Our researchers

You can connect with our researchers via their personal profiles. Whether you are looking for consultancy, collaboration, or are wanting to pursue your research as a postgraduate student, our research community is a great place to start.

Researchers by theme

Business, Enterprise and Management

Professor Steven Griggs

Professor

Steven is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Centre for Business, Innovation and the Regions. His research investigates democratic governance, collaboration and sustainability.

Steven's profile

Dr Joe Hazzam

Interim Course Director

Joe is an Associate Professor of Digital Marketing, and the co-director of the Centre for Business, Innovation and the Regions. Joe has 17 years of experience in strategic and digital marketing in various industries globally.

Joe's profile

Bharati Singh

Course Director

Bharati is the Course Leader for the MBA and undergraduate Business Management and Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship courses. She teaches across the undergraduate, postgraduate and professional programmes within the Business School.

Bharati's profile

Carol Southall

Head Of Department - Business

Carol is a member of the ERRIN (European Regions Research and Innovation Network) Tourism Working Group in Brussels. Taught in Switzerland, Finland and Croatia. Research interests include the relationship between cultural awareness and visitor s…

Carol's profile

Professor Martin Jones

Vice Chancellor & Chief Executive

Professor Martin Jones has served as Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of University of Staffordshire since January 1, 2022.

Martin's profile

Dr Frederick Nyakudya

Senior Lecturer

Dr Frederick Nyakudya is a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate students. He is one of the staff members responsible for leading the Postgraduate Research courses at the JSS.

Frederick's profile

Dr Itoro Ekpo

Lecturer

Itoro Ekpo is a undergraduate and postgraduate lecturer and is also involved in research in the School of Justice, Security and Sustainability.

Itoro's profile

Dr Susan Sisay

Course Director - Entrepreneurship

Dilrukshi Dimungu Hewage

Lecturer

Dr. Dilrukshi Hewage is a Lecturer in Accounting and Finance at University of Staffordshire. Her research focuses on finance, corporate governance, gender diversity on boards, bankruptcy, corporate fraud, ESG reporting, and corporate risk-taking.

Dilrukshi's profile

Khaoula Omhand

Lecturer

Khaoula Omhand is a lecturer in Business management and leadership. Who has held previous posts in other higher education institutions and led environmental consultancy projects in Africa and Europe.

Khaoula's profile

Kieron Chadwick

Lecturer

Lecturer in Business, specialising in higher and degree-level apprenticeships.

Kieron's profile

Muhammad Khan

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing

Muhammad is a Lecturer in Digital Marketing with nearly a decade of teaching experience. His expertise spans consumer behaviour, advertisement effectiveness, digital marketing trends, and managing social media campaigns.

Muhammad's profile

Crime, Justice and Security

Sarah Page

Associate Professor

Sarah is an Associate Professor teaching on our undergraduate and post graduate courses in Criminology and post graduate course in Leadership in Action on Poverty. She is also the Co-Director of the Staffordshire University Crime and Society Group.

Sarah's profile

Dr Claire Gwinnett

Professor

I am a Professor in Forensic and Environmental Science. I specialise in forensic fibres analysis, mircoplastics and plastic pollution, hair analysis, paint analysis and glass analysis.

Claire's profile

Culture, Heritage and Society

Professor Carola Boehm

Professor

Having degrees both from the arts (music) as well as the sciences (electrical engineering, computer science) I am a genuine interdisciplinarian.

Carola's profile

Professor Neil Brownsword

Professor

Prof. Brownsword is an artist, researcher and educator. His research into the legacy of deindustrialisation in relation to North Staffordshire's ceramic industry, has had national and international cultural impact.

Neil's profile

Dr Dave Payling

Associate Professor

Dave is an audio-visual artist who holds a PhD in composition. His primary research focus is Electronic Visual Music and he teaches composition, audio-visuals and mastering at undergraduate and post-graduate levels

Dave's profile

Dr David White

Senior Lecturer

Course leader for PhDs. Senior lecturer in Computer Games Programming – 3D graphics programming and AI.

David's profile

Dr Agata Lulkowska

Associate Professor

Dr Agata Lulkowska is a Senior Lecturer in Film Production in the Department of Film, Media and Journalism. Agata’s background is in film practice, installations and photography.

Agata's profile

Dr Sharon Coleclough

Senior Lecturer

Sharon works across all areas of film and media production, focusing upon specialisms in sound design, editing, acting and performance in film. She is an active researcher with international publications on lighting, sound and representation in film.

