ERA Committee

Chair of Emerging Researchers Into Ageing Group (ERA):

Nadine Thomas

Nadine Thomas is a doctoral researcher for the ESRC Centre for Population Change at the University of Stirling. Her primary research interests are in older adults, unpaid care, and personalisation. She completed a MSc in Applied Social Research, in which she focused on the experiences of mealtimes and quality of life and of older people living at home. She has experience in research in government and the third-sector capacities, and currently works as a research assistant on an ESRC-funded investigation into Carers Time use and an Innovation Fellowship-funded project to enhance service-user involvement in social work teaching at Stirling University. She is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has taught on a number of undergraduate modules including Ageing, Society and Social Policy. Her PhD examines the preferences of unpaid carers of older adults towards support.

Nadine.thomas@stir.ac.uk 

Treasurer of Emerging Researchers Into Ageing Group (ERA):

Jennifer Ferguson

Jennifer Ferguson is doctoral researcher at the University of Stirling. She has completed a BA in Sociology & Criminology and MRes in Applied Social Research. Throughout her studies, she has explored how social networks might have an effect on different aspects of life. Her MRes examined how different types of social connections affected the cognitive function of older people in later life through the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. While her PhD is looking at the social support networks of older people living in care homes, and how their social support affects their wellbeing. Jennifer is also a member of the Dementia and Ageing Research Group (DARG) at the University of Stirling, and has presented her work at conferences such as the BSG Annual Conference and the DARG Annual Conference. She enjoys teaching and has previously taught on modules such as ‘Ageing, Society and Social Policy’ as well as more methodological modules such as ‘Research Processes’ and ‘Quantitative Data Analysis’.

jennifer.ferguson1@stir.ac.uk

Secretary of Emerging Researchers Into Ageing Group (ERA):

Isaiah Durosaiye

Dr Isaiah Durosaiye is a research associate in ageing and the built environment at the School of Architecture, University of Sheffield. He completed his PhD in architectural design, which explored the suitability of the design of healthcare facilities for an ageing nursing workforce. His research interests include workplace design for an ageing working population, suitable design of the built environment, health and wellbeing of older people, and dementia-friendly environments. He has worked on a number of projects, such as the EU-funded OIKONET project, which focused on contemporary housing solutions, through the synergistic collaboration across research, pedagogy and community participation. Isaiah undertakes teaching at undergraduate and  postgraduate levels relevant in his area of research, on modules such as intergenerational architecture and sustainable architecture and wellbeing at the Sheffield School of Architecture. His research has been widely disseminated in international peer review journals, and at conferences including the British Society of Gerontology and the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 

i.durosaiye@sheffield.ac.uk

Incoming Chair of Emerging Researchers Into Ageing Group (ERA):

Dr Matthew Lariviere

Dr Matthew Lariviere is a UKRI Innovation Fellow at the Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities at The University of Sheffield. He is a social anthropologist interested in two primary research areas: (1) cross-cultural understandings and experiences of ageing and memory loss, and (2) the challenges and opportunities for technologies to support older adults, carers and clinicians in health and care systems.

In 2018, he completed his PhD in Health Sciences at the University of East Anglia. His doctoral study was an ethnography of people with dementia and their carers using assistive technologies and telecare at home, as participants in the NIHR-funded trial, Assistive Technology and Telecare to maintain Independent Living At home for people with dementia (ATTILA). For his current UKRI Innovation Fellowship, he examines challenges, benefits and possibilities for businesses and organisations designing, producing and providing emergent technologies to support ageing in place in the UK.

Deeply committed to interdisciplinary and non-academic engagement, he has delivered public engagement workshops throughout the UK and convened policy and practice knowledge exchange events in the UK, Europe, Australia and North America.

Matthew is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He reviews for Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, The BMJ, and Journal of Medical Internet Research. In 2019, he was appointed the Reviews Editor of the International Journal of Care and Caring.

m.lariviere@sheffield.ac.uk

Mentor Coordinator of Emerging Researchers Into Ageing Group (ERA):

Carol Maddock 

Carol is a researcher based in the Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research (CADR) Cymru, based in Swansea University and is particularly interested in the areas of public involvement and engagement in the research process. With the CADR team she has been involved in testing new UK Standards for Public Involvement and Engagement in Research over the last year. She has also recently been studying for a PhD on the role of social support networks in the dementia literacy of older adults in Wales.

Carol originally worked as a therapy radiographer in the UK and Australia before completing an MA in Health Promotion at Brighton University. She worked as a community health development worker within the voluntary sector and alongside health and local authority colleagues for many years. This gave her a passion for understanding and working alongside community members and statutory and non-statutory providers to positively influence quality of life, environments and health. The opportunity to contribute to a number of research projects including a European cancer patient and public information project with Tenovus cancer charity reignited Carol’s long term interest in academia and social research activities.  She has been involved in ageing research activities since 2011.