Dr Deborah Cairns (post-doc Chair) 

Dr Deborah Cairns worked as a research psychologist for three years before completing her PhD at Glasgow Caledonian University, investigating the experiences of prolonged caregiving on older parents caring for offspring with learning disabilities. Deborah’s interest in older people led her to the School of Health Sciences and Social Care at Brunel University in September 2008 where she became a Research Fellow on the two year project investigating financial abuse of older adults. In January 2011 she joined as the Research Fellow on Professor Christina Victor’s Dunhill Medical Trust funded research project: Bridging the gap between policy and practice: dignity in care for older people. Deborah is also on the Editorial team for the British Society of Gerontology’s Generations Review.

Deborah.Cairns@brunel.ac.uk

Naomi Woodspring (post-grad Chair)

Naomi moved to the UK from Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2008. She holds an MA in clinical psychology (1993) from John F Kennedy Universityand has worked in social services with diverse populations for many years. She has worked as the director/manager of a rape crisis service, an innovative community prison project for incarcerated women and their children, and a large social service agency serving runaway and homeless young people. In addition to administration, Naomi has worked as a family therapist with Native American and traditional Hispanic extended families. In 2000, she founded Solution Development, a consultancy working with non-profit and for-profit organizations seeking systemic solutions to problems. She was also able to design and develop pilot projects of her own which included a neighbourhood literacy project and a women’s community organizing project with immigrant women living in subsidised housing. In 2006, she was awarded the Santa Fe Futures award, recognizing her community work.

Naomi was a founding member of the Santa Fe Green Business Alliance. Her interest in both sustainability in the built environment within city neighbourhoods and community diversity, especially in the face of gentrification, brought her to speak and write about counter-gentrification issues. She was a founding member of the Triangle District Project which works to keep gentrification under control in the last diverse neighbourhood within the city limits of Santa Fe. She believes diversity helps build sustainable community infrastructures. This interest led Naomi to become the principle contractor for Santa Fe Design Week (2006 -07), an international event. She sees direct links between understanding and respect for the full human life courseand the sustainability of communities and the larger culture.

Naomi is a full-time PhD student at the University of the West of England. The working title of her project is An investigation of the narrative meaning of biological body changes in adults born between 1945 – 1955.

naomiwoodspring@yahoo.com