Megan Nicola Downes is a PhD researcher developing her knowledge in Psychology and Health Sciences. Her PhD work focuses on understanding employed caregiver experiences of the dementia care environment. She comes from an occupational background as a Senior Health Care Assistant and a prior Domiciliary Care Assistant. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Counselling from the University of Huddersfield, followed by an MSc by Research, where she developed her interest in psychological theories, qualitative research methodologies, dementia, and health care research. Additionally, Megan has contributed to research on children's technology use, investigating its psychological and developmental impacts. More recently, exploring the field of psychological therapies and their effectiveness.
Nigel King is an Emeritus Professor in Applied Psychology at the University of Huddersfield and a freelance Qualitative Research Consultant. He has a background in both organizational and health psychology, and his empirical work has mostly been in primary/community health settings. His substantive interests include collaborative working, organizational innovation, and change, connection to nature and its impact on well-being, and student experiences of placement learning. However, he is probably best known for his methodological work, developing qualitative methods for applied research. These include the Template Analysis style of thematic analysis and the Pictor technique – a visual method for exploring experiences of collaborative working. He is the co-author of five books, including Interviews in Qualitative Research 2e (King, Horrocks and Brooks 2019, Sage) and most recently Dyadic Interviews in Qualitative Research (Szulc and King, 2025, Sage).
Ann Louise Caress is a nurse who commenced in the post as Professor of Health Services Research in the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield in July 2018. Prior to this, she held a joint professorial appointment between the School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Social Work at the University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. Her research focuses on living with and managing long-term and life-limiting conditions, especially respiratory and renal problems. She has particular research interests in the patient/carer experience, patient education/health information, and novel approaches to service delivery. She promotes nursing research and evidence-informed practice nationally and internationally, including through committee and leadership roles within the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and International Collaboration for Community Health Nursing Research (ICCHNR). Her NHS role focused on the development of research capacity/capability and promotion of evidence-based practice in the nursing and midwifery workforce of a large university teaching hospital. A champion of patient and public involvement in research (PPIR), she is an associate member of INVOLVE, having previously been a member of the INVOLVE National Advisory Group and Empowerment Working Group and was co-lead for the PPI Platform in the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research from 2013-2018.