Sharon's profile

Dr Marc Estibeiro

Associate Professor

Marc is the Course Leader for MA Music Production and teaches computer sound, advanced Pro Tools techniques, modern composition and music software design.

Marc's profile

Professor Ian Brown

Professor

Prof. Brown’s research investigates how contemporary social identity is constructed through rituals of consumption within popular culture. His research also explores the Invented World and the Natural World, including plant/human relations.

Ian's profile

Dr Andrew Stubbs-Lacy

Senior Lecturer

Dr Andrew Stubbs is Senior Lecturer of Film Industries and Studies in the Department of Creative Industries. He is also the postgraduate research coordinator, co-lead for the C3 research centre, and his department’s ethics coordinator.

Andrew's profile

Cameron Vanloo

Senior Lecturer

Cameron is a lecturer and a research in performance management in relation to sports and esports coaching and performance. His main area of interest is the development of physical fitness in relation to psychological and sociological.

Cameron's profile

Professor Catherine Flick

Professor

Catherine is a technology ethicist with research interests in video games, online safety and child protection, and emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and social media.

Catherine's profile

Joshua Jarrett

Senior Lecturer

Josh is a Senior Lecturer specialising in Esports, who joined Staffordshire University in September 2019. Josh’s ongoing research interests include co-creative player relations, free-to-play monetisation, grassroots esports and platform governance.

Joshua's profile

Rebecca Nunes

Associate Professor Of Lens-Based Media

Becky Nunes is an artist and educator whose work has been awarded, published & exhibited locally and internationally. Nunes’ lens-based practice considers the complexities of land use and amplifies marginalised and polyphonic voices.

Rebecca's profile

Dr Mark Brown

Course Director

As well as being Course Leader for English and Creative Writing, Mark teaches on First Year core modules and American literature modules on Crime Fiction, the Contemporary, Modernism and Beat Writing. He also supervises MA and PhD students.

Mark's profile

Dr Monireh Astani

Senior Lecturer

Dr Monireh Astani is a researcher and practitioner invested in the interdisciplinary, audience-oriented, creative practices of animation, visual design, and VR/AR.

Monireh's profile

Professor Carlton Reeve

Associate Dean - Research & Innovation

Carlton is the Director of the Staffordshire University Games Institute and Professor of Narrative Design.

Carlton's profile

David Murphy

Senior Lecturer

David is a Senior Lecturer in Game Development and an active researcher in the fields of communication and culture studies, game studies, digital heritage, and community management.

David's profile

Fiona Wilson

Senior Lecturer

Fiona is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Industries specialising in print, textiles, and enterprise, combining academic expertise, professional practice, and research into play, experimentation, and creative confidence.

Fiona's profile

Professor Esther Maccallum-Stewart

Professor

Professor of Game Studies, specialising in player behaviour and analog games, including tabletop roleplaying games.

Esther's profile

Emma Fallows

Lecturer

Emma is an artist, researcher, and lecturer in Games Development. Her research explores applying virtual reality to museum displays to enhance the education and overall visitor experience.

Emma's profile

Anna Francis

Professor

Anna Francis is an artist, educator and researcher whose work aims to create space to discuss and reframe city resources, through participatory art interventions.

Anna's profile

Engineering, Technology and Environment

Dr Anas Amjad

Course Director

Anas is Course Director for Electrical and Electronic Engineering. His expertise lies in the use of smart systems for a diverse range of applications, such as smart healthcare, smart homes, smart cities etc.

Anas's profile

Dan Lewis

Course Director

Dan is the Design Course Director and Course Leader for Automotive & Transport Design. Dan is also the Co-Course Leader for Product, Furniture, Ceramics. His Background in Product and Furniture Design feeds into his Emotional Design PhD and research.

Dan's profile

Dr Kieran Hicks

Course Director

Dr Kieran Hicks is a game design lecturer, they are the director of the DEMI research centre. Their research explores games from user-based and design-based lenses, using games as a tool to engage diverse groups in beneficial activity.

Kieran's profile

Professor Mohamed Sedky

Professor Of Cyber-Physical Systems

Mohamed is the lead researcher of Adaptive Video Analytic technologies, and is also the founder of Spectral-360. His current research interests include object recognition, object tracking, object segmentation, and face detection.

Mohamed's profile

Professor Abdel-Hamid Soliman

Professor

Abdel-Hamid's expertise includes automation, including Smart Cities, Building automation, Energy management, Security, Safety and health applications.

