Who we are

An accomplished academic with a long history of leading research into dementia care was given the role of the University of Salford's first Professor of Dementia in June 2016.

Professor Anthea Innes also took on the role of the Coles-Medlock Director of the Salford Institute for Dementia. The Institute brings together innovative research across the University to find ways of enabling people to live well with dementia.                

Anthea is a renowned leader in rural dementia care research and has led numerous public engagement and dementia awareness projects including the (Don't) Mention Dementia social art project, and the BUDI Orchestra – both of which have been recognised by the Academy of Social Science.            

She was a member of the Task and Finish groups advising the Prime Minister on rural dementia care and dementia friendly technology. She also is a member of INTERDEM, a pan-European network of psycho-social dementia researchers, where she co-leads the technology task force; and she is a member of RADAR a Canadian wide team of rural dementia care researchers. Anthea is an extensively published author and has secured numerous high value grants for her research work.            

Dr Andrew Clark is a Reader in Sociology in the School of Health and Society. At the heart of his work is a commitment to inter- and trans-disciplinary research activity and the benefits this can bring to understanding real world problems and issues.                

Recent theoretically informed empirical research has addressed issues of: spatial inequality; public space use; sustainable energy futures; perceptions of fire-risk; university leadership and academic enterprise; and inter-generational neighbourhoods.                

Andrew is currently part of an international team working on a 5-year ‘Neighbourhoods and Dementia' mixed methods study lead by Prof John Keady (University of Manchester). Working with Dr Richard Ward (University of Stirling), Sarah Campbell (University of Manchester) and colleagues at the University of Linkoping (Sweden), Andrew's research is exploring how neighbourhoods support the well-being and everyday lives of people with dementia and their care partners.    

Malcolm Granat is Professor of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Salford. He is engaged in research looking at the quantification of free-living physical behaviour. Malcolm’s interest in activity monitoring, using accelerometer based systems, stems from his early work in the development of novel instrumentation for ambulatory monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of neuroprosthetic devices.          

The focus of his research is the development of outcomes measures, based on physical activity patterns, to quantify the effectiveness of interventions in a range of populations and clinical groups (e.g. stroke, osteoarthritis, intermittent claudication, heart failure and people with dementia).He is also applying these techniques to enhance our understanding of how physical behaviours are affected by environmental and social factors.            

Malcolm has been involved in setting up the new International Scientific Society for the Measurement of Physical Behaviours (ISMPB), at present he is the Society’s President. Malcolm is also co-inventor of the activPAL, an accelerometer based physical activity monitoring instrument, which has been widely deployed in many studies worldwide.

Dr Gemma Lace-Costigan is a Lecturer in Molecular Biosciences in the School of Environment and Life Sciences. Her research focuses on understanding the underlying cellular mechanisms that lead to brain cell death in dementia. Gemma obtained a BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience at the University of Leeds and then completed a PhD at the University of Sheffield where she investigated the role of abnormal tau protein deposits in ageing and dementia. After spending a number of years at Sheffield researching various neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease,Gemma joined the University of Salford in 2011.                

Gemma is passionate about public engagement and raising awareness about dementia and has led sessions at the Manchester Science Festival, ‘The Brain Box 2016’ and at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. She is also an active dementia charity fundraiser and dedicated teacher, contributing to a variety of modules of the BSC (Hons) Biomedical Science (IBMS) and MSc Biomedical Science programmes.      

Dr Jack Wilson is a Lecturer in English Language in the School of Arts and Media and the leader of the creativity theme within the Institute of Dementia. This position involves coordinating research and other activities at the interface of creative practice and dementia research. Jack is currently developing ways to bring dementia awareness into the undergraduate curriculum of degrees within the School of Arts and Media.              

As an academic, Jack is building on the success of the events hosted by the Institute of Dementia during Dementia Action Week 2018 to further promote a ‘dementia-friendly country’. His current research uses big data to explore media and social media representations of dementia. He hopes that this work can be used to explore and change the (social-) media discourse surrounding dementia and promote a positive image of people with dementia.  

Dr Lydia Morris has over 10 years’ experience of clinical practice and research in Salford and Greater Manchester. In the past 6 years she has focused on research developing psychological interventions. She is trained as a Clinical Psychologist (ClinPsyD) and has also completed a research PhD (both at the University of Manchester).      

She is committed to developing effective and conceptually-driven interventions that develop services and better meet people's’ needs.      

She is currently working as a Research Fellow on the Empowered Conversations project, in partnership with Six Degrees Social Enterprise, developing and evaluating communication training for carers of people living with dementia.   

Sarah is a Dowager Countess Eleanor Peel Trust funded psychosocial dementia researcher committed to exploring ways that enable people living with dementia and those in supporting roles to live as well as possible. Sarah has worked with people along various points of the dementia pathway, from people receiving a diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) through to people who have been living with a diagnosis for a decade or more, engaging people living at home, in day centres and residential settings. Achieving a 1st class honours in Psychology in 2010, Sarah went on to complete an ESRC funded PhD in Applied Health Research in the School of Health & Related Research at the University of Sheffield in 2015. Director of SID, Anthea Innes, was the examiner for Sarah’s PhD viva, so it is no surprise that their research perspectives are closely aligned. 

Sarah began her role as a Research Associate in the SID in January 2019. A large part of Sarah’s role is to evaluate the groups that take place in the Dementia Hub, including SID’s Café, the Good Life Club and the Associates panel.

Dr Helen Scholar is a Lecturer in Social Work in the School of Health & Society. She moved into Higher Education after more than 20 years in practice as a Probation Officer, Family Court Welfare Officer and in roles in Training, Staff Development and Social Work education. Since joining Salford University, she has worked across the social work qualifying programmes, and is Programme Leader of the Step Up to Social Work course.      

Helen has been involved in a number of evaluation projects, and is currently a member of a team at the Institute for Dementia who are evaluating the 'Sensory Palaces' project for the charity Historic Royal Palaces. 'Sensory Palaces' is a programme of events for people living with dementia and their Carers,which engage participants in sensory storytelling in the historic spaces of Hampton Court Palace and Kew Palace.  

Lesley is the administrator for Salford Institute for Dementia. She sits at the reception desk and is often the first face anyone will see when they come into the Dementia Hub.

She offers administrative support to the Institute staff as well as being the PA to the Director of the Institute. She is our first point of contact for many of the community and she assists with practical aspects of the running of the groups we offer in the Hub.

She has over 30 years' administration experience; the last 20 years have been in the education sector.

Lesley brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team and a smile and warm welcome to all visitors to the Hub.

Kris began her research training in Schelgel Villages care homes in Canada where she was a clinical placement student working on a project to determine if personalised exercise for residents improved their independence in activities of daily living. Following this first experience in research, her interests in how to improve physical activity and independent mobility in older adults began to grow.

After moving to the UK she coordinated a large study evaluating physiotherapy and occupational therapy for care home residents and completed her PhD which sought to understand why stroke survivors have difficulty changing their walking patterns in response to the environment (as is necessary to be independently mobile in busy, cluttered communities). Her research at the University of Salford aims to improve and maintain independent mobility for older adults in all care settings.