Associate Professor
I joined the SWS Children’s Follow-up team in 2000, following a return to full-time education in the 1990s to complete a Psychology degree followed by a Masters in Health Psychology. As I have a particular interest in health, I was very excited to be working on such a huge and important research project, examining so many factors that are likely to influence the health of future generations. I have now moved on to work on other studies that have arisen out of the SWS, but still retain a strong interest in how the study is progressing.
Every day is different in research, but broadly I worked with the rest of the SWS team to ensure the smooth running of the study. This meant liaising with the research nurses, appointment team, computing staff, nutritionists/dietitians and scientists to name but a few. We had regular meetings so everyone could have their say and discuss what we do next.
My responsibilities included regular literature reviews, developing the questionnaires for the 2 and 3 year visits, monitoring our response rates, setting up tracing procedures, maintaining computer and hard copies of all our protocols, checking the questionnaires prior to data entry, and organising sessions for the research nurses to practise measuring children.