Meet the team

Dr Ruth Riley 
Principal Investigator

Dr Ruth Riley

I am a Senior Lecturer, medical sociologist and feminist, based at the University of Surrey. I am the Principal Investigator of this Wellcome Project, leading study 1 and co-leading study 3. My research focuses on understanding how workplace injustices, cultures and working conditions impact the wellbeing of healthcare professionals.

Co-investigator

Dr Barbara Howard Hunt

I am an Associate Professor and the College Academic Lead for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity, at Birmingham City University.  I am co-leading study 2. A Medical Anthropologist by background, my research interests focus on inclusivity, marginalized communities and staff and student personal and professional development.

Dr Gloria Likupe 
Co-investigator

Dr Gloria Likupe

I am a Lecturer in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Hull. I am co-leading study 3. I am an interdisciplinary qualitative researcher and a Mary Seacole Scholar. I am a qualified nurse and have been researching internationally qualified nurses for 17 years and I am an expert consultant for the RCN.

Professor Jill Maben OBE 
Co-Investigator

Professor Jill Maben

I am a Professor of Health Services Research and Nursing at the University of Surrey.  I am co-leading study 5. My research interest focuses on staff health and wellbeing at work. Prior to my research career I was a registered nurse.

Co-investigator

Dr Jenny Oates

I am a Mental Health Nurse Academic at the University of Surrey. I am co-leading study 2. I have been a nurse since 2000. My clinical background is liaison psychiatry and community mental health. My teaching and research focus on peer support, co-production, and wellbeing in healthcare and educational settings.

Co-investigator

Dr Louise Isham

I am a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Birmingham and I am leading study 4. My research interests are in the ethical and emotional impacts of caring and working in constrained circumstances and the inequalities that shape different types of ‘care work’.

Dr Hilary Causer 
Researcher

Dr Hilary Causer

I am a Research Fellow and qualitative researcher at the University of Surrey. I am working on studies 1 and 4. My research focuses on workplace suicide. Previously I was lead practitioner in social care, child protection, and mental health settings, working in the third and public sectors with children, young people, and families.

Dr Anna Conolly 
Researcher

Dr Anna Conolly

I am a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the University of Surrey. I am working on studies 1 and 5. I am a sociologist with a background in qualitative social research and I have worked on issues surrounding nurse wellbeing for several years.

Dr Angela Kumah 
Collaborator

Dr Angela Kumah

I am a Lecturer in public health at Keele University. I am working on study 2. My background is in psychology & public health, and I have worked as a community mental health support worker in Ghana and the UK.

Dr Pauline Milne MBE 
Nurse Consultant

Dr Pauline Milne

I am an independent Healthcare Consultant.  I am working on study 5. My research interests are nursing workforce policy, planning and safe staffing. I have extensive NHS experience working as a registered nurse in senior leadership and policy roles at regional and national levels.

Collaborator

Dr Sarah Gillborn

I am a critical psychologist interested in critical feminist and qualitative research. My research focuses on analyses of discourse and voice, particularly in relation to policy, in order to understand how issues are officially constructed and (re)negotiated by those implicated by them.

Collaborator

Dr Lucy Thompson

I am an Assistant Professor and feminist psychologist based at Michigan State University in the Unites States. My research focuses on understanding power relations and their impacts in workplaces. I am the lead author of Feminist Relational Discourse Analysis, and will be contributing theoretical and methodological expertise to this project. 

Collaborator

Dr Kevin Teoh

I’m a Senior Lecturer in Organizational Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London, and will be working on Study 5. My primary research interests are around developing healthier workplaces – with a particular focus on healthcare workers - and the translation of research into practice, policy, and public dissemination.

Karen Shaw 
Project Manager

Karen Shaw

I am a project manager based at the University of Surrey. I’ll be providing support across the study with a particular focus on finance and ethics. My background is in chemistry and I’ve worked in a variety of research management roles in universities, including laboratory and safety management and as a department manager.

Rachael Cooke 
Research Administrator

Rachael Cooke

I am a Research Administrator based at the University of Surrey and have been working on various research projects for the past 8 years in the Schools of Veterinary Science and Health Sciences. I am the Project Administrator and PA to Dr Ruth Riley. I have an IT background having worked previously for a global software consultancy as a Senior Consultant.

Wellbeing

To support the wellbeing of our team, nurse advisors, stakeholders and our participants we offer a range of supervision and support options to everyone involved in this project.

We’ve engaged a number of independent therapists to provide support throughout the study. This includes a non-clinical supervisor to the research team, and therapists to offer debriefs and support sessions to our participants, stakeholders and advisors.

