead - Professor Stewart Mercer

Stewart Mercer is a General Practitioner, Professor of Primary Care and Multimorbidity and Director of the Scottish School of Primary Care. His research focuses on understanding and responding to the needs of people with multiple complex conditions.

Find out more about Stewart Mercer on their profile page

Programme Manager - Lucy McCloughan

Lucy McCloughan is the Programme Manager for ACRC having previously managed Health Data Research Scotland from 2018 and Farr Scotland from 2017. From 2012 she was eHealth Research Manager at the University of Edinburgh Medical School overseeing a programme of randomised controlled trials and qualitative studies investigating telemetric self-monitoring of long term health conditions along with a programme investigating ePrescribing systems in English hospitals. Prior to that she managed the Scottish Mental Health Research Network from 2007-2009 and the Scottish Primary Care Research Network from 2002-2007. Before moving into research management, she was on the “coal face” as a researcher working with people with visual disabilities, working at the Oxford Eye Hospital and the Princess Alexandra Eye Hospital in Edinburgh.

Find out more about Lucy on their profile page

Academy Project Manager - Kate Morris

Kate Morris is the Project Manager for the ACRC Academy. Prior to this, she was Project Manager for ThermaSMART, an international research project with 18 partners on five continents. She also worked as Project Manager on the teaching response to Covid in the School of Engineering. She has a background in publishing, where she was a non-fiction editor for firms including HarperCollins and Bloomsbury, and was Publications Manager for the Basic Skills Agency, a national educational charity.

Find out more about Kate on their profile page

Partnership and Engagement Manager- Layla Robinson

Layla Robinson is the Partnership and Engagement Manager for the ACRC. She has experience gained from over 15 years in Scottish, UK and international engagement, strategy, public affairs and communications. She spent seven years in public affairs and communications consultancy, providing strategic advice on public affairs and policy to a range of healthcare, and other, organisations.

Between 2010 and 2016, she worked for Cancer Research UK, mainly as Head of Public Affairs and Campaigning. This included managing an award-winning team and activities across the Devolved Nations, Westminster, EU and with local Government. Layla then led a coalition of disability charities in Scotland to influence Scottish and UK Government policy that affected the one million disabled people living in Scotland. She oversaw the coalition’s programme of work, with support from the member organisations. Most recently, Layla established the public affairs and patient advocacy function across the UK and Ireland for a fast-growing pharmaceutical company.

Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Coordinator - Jenny Robertson

Jenny Robertson is the Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Coordinator for the ACRC. Jenny previously managed the public involvement in research programme for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and developed an international public involvement group for a project focusing on patient reported outcomes in multiple sclerosis. Prior to this, she worked as a research assistant at King's College London, investigating the impact of cognitive behavioural therapy for people living with persistent physical symptoms. Jenny has a degree in Health Psychology.

Wide-ranging expertise

The University of Edinburgh has a rich expertise working on issues related to the ageing population, and the challenges this brings both at home and globally.

In addition to the Core Leadership team noted above, the Advanced Care Research Centre is bringing together expertise from across all three Colleges of the University of Edinburgh joined by colleagues from Newcastle University, combining research across fields including medicine and other care professions, life sciences, engineering, informatics, data and social sciences - with the person in later life at the heart of all we do.

This article was published on 16 May, 2022