Abdel-Hamid's profile

Dr Russell Campion

Head Of Department - Computing & Esports

Russell started at the University in 1990, studying a BA, then MRes, and finally a PhD before going into full-time teaching. He currently runs the Department of Computing. Previously he has managed the Information Systems group at Stafford befor…

Russell's profile

Dr Mohammad Hasan

Senior Lecturer

Mohammad is a Senior lecturer who is involved in PG research, MSc course management, PG and UG teaching. He is the course leader for MSc Computer Science and has experience in Erasmus project management.

Mohammad's profile

Dr Justin Champion

Senior Lecturer

Justin has worked for the University for a number of years as a Senior Lecturer in Networking. He is a member of the university's CISCO teaching team and has a wide set of experiences within this field, and has mostly specialised in the area of…

Justin's profile

Debi Roberts

Interim Head Of Department

Debi has a keen interest in Automotive and Aeronautical Aerodynamics, Engine Design and Engineering History (Automotive and Aeronautical).

Debi's profile

Tamoor Shafique

Senior Lecturer

Tamoor is an Electrical Engineering with more than 12 years of experience in industry and academia. Tamoor is a senior lecturer in automation and robotics engineering, his research interests include: IoT, Soft robotics, SLAMs, Smart City, AI, and ML.

Tamoor's profile

Dr Mohammad Moghimi Ardekani

Associate Professor

I joined Staffordshire University in 2019 with years of academic & industrial experiences. My main field of interest is CFD simulation of applied thermo-fluid problems for renewable energy technologies, Solar Energy & Thermal Energy Storage.

Mohammad's profile

Professor Christopher Headleand

Head Of Department - Sugi

Prof. Headleand is a Computing & Video Games academic with over 20 years' experience; internationally recognised as an expert in student engagement. He is head of Games Design & Technology & researches Virtual Reality, Visualisation & Serious Games.

Christopher's profile

Dr Sheikh Islam

Head of Engineering

Dr. Sheikh Islam is the Head of Engineering at University of Staffordshire, bringing over 13 years of experience in academia and industry to his role.

Sheikh's profile

Professor Hamidreza Gohari Darabkhani

Professor-Low Carbon & Renew Energy Sys

Prof Gohari Darabkhani has focused his research and industry collaborations on technologies and projects that directly contribute to resolving current major issues in the energy industry to achieving net-zero emission targets by 2050.

Hamidreza's profile

Dr Alison Griffiths

Associate Professor

Alison's expertise includes smart grids and their protection and renewable integration, smart homes, wireless sensor network design, implementation and optimisation.

Alison's profile

Dr Abdul Waheed Awan

Senior Lecturer

Currently I am Senior Lecturer in Mechanical & Automotive Engineering and Award Leader for MSc Automotive Engineering within School of Creative Arts and Engineering.

Abdul Waheed's profile

Dr Muhammad Naveed Iqbal

Senior Lecturer

Dr Naveed is the Course Leader for the MSc in Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy Systems. His expertise lies in electrical power systems, with a primary research focus on power quality issues within both current and prospective power grids.

Dr Muhammad Fahad

Senior Lecturer

Senior Lecturer Course Leader - BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering Course Leader - Manufacturing Engineer Degree Apprenticeship.

Muhammad's profile

Dr Islam Abohela

Senior Lecturer

Islam is the Architecture Course Leader. He is an Architect with extensive experience in the design and construction of the built environment. Islam’s research focuses on the intersections between Architecture, Film and Sustainability.

Islam's profile

Dr Md Asaduzzaman

Associate Professor

I am currently an Associate Professor in Operational Research at Staffordshire University. I teach math modules at the Engineering Dept. The focus of my research is to apply analytics tools in healthcare, comm. networks and environmental sciences.

Md's profile

Andrew Cash

Senior Lecturer

Andy's research interests include Automotive Propulsion and Vehicle Dynamics (mostly Engine related areas) branching out into Autonomous and Future Automotive.

Andrew's profile

Dr Chris Payne

Lecturer

I am a games designer, educator, musician and researcher with specialisms tied to games audio, serious games, 2D and 3D game development, as well as visual programming and its integration into interdisciplinary education.

Chris's profile

Dr David White

Senior Lecturer

Course leader for PhDs. Senior lecturer in Computer Games Programming – 3D graphics programming and AI.

David's profile

Andrew Wedgbury

Lecturer

Dr Andrew Wedgbury is a Lecturer in Games Design whose research explores supernatural horror, folklore, and handmade aesthetics, examining how games can act as haunted technologies that preserve memory and evoke the uncanny.

