Biographies - Monday

Welcome Address

Professor David Grayson CBE, ACRC Advisory Board Member

David has a long-term interest and involvement in social care, good later life, disability rights, inclusion and caring. He is currently chairing a social care sector taskforce looking at how to replicate a graduate recruitment programme like Teach First and Police Now, for adult social care managers. He is a former chair of the pan-disability charity Leonard Cheshire and the immediate past chair of Carers UK. Previously, David chaired the social housing and extra-care housing provider Housing 21 and was the chair of the UK’s National Disability Council (forerunner of the Disability Rights Commission and the Equality and Human Rights Commission). Professionally, David is Emeritus Professor of Corporate Responsibility at Cranfield School of Management and author of eleven books on Responsible Business and Corporate Sustainability, of which the most recent is The Sustainable Business Handbook (2022 – Kogan Page). David is on the board of a bank in the ASEAN region where he leads on sustainability and chairs the Group Risk Management Committee. He is a member of a Responsible Business Advisory board for TSB in the UK and currently chairs the charity the Institute of Business Ethics.

Ageing in a time of crisis

Professor Christina Boswell, Vice-Principal Research & Enterprise, University of Edinburgh     

In August 2023, Christina took up the role of Vice Principal for Research and Enterprise. This followed a 5-year term as Dean of Research for the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. She also serves as Vice President for Public Policy for the British Academy.

Peter Smith, ACRC PPIE (Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement) Group Member 

Peter retired from paid employment over five years ago following a 40+ year career managing adult social care services mainly for local authorities but also in the fields of housing and health care services.  He was awarded a gold British Association of Social Work lifetime achievement award in social work presented at the Community Care Awards, London in 2018. As well as Chair of Healthwatch, Stockton-on-Tees he has undertaken PPI roles in a wide range of health and social care research projects across the UK as well as being an ‘expert by experience’, giving talks to health and social work students at Teesside University.  Peter has lived experience both as a carer for various older family members and lives with his own long term health issues.

Professor Sir Gregor Smith, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland

Gregor is a GP and former medical director for primary care in NHS Lanarkshire. He began working for the Scottish Government as a medical adviser in primary care in 2012 as part of the negotiating team for the Scottish GP contract, subsequently leading the development of a new quality framework for general practice in Scotland. He was appointed Deputy Chief Medical Officer in 2015, interim Chief Medical Officer in April 2020, and Chief Medical Officer in December 2020. He is the principal medical adviser to Scottish ministers and leads on a broad range of professional activity, where he is a passionate advocate of person-centred approaches to care and widening participation in medical careers.

Ageing in Place: Supporting choices in work and where to live

Dr Margaret Whoriskey, Head of Innovation for Care and Wellbeing, Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre and ACRC Academy Board Member

Margaret is Head of Care and Well Being Innovation at the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre, with a focus on supporting innovation in care and whole system working. She previously led the national Technology Enabled Care programme in Scotland from 2014 in partnership with the NHS, Local Government, Third, Housing and Independent sector providers. She is active in the European arena and wider international work.  

Margaret is a Trustee /Board member of ENABLE Scotland and Hanover Housing Association.

Donald Macaskill, CEO, Scottish Care and Chair, ACRC Academy Advisory Board

Donald has worked for many years in the health and social care sectors across the United Kingdom. A particular professional focus has been issues related to bereavement, palliative care and individual human rights. He is the CEO of Scottish Care and serves on a number of Scottish, UK and international charities and boards related to health and social care.

Dr Imran Saied, Research Associate, University of Edinburgh, ACRC

Imran is a research associate at ACRC, where he is investigating sensors and sensing modalities to monitor vital parameters of people living in care environments. He has several years of research experience which focus on the design and development of non-invasive and flexible sensors for different applications.

Dr Andrew Kingston, Senior Lecturer, Newcastle University, ACRC

A Chartered Statistician with a PhD in statistical epidemiology, Andrew uses complex longitudinal data and advanced statistical techniques to understand how health outcomes unfold over time. His principal area of technical interest relates to statistical methods that are applicable to complex longitudinal data that have the capacity to identify temporal trends and how factors impact/shape those trends. His mathematical expertise centres on methodology used to analyse longitudinal continuous and categorical data and microsimulation.

Professor Linda McKie, Executive Dean, Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy, KCL

Linda is Executive Dean for the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy at King's College, London. She is also a Visiting Professor in Gender Studies at the University of Helsinki. Across several decades her research has considered care, caring and the multiple interfaces of caring and working. Linda is also concerned with the use of evidence in policy making and evaluation, working with colleagues across philosophy, social policy and sociology.

Dr Kate Gibson, Lecturer, Newcastle University, ACRC

Kate is a lecturer in social science in the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University. Her core discipline is sociology and she is broadly interested social inequalities. She utilises a range of approaches and qualitative methods to explore people's everyday experiences of care, ageing, health and wellbeing. She has a particular interest in using ethnographic methods to explore the relationship between care, ageing and inequalities.