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 Georgina Morley

I am a Nurse Ethicist and Director of the Nursing Ethics Program at Cleveland Clinic, Ohio. I am leading study 4. My background is in nursing, having worked clinically in major trauma and cardiac intensive care. My research is focused on the ethical challenges that nurses encounter, moral distress, and moral distress interventions.

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.

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.

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.

Non-clinical supervisor

Mary Pascall (she/her) is a UK-based psychotherapeutic counsellor, facilitator and mentor in private practice. Specialising in working with transcultural issues through a person-centred lens, Mary’s approach is relational, racial justice allied and social justice allied. Mary’s portfolio includes non-clinical supervision, plus a tailored training programme for helping professionals wishing to address race and culture within the context of their work.

She is an associate tutor for the post-graduate diploma in person-centred counselling at The Norwich Centre, Norfolk, UK. Registrations include the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the Black African and Asian Therapy Network (BAATN).

marypascallcounselling.com

Mary Pascall 2024 all rights reserved.

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, Senior lecturer, Birmingham City University

  • Audrey Arden-Jones, Burdett Trust 

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

  • Gayle Celera, Member of nurse co-production group

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

  • Professor Luna Dolezal, University of Exeter

  • Ayesha Gadher, Member of nurse co-production group

  • Jennifer Gardner, Assistant Director, NHS Employers

  • 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, Divisional lead for Practice development, Oxford University Hospital Foundation Trust

  • 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

  • Trustees of the Nurse Lifeline Charity nurselifeline.org.uk

  • Acosia Nyanin, Chief Nurse for NHSE

  • Leanne Patrick (RN), Specialist nurse in gender-based violence, NHS

  • 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

  • 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)) Deputy Director of Mental Health Nursing, NHS England

  • 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.