Inclusive Health and Implementation (IHI) Research Group

Themes, members and publications

The Inclusive Health and Implementation Research Group provides a network for researchers who are working in the following themes:

  • Life transitions: including maternity care, childhood research and chronic diseases
  • Capacity development: We have a long history of supporting aspiring researchers to develop their research careers and access research training support and fellowships. We have strong links with the NIHR S London ARC capacity development and Implementation and Improvement Science theme, and one of our members is an NIHR training lead for S London ARC and our research group members also have other national NIHR roles.
  • Implementation and Improvement Science: This theme includes researchers who are tackling questions about moving evidence into practice, through quality improvement work or by undertaking research which explores implementation in health and social care contexts.
  • Rare and unusual conditions: Our theme includes research amongst people with rare and unusual conditions, and links with groups in UK and Europe who are seeking to ensure that research is undertaken with and for people who have rare conditions.

Our research group has an overarching theme of ‘health inequalities' as this is a clear local and national research priority.

Members

Leads

Members

External members

  • Professor Mike Hurley, Centre for Health and Social Care Research, St George's, University of London
  • Dr Gita Ramdharry, Visiting Professor, Consultant Allied Health Professional in Neuromuscular Diseases UCLH
  • Dr Deborah Harding, Associate Professor, Centre for Allied Health, St George's, University of London
  • Dr Andrew Walker, Health Improvement Network
  • James Alexander, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Allied Health, St George's, University of London
  • Richard Kain, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Allied Health, St George's, University of London
  • Caitlin Beavis-Hardy, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Allied Health, St George's, University of London
  • Gill Mein, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Allied Health, St George's, University of London
  • Fiona Leggat, Research Associate, LISTEN Project, Centre for Applied Health and Social Care Research

Publications and books

Please view each member's profile for publications by members of this research group.

Research students

Paulo Chalo

  • Project title: Understanding the factors affecting the academic success of doctoral students: a cross-cultural study
  • Supervisor: Dimitra Nikoletou

Magdalena Dudziec

  • Project title: Rehabilitation strategies to improve balance and prevent falls in people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
  • Supervisor: Dimitra Nikoletou

Brian Lally

  • Project title: The quality of leadership in low-resource, non-formal refugee education programmes
  • Supervisor: Melania Calestani

Craig Mortimer

  • Project title: How do changes in blood glucose levels during the nebulisation of Salbutamol impact on objectively measured health outcomes in patients presenting with an exacerbation of asthma: a pragmatic quantitative study
  • Supervisor: Dimitra Nikoletou

Jenny Cunningham

  • Project title: Understanding weight stigma and its impact on women's experiences of maternity care – a mixed methods study
  • Supervisor: Kirstie Coxon

Liz Livingstone

  • Project title: Exploring access to self-management support across a stroke pathway; an ethnographic study.
  • Supervisor: Fiona Jones

Louise Shaxson

  • Project title: Understanding a whole-department approach to evidence-informed policy.
  • Supervisor: Rick Hood

Jo Skinner (amendments)

  • Project title: Behind closed doors: Patients' and carers' experiences of gaining access to district nursing services.
  • Supervisor: Cilla Harries

Jonathan Breckon

  • Project title: Power, politics and evidence: the role of UK professional bodies as intermediaries between research and practice
  • Supervisor: Rick Hood

Jahnine Davis

  • Project title: Lost in narratives and missing in research: Black African-Caribbean adolescent girls' experiences of child sexual exploitation in England
  • Supervisor: Rick Hood

Helen Ross-Blundell

  • Project title: Understanding spread and sustainability of self-management support across stroke and neurological services in England
  • Supervisor: Fiona Jones

Brendan O'Donovan

  • Project title: Understanding and responding to a citizen's nominal value in people-centred systems
  • Supervisor: Rick Hood

Paul McLaughlin (SGUL)

  • Project title: Exercise-based rehabilitation for pain management in people with haemophilia – a feasibility study
  • Supervisor: Mike Hurley