Andrew's profile

Dr Ateeq Ur Rehman

Lecturer

Dr. Ateeq is a dedicated academic and Researcher. His research work in Cognitive Radios, IoT, and data security has significantly advanced solutions for spectrum efficiency and robust data protection.

Ateeq Ur's profile

Dr Mathew Dalgleish

Senior Lecturer, Games Audio and Technical Design

Mat is an interdisciplinarian with degrees in sculpture and media arts, and a PhD in music computing. His main areas of interest are synthetic sound (primarily for games), interface design, interactive environments, and accessible technology.

Mathew's profile

Dr Rakan Aldmour

Senior Lecturer

Rakan is a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for MSc Business Computing. He teaches Enterprise Systems, Project and Change Management, Managing Emerging Technologies, Research methods and other modules. Rakan also supervises PhD and MSc students.

Rakan's profile

Dr Benhur Bakhtiari Bastaki

Senior Lecturer

Benhur is Course Leader for BSc Artificial Intelligence. His is an active researcher and his current areas of interest are artificial intelligence, machine learning, ambient intelligence, ubiquitous sensing, contextual information and data mining.

Benhur's profile

Professor Catherine Flick

Professor

Catherine is a technology ethicist with research interests in video games, online safety and child protection, and emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and social media.

Catherine's profile

Professor Elhadj Benkhelifa

Professor Of Computer Science

Elhadj is passionate academic and researcher with almost 20 years of experience and demonstrable leadership skills at an international level.

Elhadj's profile

Health, Wellbeing and Education

Dr Jim Pugh

Director - Inst. Of Ed. - Assoc Prof.

I am proud to be the Director of the Institute of Education leading an innovative group of professionals, educators, researchers and working with our creative and exciting students, partners and community.

Jim's profile

Robert Needham

Senior Lecturer

Robert's research background is in the areas of sport and clinical biomechanics. The focus of his research is on the application of non-linear data analysis techniques to quantify movement coordination and coordination variability. Robert's rese…

Robert's profile

Dr Naomi Ellis

Associate Professor Of Health Research

I've been involved with a number of research projects relating to physical activity and mental health, green space and health; health in mid-life; sport and mental health in prisons.

Naomi's profile

Fiona Mccormack

Research Fellow

Dr Victoria Riley

Research Fellow

Dr Victoria Riley is a Research Fellow at University of Staffordshire, within the Centre for Health and Development (CHAD) Research Centre.

Victoria's profile

Konstantinos Spyropoulos

Research Associate

Professor Wilfred McSherry

Professor

Wilf is a Professor of Nursing and an active researcher in delivery patient centred care. His main area of interest is how we can prepare nurses, midwives and healthcare professional to be confident and competent in this dimension of care.

Wilfred's profile

Dr Edward Tolhurst

Associate Professor

I am a Senior Lecturer and qualitative researcher in the field of dementia, ageing and care. I am based in the Postgraduate team and course leader for the MSc in Medical Education. I am also a member of the University Research Ethics Committee.

Edward's profile

Dr Adam Boughey

Lecturer

Lecturer in Adult Nursing and Post-Doctoral Researcher BPS Chartered Psychologist and HCPC Registered Health Psychologist.

Adam's profile

Dr Sarahjane Jones

Associate Dean - Research&Innovation

Sarahjane is a safety researcher with a particular interest in the utilisation of big healthcare data for quality and safety improvement. She also works in research capacity building in non-medical professions and healthcare and data ethics.

Sarahjane's profile

Dr Ruth Hudson

P/T Lecturer (Hrly)- Education

Ruth is the Associate Dean for Recruitment in the Institute of Education at Staffordshire University.

Ruth's profile

Matthew Slater

Professor Of Sport & Exercise Psychology

Matt is a Professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology and recognised as an internationally leading scholar on the psychology of leadership and group dynamics.

Matthew's profile

Karla Drew

Lecturer

I am a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, and Course leader for the MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology programme. I am also a BPS Chartered, and HCPC Registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Karla's profile

Fiona Cust

Associate Professor

Fiona is a Registered General and Children’s Nurse and Health Visitor who has had a varied career in children’s nursing within acute and community settings. Fiona is actively engaged in research and regularly contributes to The Nursing Times Journal.

Fiona's profile

Trust Diya

Lecturer

Trust is a biomedical scientist whose core discipline is histology and cytology. His main area of interest is lipidomics and nutrition with a focus on the effects of flavonoids on adipogenesis.

