Members

Christina Gray is Director of Public Health for Bristol. Christina studied social work before discovering public health as a means to address health as a social justice issue. A former UWE Bristol Public Health student, Christina is pleased to maintain her association with the University as a Visiting Fellow and as a student mentor.

Sheila’s research is about housing policy, specifically how older and disabled people are enabled to remain living independently in their own homes.  As research fellow at UWE Bristol, Sheila led the National Review of the Disabled Facilities Grant in England for the Department of Health and Social Care; she was part of the team that produced an evidence review on home adaptations for the Centre for Ageing Better; and led the work in England on the lived experience of people in unsuitable housing for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.  In total, she has more than 30 years of experience in the following areas of research:

• the interface of housing, health and social care policy
• the condition of the housing stock
• housing in later life and future-proofing of the housing stock
• the operation and delivery of housing grants, including the Disabled Facilities Grant
• tenure issues and equality of access to suitable housing
• accessible and adaptable homes
• inclusive design and the development of design centres
• home improvement agencies, handyperson services and home from hospital services.

Billie, who is now retired, was the Academic Director of the Department for Health and Social Sciences (now known as the School of Social Sciences) at UWE Bristol. She will be supporting research in the area of mental health and community development.

Dr Robin Means is Emeritus Professor of Health and Social Care in the College of Health, Science and Society at UWE Bristol. He is Chair of both Care & Repair, England and also of West of England Care & Repair. He is a Trustee of Abbeyfield Research Foundation. He was President of the British Society of Gerontology (2012-14) and then Past President (2014-16).

From 1998-2012, he was an Associate Dean at UWE Bristol with responsibility for the overall development of research and knowledge exchange in his faculty. His research interests relate primarily to older people in such areas as the meaning of ‘home’ and ‘community’ in later life as well as issues relating to inter-agency working to support those with housing, health and social care needs.

From 2009-2012, he was Deputy Director of a research programme on civic engagement and older people in rural areas which was funded through the New Dynamics of Ageing initiative which was supported by all the Research Councils and administered through the ESRC. He is co-author of Community Care: Policy and Practice (Palgrave) which reached its fourth edition and also co-editor of Countryside Connections: Older People, Community and Place in Rural Britain (2014, Policy Press).

From 2014-16, he led the UWE Bristol evaluation of Bristol Ageing Better, a collaboration of partners lead by Age UK Bristol which has received £5.9 million from the Big Lottery Fund over five years to tackle loneliness and social isolation in later life. As part of this project, he helped to establish a team of 14 older community researchers. He also has a long standing interest in the history of health and social care services for older people and what this can tell us about the changing attitudes and perceptions of later life held by politicians, policy makers and practitioners.

Kathleen is Head of Research at the Centre for Women's and Newborn Research at Griffith University, Australia. Her research expertise is in the domain of intimate partner violence (IPV). She has an international reputation in this area especially in the area of IPV and its relationship with pregnancy, as well as the role of the health visitor.