HRB-TMRN Research Associates

Claire holds Bachelor’s degrees in both Business Studies & Event Management (Limerick Institute of Technology) and Midwifery Science (National University of Ireland, Galway). In 2014 she was awarded the Dr H.H. Stewart Medical Scholarship in Midwifery. Her PhD thesis titled ‘The development of a survey instrument to evaluate women’s experiences of their maternity care in Ireland’ was submitted to NUI Galway in March 2020. The survey instrument developed has been adopted by the National Care Experience Programme as the Irish National Maternity Experience Survey and was implemented nationally in Ireland in February 2020.

Dr Karen Matvienko-Sikar is a Health Psychologist and HRB Research Fellow in the School of Public Health, University College Cork. She obtained her PhD, MA and BA from the School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork. Karen’s research interests are in the area of maternal and child health, particularly perinatal stress and health outcomes. Karen has experience and expertise in developing, implementing and evaluating interventions for maternal and child health in antenatal and primary care settings in pilot and feasibility trials. Karen has experience and a keen interest in development of core outcome sets. She recently led on the development of a core outcome set for infant feeding interventions to prevent childhood obesity, which was supported by the HRB-TMRN and the Irish Research Council. Karen also collaborates with the COMET initiative on their annual updates of core outcome sets for comparative effectiveness research. Karen is currently leading on a Study Within a Trial (SWAT) in the area of core outcome sets and questionnaire response rates.

Dr Sinéad Holden is a Research Fellow at the UCD Clinical Research Centre. She has a special interest in research methodology, transparency and enhancing reporting of research for the benefit of end-users. Sinéad is co-leading the DEFT (Digital EFficient Trials) programme with Prof Peter Doran, to generate knowledge on how we can best integrate technology into clinical trials to enhance their quality and efficiency.

Brian is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the School of Nursing and Human Sciences at Dublin City University. Brian’s research interests are in eHealth (digital health), eHealth in the context of self-management of chronic illness (e.g., chronic pain), digital behaviour change, user engagement, technology design using participatory methods, human computer interaction and more broadly in health and organisational psychology. In the context of trial methodology, Brian is particularly interested in how we conceptualise, maintain, report and measure user engagement as it relates to intervention outcomes. Given this interest, Brian was funded by the HRB TMRN to conduct a SWAT to examine the impact of an informational video on trial retention. More recently, Brian was supported by the HRB TMRN to host their first event at Dublin City University on the topic ‘Methodological considerations in digital health behaviour change research: Design, implementation, and evaluation in the context of randomised trials’

Catherine Houghton, RN, RCN, BN, MHSC, PhD, is a lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at NUI Galway. Catherine’s primary research expertise is in qualitative methodology, qualitative evidence synthesis (QES), and dementia research. She has extensive experience in, and has published on, qualitative case study methodology, qualitative evidence synthesis methodology, data collection, ethics, rigour, paradigms and analysis in qualitative research. This interest in research methodology led to her current focus on QES and trial methodology. In 2015, Catherine was awarded funding from the HRB-TMRN to develop staff expertise in QES. This led to the registration of a QES in the Cochrane Methodology Review Group exploring the factors that impact on recruitment to trials. This review is currently being prepared for submission. Catherine was subsequently awarded funding from the Irish Research Council New Foundations Scheme for the purpose of developing a clearly articulated pathway between QES and trial methodology and further developing QES expertise in Ireland. Catherine is currently collaborating on a number of qualitative evidence syntheses, for example in: Personhood in dementia, infant feeding, pulmonary rehabilitation and trial recruitment, two of which are registered in Cochrane. Catherine is Co-Chair for QUESTS (Qualitative Research in Trials Centre), established in 2016 and embedded within HRB-TMRN. The mission of QUESTS is to maximise the integration of qualitative research in randomised trials In addition to collaboration on successful bids, QUESTS has delivered training on qualitative approaches that can be used in trials and Studies Within A Trial (SWAT).

I am Professor of Epidemiology in UCC and my research interests are in large-scale observational epidemiology, clinical trials and implementation science. I was the lead PI in Ireland for the EUFP7 funded TRUST clinical trial, ‘Multi-modal Effects of Thyroid Hormone Replacement for Untreated Older Adults with Subclinical Hypothyroidism; a Randomised Placebo-controlled Trial, the largest trial ever undertaken worldwide among people with subclinical hypothyroidism. At the time the trial started, there was no clinical research facility (CRF) in UCC, UCC had not previously sponsored a clinical trial and few staff had training or experience in clinical trials. I worked with the newly developed CRF-C to develop expertise and capacity in clinical trial research, training research nurses, doctors and pharmacists. In addition, I developed a network of over 100 GPs actively recruiting participants for TRUST with satellite sites across the South of Ireland. A HRB-TMRN funded PhD student worked with me on TRUST investigating the role of Risk Based Monitoring in clinical trials. The HRB-TMRN supported a Study Within A Trial (SWAT) associated with TRUST to look at patient preferences for dissemination of the results of clinical trials. I am currently leading the Choosing Healthy Eating for Infant Health (CHErIsH) study, funded through a HRB ICE Award. CHErIsH is a pilot study of an infant feeding intervention to prevent childhood obesity developed based on a systematic approach to the design, implementation and evaluation of the intervention. The TMRN funded a Core Outcome Study led by one of the ICE Fellows of childhood obesity interventions associated with CHErIsH. I am co-PI of the ongoing Improving Diabetes Eye Screening (IDEAS) study, a feasibility study of an intervention to improve diabetic retinopathy screening uptake. I am PI of a HRB-TMRN SWAT evaluating the impact of Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) on the IDEAS trial intervention.