Co-production

Co-production with people affected by nurse suicide is central to our work. We are continuing to engage and involve a co-production Nurse Advisory Group throughout the project. We will also seek further input from relevant community groups of interest to ensure input from nurses from international nursing groups, nurse advocates and experts by experience representatives.

We consulted nurses as ‘experts by experience’ during the development of this project. We held two online consultation exercises to understand nurses’ perspectives on contexts underpinning nurse suicidality and seek input on research priorities, questions, design and desired outcomes.

Nurses in our consultation told us that:

  • Nurses sometimes feel devalued, poorly paid, low status, ‘second class citizen’, with their skills/knowledge not recognised.

  • Some aspects of their work and its impact on their emotional, physical and personal lives is invisible to public.

  • Nurses are expected to ‘put up with’ distress, challenges faced at work – stigma remains attached to being vulnerable and the impact of complaints and investigations is often internalised and invisible.

Stakeholder group

Stakeholders represent the interests of nurses, their families, policymakers, regulators and key researchers within the fields of suicidology and equality.

Our stakeholder group will provide project oversight, including delivery and timelines; advise on the recruitment of participants; delivery against aims and research questions; and application of the study findings. They will also facilitate dissemination and implementation of the project. The group meet twice yearly.

Stakeholder Group

  • Chinenye Anetekhai, Nigerian Nurses in the UK, Nigeria Nurses Charitable Association

  • Audrey Arden-Jones, Burdett Trust 

  • Liam Barnes, Trustee chair of the Laura Hyde Foundation Charity laurahydefoundation.org

  • Dr Mandy Burton, Deputy Director of Mental Health Nursing, NHS England

  • Ciaran Carr, Trintiy College, Dublin

  • Gayle Celera, Member of nurse co-production group

  • Ashleigh Charles, Florence Nightingale Foundation

  • Dr Julie Dixon, Nurse advisor (education), Nursing and Midwifery Council

  • Professor Luna Dolezal, University of Exeter

  • Professor Louise Doyle, Professor in Mental Health Nursing, Trinity College, Dublin

  • Ayesha Gadher, Member of nurse co-production group

  • Jennifer Gardner, Assistant Director, NHS Employers

  • Teresa Griffiths, Former Chair of Nurse Lifeline Charity

  • Professor Heidi Hjelmeland, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

  • Professor Narinder Kapur, visiting professor of neuropsychology, UCL 

  • Caroline Kenny, Head of Research, Nursing and Midwifery Council

  • Professor Gail Kinman, Visiting professor of Occupational Health Psychology, Birkbeck, University of London

  • Ariel Lanada, President, Filipino Nurses’ Association UK (FNA-UK)

  • Paulette Lewis, President, Caribbean Nurses Association

  • Emmie Malewezi, Malawi Nurses Association

  • Dr Ian Marsh, Reader in Allied Health and Suicide Safer Lead, Canterbury Christ Church University

  • Dave Munday, Lead Professional Officer, UNITE the union

  • JC Niala, Storyteller

  • Acosia Nyanin, Chief Nurse for NHS England

  • Mel Schneider, Senior Programme Officer, NHS Employers

  • Elaine Scott, Member of nurse co-production group

  • Professor Gemma Stacey, Professor, Nottingham Trent University

  • Kim Sunley (RN), Safety and wellbeing officer, Royal College of Nursing

  • Sunita Gautam Thapa (RN), President, Nepali Nurses Association

  • Dr Isabela Troya, IRC Government of Ireland Fellow, School of Public Health & National Suicide Research Foundation, WHO Collaborating Centre for Surveillance and Research in Suicide Prevention 

  • Stuart Tuckwood, National Officer for Nursing, Unison

  • Robert Tunmore, Cavell cavell.org.uk

  • Professor Anna van der Gaag, Visiting Professor, University of Surrey

  • Leena Vinod, Co-chair of ASKen (Alliance of Senior Kerala Nurses)

  • Dr Emma Wadey, (RN(M)) Chief Nursing Officer, Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS FT

  • Professor Sarah Waters, Professor of French studies, University of Leeds

Creative collaborators

Mara Menzies

Storytellers

We are proud to be working with award winning story-tellers JC Niala and Mara Menzies.

Alannah Chance

Podcast producers

We will be working with Alannah Chance to produce a series of podcasts about our work and nurses experiences.

Filmmakers

Emily Kay Stoker will be working alongside our researchers and participants to bring our findings and stories to life.