the Niche-Leeds team

NICHE-Leeds is led by Professor Karen Spilsbury (an academic) and Peter Hodkinson (a care home leader). Karen is a Professor of Nursing at the University of Leeds and Peter is the CEO of Westward Care, Leeds and Chair of the Leeds Care Association.

Our partnership extends to the University of Maastricht's "Living lab", led by Professor Jan Hamers, who is also a visiting Professor at the University of Leeds.

Our social care partners include Springfield Healthcare and Westward Care, working with Leeds City Council. Academic partners include the Centre for Dementia Research at Leeds Beckett University, led by Professor Claire Surr.

NICHE-Leeds' academics include:

Professor Karen Spilsbury: a nurse and applied health and social care researcher leading a programme of research on the social (and health) care workforce and promoting quality of life and care for older people, particularly in care home environments.

Dr Reena Devi: a psychologist and applied health and social care researcher with special interests in quality enhancement in social care and recruitment and retention of staff.

Dr Kirsty Haunch: a health and social care researcher focusing on the social care workforce and its influence on quality of care and quality of life for people living in long term care.

Professor Carl Thompson: a nurse and applied health and social care researcher with interests in implementation science, technology adoption, decision making and judgement and encouraging people to use more research evidence.

Professor Claire Surr: an applied dementia care researcher with expertise in workforce education, training and development and interventions to support quality enhancement and the delivery of person-centred care.

Other academics and social care staff join us from time-to-time. For example, working up NIHR Fellowships, undertaking quality improvement supported by academics, or just for personal development. If you are interested in joining us, then email us to discuss what is possible.