Care Home Research Forum

Raphael Wittenberg is an Associate Professorial Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Until 2024 he was also Deputy Director of the Centre for Health Service Economics and Organisation (CHSEO) at the University of Oxford. At CPEC, he leads a programme of research on financing long-term care, which aims to make projections of future demand for long-term care and associated expenditure. He also leads research on provision of unpaid care and attitudes to caring and modelling work for studies of dementia care.

Laura Shallcross is Professor of Public health and Director of the UCL Institute of Health Informatics.  She led the national VIVALDI (COVID-19 in care homes) study which informed the public health response to COVID-19 in care homes,  and was a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) Social Care working group. 

Kate Hamblin is Professor of Social Policy and Director of the Centre for Care. She joined the University of Sheffield in 2018 to work on the Sustainable Care programme. She also currently leads the Centre for Care’s Digital Care research theme and is the UK Networks and geographical lead for the North and East-Midlands in the IMProving Adult Care Together (IMPACT) evidence implementation Centre. She is also the Policy and Practice Liaison lead for the NIHR School for Social Care Research at the University of Sheffield. Her research has focused on technology and its role in the care of older people with complex needs.

Michelle Dyson worked as the Director General of Adult Social Care in the Department of Health and Social Care between September 2020 and July 2025. As the top civil servant leading on adult social care, she was responsible for advising Ministers on policy, for delivering reform into the adult social care system and for operational oversight of the adult social care system. Prior to this Michelle worked as a senior civil servant in different roles in the Ministry of Justice, Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Education, always with a focus on social policy/delivery particularly as regards disadvantaged groups. Michelle is a qualified solicitor and spent the first part of her Civil Service career as a government lawyer.

Deborah was appointed as the first Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care in 2021. She has held a number of previous roles including senior posts in practice, research and policy, in both social care services and the NHS. She was appointed the expert nurse on the Gosport Independent Panel the report of which was laid before Parliament in 2018. She is a passionate care sector advocate and believes the workforce is its greatest asset. Developing careers, opening new pathways of opportunity and boosting recognition of care colleagues’ skills, value and expertise are, in her view, vital to the future success of the profession. She holds two Visiting Chairs in Nursing at Manchester Metropolitan and Buckinghamshire New Universities. Deborah has written numerous papers for publications and presented at national and international meetings. She was awarded a CBE in the 2023 Honours list and an OBE in the 2017. She is a Fellow of the QNI and RCN and received the British Geriatric President’s Medal for her contribution to older people nursing the first nurse to receive this.

Dr Calisha Allen, MBChB MPH DFPH is a public health doctor and NIHR Doctoral Fellow at University College London. Her research interests focus on health literacy and numeracy and her focus is on improving the patient experience through taking health literate approaches to enhancing communication. Her previous research through the EPIC study has explored healthcare professionals’ perception of their patients’ health literacy and numeracy and she now works with a North London Trust to utilise those findings and support the trust take a health literate approach to care. Her current doctoral research looks into improving the handover of care from hospital to care homes by enhancing current discharge summaries to meet the needs of adult social care. Outside of research, Calisha has a strong interest in education and is a visiting lecturer in Public Health at the University of Hertfordshire and a National Ambassador for the Doubleday Centre for Patient Experience, a centre aimed at improving the patient experience by enhancing medical education.

Keziah Florin-Sefton worked as an Engagement Lead at Hammerson House from 2022 to 2024 after completing a BSc in Social Anthropology and Politics at the University of Cambridge. In 2022, she was awarded the NIHR Pre-Doctoral Fellowship with Nightingale Hammerson as the Host Organization. As part of this fellowship, she has completed an MSc in Social Research Methods at the London School of Economics with a focus on care home research. Her current research focuses on relationship-centred care and care home staff’s experiences of grief.

Arielle’s love for supporting positive and fulfilling relationships has led her from being a teacher, to training as a Drama and Movement Therapist to, since 2021, working in Nightingale Hammerson. Currently completing a MSc at UCL in Clinical Mental Health, with a speciality in Dementia, her research focuses on the relationships between residents with varying care needs and the resulting impact on psychosocial wellbeing. Arielle hopes that her work can support older people to continue living engaged and fulfilling lives no matter their care needs.