Dr. Chris Noone is a lecturer in the School of Psychology at NUI Galway, where he primarily teaches methodology and statistics. Chris completed his PhD at NUI Galway in which he critically analysed claims regarding the effect of mindfulness on thinking skills. He also holds a MSc in Applied Neuroscience from the Leiden University. He has contributed to research on a wide range of topics broadly related to health, wellbeing and cognition and works closely with the Health Behaviour Change Research group led by Prof. Molly Byrne and the MEDAL research group led by Dr Gerry Molloy. He is also Chair of the Research Sub-committee for the National LGBT Federation. Chris's research focuses on health behaviour, LGBT+ health and cardiovascular health. Chris is interested in the application of trial methodology to behavioural interventions - particularly N-of-1 methods - and the use of novel evidence synthesis methods, such as network meta-analysis, to explore the active components of complex interventions in healthcare. He is a member of the International Behavioural Trials Network (IBTN) and the organising committee for the IBTN Summer School 2020.

Dr Duane is a lecturer in Marketing in NUI Galway and was previously a HRB Trials Methodology Research Network (TMRN) Postdoctoral Researcher for SWAT Trials. Dr Duane has significant expertise in SWAT design and conduct, the use of digital media in trial recruitment and retention, and the design and conduct of RCTs. Dr Duane is currently a co-applicant on the MIAMI project (https://primarycaretrials.ie/miami-study/) which is evaluating the use of electronic reminders on retention through a SWAT. Dr Duane also has expertise in complex intervention design and has a particular interest in behaviour and social change activities, qualitative research and process evaluation methodologies.

Dr Taneri graduated from medical school in 2010. Dr Taneri worked as a general practitioner in a small Turkish town in the Syrian border and became a Public Health Specialist in 2017. For two years Dr Taneri worked as the manager of Community Cancer Prevention, Early Diagnosis and Screening Center in Turkey. Between 2019 and 2022 Eylul was an Assistant Professor in Bahcesehir University Faculty of Medicine Public Health Department, Istanbul, Turkey. Currently Eylul works as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the National University of Ireland Galway.

Dr. Marie Tierney is a chartered physiotherapist and postdoctoral researcher at the School of Nursing & Midwifery, NUI Galway. She received both her BSc and PhD from the University of Limerick. Marie worked as a postdoctoral researcher on a number of projects in the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at NUI Galway following the completion of her PhD. More recently, she has worked as a chartered physiotherapist leading education and physical activity classes in a variety of clinical populations. Her clinical and research interests centre on improving health outcomes in chronic disease and the use of technological innovations to deliver education and healthcare solutions. Marie is currently working on the Informed Health Choices – Cancer project funded by the Irish Cancer Society.

Dr. Paula Byrne is a postdoctoral researcher with Evidence Synthesis Ireland & HRB-Trials Methodology Research Network at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Her work focuses on evidence synthesis, scientific uncertainty and how health ‘facts’ and ‘misinformation’ are defined and dealt with. Previously, Paula worked with the Health Technology Assessment Directorate within HIQA. Here she developed a new method of justifying new practices in medical exposure to ionising radiation, which is currently being finalised. Also, she produced rapid reviews on a wide range of scientific topics to inform the National Public Health Emergency Team during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her PhD focused on the use of statins for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. In particular, she considered the process of medicalisation and how ‘low-value’ medical care might be delineated or defined in the context of absolute risk reduction or number-needed-to-treat.

My personal pronouns are she/her. Dr Bruhn is a Senior Research Fellow at the HRB Clinical Research Facility, University College Cork working in the area of Trials Methodology with Dr Frances Shiely. Hanne's background is as a Health Services Researcher, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Hanne currently works part-time between the HRB CRF in University College Cork and the Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen. Hanne has been working in the area of Trials Methodology since 2017, contributing to Trial Forge (https://www.trialforge.org/).

Dr Linda O'Neill is a Research Fellow with the Trinity Exercise Oncology Research Group, in the Discipline of Physiotherapy, Trinity College Dublin. She is a CORU registered physiotherapist and member of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP). Her main research interest is in exercise oncology, in particular exercise in cancer survivorship. She has over 30 peer reviewed publications in the field. She currently works as a Project Manager on the HRB/MRCG funded Preoperative Exercise to Improve Fitness in Patients Undergoing Complex Surgery for Cancer of the Lung or Oesophagus (PRE-HIIT) trial and the HRB funded Rehabilitation Strategies following Oesophago-gastric and Hepatopancreaticobiliary Cancer (ReStORe II) trial. In recent years, Dr O’Neill has become very involved in trial methodology research. She is particularly interested in learning more about how to recruit and retain participants in trials. She currently leads an embedded Study Within A Trial (SWAT) within the ReStORe II trial, and has supervised a number of HRB-TMRN summer studentships in the areas of trial recruitment and dissemination. She is a member of the NIHR-TMRP Trial Conduct Working Group, and is currently co-lead of the TMRP Trial Conduct Working Group-Retention Topic Group.