Dr Helen Hawley-Hague

I have been interested in research since I completed my undergraduate degree and worked with a senior lecturer around health policy. After starting a Masters in Public Health and also working at the University of Sheffield briefly, my aim was to be a researcher who made a difference to health practice.  It seemed natural development to work for the Health Development Agency (HDA) regionally (Yorkshire and the Humber) and then a Primary Care Trust in Public Health. It is within my Public Health role that I worked around older adults, healthy active ageing and falls prevention.

My Masters dissertation examined  home exercise and falls prevention using qualitative methods, including grounded theory. During my time in Public Health I engaged regularly with the EU funded ProFaNE project (http://www.profane.eu.org/) led by the University of Manchester and used the forums on their website to ensure we were carrying out/commissioning best practice. At a falls conference I saw Professor Chris Todd speak. I decided I would like to do a PhD at Manchester and he encouraged me to apply. At that time I was finishing off a healthcare policy book with the senior lecturer I had worked with before and working full time.  

Seeing a MRC funded doctoral fellowship advertised at the University of Manchester with Professors Chris Todd and Dawn Skelton. I applied and was successful. My research focused on adherence to community exercise classes for older adults and the role of the exercise instructor. This connected to my experiences, after seeing the ‘revolving door’ of patients heading in and out of rehabilitation. Having always focused on qualitative work (slightly scared of statistics), my PhD with mixed methods led to using advanced statistics (multi-level modelling) and I found this incredibly interesting! My research and public health work complemented each other perfectly but I eventually decided to focus on my academic career (I found I was doing what felt like two full time jobs). 

Since completing my doctorate I have worked on several European projects looking at falls prevention (Farseeingresearch.eu) and technology and putting evidence into practice (http://profound.eu.com/) as well as securing an Medical Research Council Centenary award. I currently hold an NIHR fellowship, I am co-applicant on another European Commission funded project and I have other small grants in my portfolio. I feel I am at the most challenging part of my career, as I establish myself as an independent researcher in my field. At the heart of this my work focuses closely on making a difference to older adults, always working closely with them and health professionals.