Projects

Current and recent projects

  • 2020 Co-Investigator K Coxon Detection of Small for Gestational Age Fetus – a cluster RCT of the GAP programme ‘DESIGN trial' 
  • 2021-2022: T Vandrevala Understanding how members of the public from underserved communities access and use scientific evidence: A scoping review and qualitative study. National Institute for Health Research
  • 2020-21: T Vandrevala Developing and Delivering targeted SARS-CoV-2(COVID-19) health interventions to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities living in the UK. UKRI/ National Institute of Health Research
  • 2020-21: T Vandrevala Primary prevention of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in pregnancy: addressing the gaps. National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme National Institute of Health Research, Policy Research Programme
  • 2019-21: T Vandrevala Identifying outstanding research proposals: An examination of reviewers' judgment processes. Wellcome Trust

Studying the outcomes of different types of demand in children's social care

Funder: Nuffield Foundation

Value: £184,129

Project Team

  • Professor Rick Hood, Kingston and St George's
  • Mr Allie Goldacre, Kingston and St George's
  • Mr Keith Clements, National Children's Bureau
  • Dr Calum Webb, University of Sheffield

Dates: 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2023

More about this project: Studying the outcomes of different types of demand in children's social care

Financial precarity and child welfare

Studying the link between household benefits, financial precarity and child welfare

Funder: Nuffield Foundation

Value: £298,770

Project Team

  • Rick Hood, Professor of Social Work, Kingston University
  • Deven Ghelani, Chief Executive, Policy in Practice
  • Magda Rossetti-Youlton, Senior Analyst, Policy in Practice
  • Jiangnan Liao, Analyst, Policy in Practice
  • Liam Berriman, Senior Lecturer, University of Sussex
  • Keith Clements, Senior Researcher, NCB
  • Ava Berry, Policy and Research Manager, NCB
  • Chao Wang, Associate Professor, Kingston University

Dates: 1 September 2023 to 28 November 2025

More about this project: Financial precarity and child welfare

Children in Children's Homes

What kinds of children's homes work well for which children? A mixed methods study of stability and outcomes using national administrative data

Funder: National Institute for Health and Social Care Research

Value: £355,539

Project Team

  • Rick Hood, Kingston University
  • Allie Goldacre, Kingston University
  • Chao Wang, Kingston University
  • Caroline Coady, National Children's Bureau
  • Keith Clements, National Children's Bureau
  • Dustin Hutchinson, National Children's Bureau
  • Ava Berry, National Children's Bureau

Dates: 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2026

More about this project: Children in Children's Homes

Identifying and understanding the link between system conditions and welfare inequalities in children's social care services

Children's social care systems and inequalities study

Funder: Nuffield Foundation

Value: £317,659

Project Team

  • Professor Rick Hood, Kingston and St George's
  • Professor Paul Bywaters, University of Huddersfield
  • Mr Allie Goldacre, Kingston and St George's
  • Dr Sarah Gorin, Kingston and St George's

More about this project: Identifying and understanding the link between system conditions and welfare inequalities in children's social care services

Towards Outstanding Research Reviews (TORR)

  • Chief investigators: Professor Gaëlle Vallée-Tourangeau, Professor Priscilla Harries, Dr Tushna Vandrevala
  • Lead organisation: Kingston University and St George's, University of London
  • Dates: 20192022
  • Funder: Wellcome Trust
  • Value of award at KU: £180,000

TORR is a mixed methods study that aims to understand how peer reviewers use and combine the information in grant applications to make their recommendations. A key objective is to contribute to the development of evidence-based training to support peer-reviewers' work.

NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) South London - Implementation Science Theme

  • Lead organisation: King's College London – Director: Professor Sir Graham Thornicroft
  • Investigators at KU: Professor Fiona Jones (Deputy IS Theme Lead) and Dr Richard Bolton
  • Dates: 2019–2024
  • Funder: NIHR
  • Value of ARC themes award at KU: £83,888

Research being carried out under this theme aims to generate tools that can be used by health and social care stakeholders to plan and evaluate implementation of complex health and social care programmes and interventions.

