Dr Elena Pizzo

Elena is a Senior Health Economics. She holds a PhD in Economics and Management from Padua University, a Master degree in Economics and Management of Health Care Services from Ferrara University and a first degree in Economics from Padua University.

Prior to coming to UCL she was a Research Associate at the Imperial College Business School, working on the economic evaluation of the Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for Northwest London.

She previously held a research post at the Department of Economics, Ferrara University, where she collaborated to a multi-year research project and undertook an economic evaluation of a Regional Colorectal Cancer Screening Program.

Dr Darren Sharpe

Dr Darren Sharpe is an accomplished Social Scientist with over fifteen year experience in delivering high end research and developing programmes of work spanning health, education, citizenship, welfare, and social care. These include youth engagement projects on behalf of the UK Government and EU, Night Time Economy research funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex and child protection research on behalf of the Children Commissioner Office in England, as well as media guidelines on the prevention of youth suicide for the EU (i.e. Directorate of Health and Consumers). Darren specialises in participatory research in the development of social and health policy. He is an award winning and highly accomplished academic-activist who has worked tirelessly since 1997 to help improve outcomes for young people who do not have a powerful voice. Dr Sharpe has written widely and been an invited speaker at INVOLVE, Social Service Research Group Association, AYPH and other national and international conferences on a range of socio-political topics affecting young people in Europe and around the world.

Dr Sharpe lectured in the Department of Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University, Loughborough University and Anglia Ruskin. He has designed and taught modules in Core Sociology, ‘Race’, Culture and Society and in Qualitative Research Methodologies and Methods for doctoral, postgraduate and undergraduate students. He is held in high-esteem by students and colleagues for his teaching, scholarship and research and features in the 2014-15 Anglia Ruskin postgraduate prospectus. What’s more, Dr Sharpe has trained and mentored teachers to conduct action research in the school environment and provided bespoke research skills training to public and third sector employees.

Dr Jessica Deighton

Dr Jess Deighton is Lecturer in School-Based Mental Health Research, Evaluation, and Evidence-Based Research at UCL and Head of Resilience Research and Evaluation at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families.

Her research has three core components: 1) the measurement of mental health well-being – in particular developing and validating tools for measurement of mental health in children; 2) the evaluation of interventions and multifaceted programmes to support mental health and well-being in children, primarily in educational settings; 3) the interplay between mental health, physical health and educational outcomes.

She leads the national evaluation of BIG Lottery’s HeadStart programme and is also a senior researcher for the North Thames CLAHRC and the Department of Health Child Policy Research Unit. Her recent work also includes the development of guidance materials for schools and colleges around the measurement of mental health and well-being, and the development and evaluation of schools based resources to improve mental Health.

Dr Alistair Connell

Ali qualified as a doctor in 2010. After completing his Core Medical Training in August 2014, he was appointed Clinical Fellow at the UCL Institute for Human Health and Performance, joining a project using large datasets to predict patient decline in hospital. Under the supervision of Prof Hugh Montgomery and Prof Rosalind Raine, he has now started a PhD examining the effects of the implementation of a digitally-enabled care pathway for patients with Acute Kidney Injury. His clinical interests include nephrology and critical care.