Trust's profile

Dr Ahmad Haidery

Senior Lecturer

I am a Senior Lecturer in Biological and Biomedical Sciences, serving as Course Leader for the Postgraduate Programme in Molecular Biology and Health and Director of Studies for PhD and Professional Doctorate programs.

Ahmad's profile

Dr Claire Barlow

Course Director

Claire's research is primarily focused on children's drawings with further projects focussing on the development of expressive drawing, and more specifically how this compares to the development of representational drawing skill, longitudinal de…

Claire's profile

Dr Emily Buckley

Senior Lecturer

Emily is the Admissions Tutor for Health Psychology, alongside being a registered Health Psychologist with a background in health promotion.

Emily's profile

Dr Amy Burton

Associate Professor

Dr Amy Burton is a Health Psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and a chartered psychologist with the British Psychological Society.

Amy's profile

Lisa Cowap

Lecturer

My expertise is within Health Psychology and conducting research employing both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Lisa's profile

Dr Sarah Dean

Senior Lecturer

I am a Chartered Health Psychologist with an interest in Participatory Action Research methods. I have carried out research using both quantitative and qualitative methods on a range of topics relevant to health psychology.

Sarah's profile

Dr Justine Drakeford

Senior Lecturer

I joined Staffordshire University as a senior lecturer in January 2012. My research interests are in the areas of cognitive neuropsychiatry and cognitive neuropsychology.

Justine's profile

Dr Daniel Herron

Senior Lecturer

Leader in psychology education, carer and dementia research, and impactful health research.

Daniel's profile

Sarah Higgins

Lecturer

Sarah is a Lecturer in Psychology, teaching across a range of psychology modules at all levels. Her research interests include eating behaviours and psychological interventions.

Sarah's profile

Dr Louise Humphreys

Senior Lecturer

I am a Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Psychological Research Methods. I am the course leader for the MSc Psychology (conversion) course.

Louise's profile

Dr Gemma Hurst

Course Director

I am the Course Director for Postgraduate Psychology and I contribute to our Health Psychology programmes (MSc and Professional Doctorate). I am a Chartered Psychologist (BPS) and a HCPC registered Health Psychologist.

Gemma's profile

Dr Richard Jolley

Associate Professor

My research interests mainly lie in children's use and understanding of representation, particularly in their making and understanding of pictures.

Richard's profile

Dr Erica Lucas

Senior Lecturer

Erica's research interests lie in the area of human reasoning. Her PhD work was on relevance and rationalisation processes on the Wason selection task. She is particularly interested in the use of different methodologies that can be utilised t…

Erica's profile

Dr Yvonne Melia

Interim Course Lead

I am the Acting Programme Director and Academic Director of the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. I am a HCPC-registered Clinical Psychologist with expertise working with children in care, adopted children, their carers and professional networks.

Yvonne's profile

Dr Alison Owen

Lecturer

Dr Alison Owen is a Lecturer in Health Psychology, with an interest in research related to body image and appearance, and using appearance concern as a tool for health promotion.

Alison's profile

Dr Rachel Povey

Associate Professor

I'm the course leader for the Health Psychology Professional Doctorate. My areas of expertise are healthy eating, dietary change and psychological aspects of diabetes.

Rachel's profile

Dr Sarah Rose

Associate Professor

I love inspiring students at all levels about child development and how we can share our psychological expertise to make a difference to children and their families. My research focuses on education, children’s wellbeing and children’s use of tech.

Sarah's profile

Dr Jennifer Taylor

Senior Lecturer

Jennifer is a senior lecturer in qualitative psychological research methods. Jennifer is a qualitative researcher with research interests in several areas but mainly body image, maternal health, breastfeeding, and mindfulness.

Jennifer's profile

Dr Romina Vivaldi

Senior Lecturer

Romina's research interests are focussed on symbolic development as it relates to pictures and occupational gender stereotypes.

Romina's profile

Dr Janet Francis

Associate Professor

Janét is Associate Professor of Life-long and Life-wide Learning. Her teaching includes databases, IT Service Innovation, and IT Project Management. Her research interests include Teaching and Learning methodologies and the use of AI in education.

Janet's profile
for Career Prospects

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2025

for Social Inclusion

The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026

for First Generation Students

The Mail University Guide 2026

of Research Impact is ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Very Considerable’

Research Excellence Framework 2021

for Facilities

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

of Research is “Internationally Excellent” or “World Leading”

Research Excellence Framework 2021

Four Star Rating

QS Star Ratings 2021