More about the project: Implementation science 

NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) South London - Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Research theme

  • Lead organisation: King's College London – Director: Professor Sir Graham Thornicroft
  • Theme leader: Professor Mary Chambers, Kingston University
  • Dates: 2019–2024
  • Funder: NIHR
  • Value of ARC themes award at KU: £83,888

There are currently two research projects being undertaken under this theme. The first is a mixed-methods study to identify existing approaches to PPI in health and social care commissioning; and the second, a study of the role of PPI leads in research.

Taken together, these projects aim to deepen understanding of various aspects of PPI such as the embedding of PPI national standards in research context, the impacts of PPI, and the barriers and facilitators to PPI engagement of underserved groups.

Learning from both projects will help strengthen PPI practice in all aspects of health and social care and in collaborative research environments.

More about the project: Patient and public involvement research

NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) South London - Capacity Building theme

  • Lead organisation: King's College London – Director: Professor Sir Graham Thornicroft
  • Investigators at KU: Professor Priscilla Harries and Dr Kirstie Coxon (Deputy Theme Leads)
  • Dates: 2019–2024
  • Funder: NIHR
  • Value of ARC themes award at KU: £83,888

The theme's core project focuses on research capability for non-researchers and is carried out in partnership with ARC colleagues, the AHSN (Health Innovation Network) and Health Education England.

Under the theme, an online module in implementation science will be developed as a partnership between ARC South London Academic Partners (King's College London, Kingston University and St George's, University of London) and the University of East Anglia.

It is expected that this will provide a valuable resource to inform implementation of applied research and is intended for local, national and international delivery.

More about the project: Our core ARC team

NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) - South London Children and young people's (CYP) research theme

  • Lead organisation: King's College London – Director: Professor Sir Graham Thornicroft
  • Investigator at KU: Professor Rick Hood
  • Dates: 2019–2024
  • Funder: NIHR
  • Value of ARC themes award at KU: £83,888

This research theme is dedicated to designing and testing new and better ways of improving care and health outcomes for two groups of often overlooked children, namely: children with disabilities and/or more than one long-term condition; and children who experience adverse conditions that make them less likely to develop optimally by the time they start school.

More about the project: About our children and young people research

Previous projects

  • Feasibility study of OnTrack - a digital system for upper limb rehabilitation after stroke. Funder Imperial Health Partners, London. (KU/SGUL Co-applicant F Jones)
  • NotFAST2- Nottingham Fatigue study: developing a fatigue programme. Awarded by the Stroke Association. Funded by Professor Avril Drummond, Nottingham University. (KU/SGUL Co-applicant F Jones)
  • Improving the implementation of supported stroke self-management: what does it look like and what makes it 'work' in different contexts. Funded by the Stroke Association. Led by Dr Lisa Kidd, Glasgow University. (KU/SGUL Co-applicant F Jones)
  • Using co-production to improve patient carer and staff experiences in health care organisations: a multi-centre, mixed-methods evaluation in inpatient stroke units (CREATE) (KU/SGUL Chief-investigator F Jones)
  • Development of Bridges Self-management resources for people with neuromuscular diseases (PI F Jones) https://www.bridgesselfmanagement.org.uk/
  • NIHR RfPB 'Feasibility of high intensity interval training in pulmonary rehabilitation programmes for patients with interstitial lung disease and preliminary efficacy of its long-term benefits' https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/PB-PG-1112-29067 (KU/SGUL Co-investigator D Nikoletou)
  • Toward a model of self-management: Identifying gaps and needs in services for patients with Interstitial lung disease. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03300583 (KU/SGUL Chief-investigator D Nikoletou)
  • South London ARC Pilot study of midwifery practice in Preterm birth including women's experiences (KU Co-Investigator K Coxon) https://www.clahrc-southlondon.nihr.ac.uk/maternity-and-womens-health/supporting-women-who-are-likely-give-birth-prematurely
  • Home-based balance training for people with Charcot Marie Tooth Diseases: A feasibility study. (PI G Ramdharry) https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT0298234

Contact us

If you would like to find out more about the Inclusive Health and Implementation Research Group, please get in touch:

Professor Tushna Vandrevala
t.vandrevala@kingston.ac.uk

Dr Kirstie Coxon
k.coxon@kingston.ac.uk

Faculty of Health, Science, Social Care and Education