Associate Professor, Social Science Applied to Healthcare Improvement Research (SAPPHIRE) Group, University of Leicester; England

I moved from clinical practice into research through a desire to understand and influence relationships between frontline practice, organisational systems and socio-cultural context. My research uses sociological theory and methods to bring new understandings to patient safety and improvement/implementation science research. Before I joined SAPPHIRE, I worked in the NIHR King’s Patient Safety and Service Quality Research Centre leading ethnographic research exploring the management of complications in maternity and acute care including the role of safety tools and rapid response systems. During this time I completed my PhD which examined the construct of ‘rescue’ and relationships between organisational systems, department and individual level processes in managing acute illness. I then moved to the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine at Kings College, London. I was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship within King’s Improvement Science to study patient and family contributions to safety.