Tricia joined the University of Bristol in February 2011.  She is an experienced qualitative researcher with substantial expertise in commissioning and managing programmes of research as well as in participative methodologies. She has worked on a range of studies and evaluations involving children, young people and families.

 Tricia was a Research Director (qualitative) in the Children and Young People Unit at NatCen before joining the School for Policy Studies. In 2018 Tricia moved to the Public Health Team in the Bristol Medical School, where she works on qualitative research in children and young people's health. Projects include health promotion in Academy Schools, systems approaches to improving inequalities in child health, and mental health in schools. She has particular expertise in qualitative research with young people and schools-based health promotion, completing her PhD on this topic by published work in 2024. She is now lead researcher for PHIRST Insight, one of eight NIHR PHIRST teams delivering high-quality evaluations of local public health interventions.

 Research projects

Current

• Evaluation of the Falls Management Exercise Programme in Lincolnshire
• Evaluation of the Digital NHS health check
• Evaluation of Universal Free School Meals in Secondary Schools
• Active Travel in Market Towns

Previous projects:

• Factors and interventions within educational settings that contribute to promoting positive mental health and preventing poor mental health – a systematic literature review.
• Development of a systems map  of the determinants of child health inequalities in England at the local level
• A Participatory Action Research approach to the changing school culture in secondary schools

• 'Letting the Future In' - evaluation of a therapeutic intervention designed for children and young people aged between four- and 18-years-old who have been affected by sexual abuse.
• Older Men at the Margins
• Support for Older Carers