The Team: SET4

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Atul is a Reader in Health Data Research at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Cardiovascular Science, and Honorary Consultant Geriatrician in Edinburgh. He is the Clinical Lead for DataLoch – the Trusted Research Environment for Health and Social Care research for South East Scotland. Atul’s research focuses on improving care pathways for older people with frailty and multiple long-term conditions using routine data, particularly through risk identification and implementation of systems-based changes. Cardiovascular disease has been a focus of this work, through testing and deploying new approaches to the diagnosis and rule-out of heart attacks in randomised trials powered by routine healthcare data across Scotland. Atul is also a co-investigator on the AIM-CISC Programme which is better defining multiple long-term conditions and associated harmful outcomes using datasets from across the UK. He is Secretary of the UK Association of Academic Geriatric Medicine and Vice Chair of the British Geriatrics Society Cardiovascular Specialist Interest Group.

Find out more about Atul Anand on their profile page

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Julie Ann  is the Chaired Professor of Health Informatics and Data Science, Interim Director of the Usher Institute, and the Dean of Innovation and Engagement in the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. She is a leader, innovator, scholar and entrepreneur, creating and applying systems engineering-derived solutions to high-impact domains such as population health, health IT, and manufacturing of devices and systems that improve human health. She has authored over 180 peer-reviewed publications in preeminent scientific journals. She is the Editor of the Human-Computer Interaction Handbook, now in its 4^th Edition, the premier resource for research and practice in the field of HCI. She was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honour awarded to young research investigators by the U.S. government. Numerous awards since have positioned her at the forefront of her field. An expert consultant in the manufacturing, healthcare and IT sectors, Professor Jacko often serves as a strategist for organizations seeking to improve productivity, profitability, and impact.

Find out more about Julie Jacko on their Usher Institute announcement post or on her profile page.

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Ian holds a personal chair in electronic displays within the School of Engineering. An award-winning researcher, innovator and entrepreneur, he has been granted fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institute of Physics, and the Society for Information Display.

He was design authority for the “world’s smallest colour tv-screen” (Guinness Book of World Records 2004). 

Current multi-disciplinary research collaborations for this physicist/engineer range from astrobiology and design informatics to music, clinical medicine, and social anthropology. He has enjoyed great success in multi-disciplinary capacity building by co-founding/co-directing the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Integrative Sensing and Measurement (2014–24) then imagineering and leading the Doctoral Academy of the Advanced Care Research Centre (2020–28).

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Bruce is Professor of General Practice at the Usher Institute, in the Edinburgh Medical School.

Bruce is a mixed methods health services researcher with an interest in the quality and safety of health and social care, particularly in relation to multimorbidity and polypharmacy. His research spans the spectrum from basic epidemiology and qualitative work, through complex intervention development and evaluation, to applied work with NHS and government to improve healthcare quality and safety.

Find out more about Bruce Guthrie on their profile page

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Amy is Professor of Applied Health and Social Care Research at the Population Health Sciences Institute. Newcastle University. Her work focusses on using complex systems approaches and digital technology to improve outcomes for patients with multiple complex needs over the life course.

Find out more about Amy O'Donnell on their profile page

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Louise is the Programme Coordinator for ACRC. Her background is in paediatric nursing within the NHS and facilitating contract research in the commercial sector. She also studied Biology and Health Sciences with the Open University. Prior to this post she was the research manager of Generation Scotland where she organised a remote sample collection process and advised, co-designed and gained ethical approval for, autonomous online adolescent consent.

Watch as Louise describes her role at the ACRC

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Tricia is a health services researcher with expertise using a knowledge systems lens to understand healthcare improvement. Her background as a social scientist includes medical education research and learning and change management. Tricia has been involved in a wide range of research projects including the Scottish Doctors' Wellbeing Study, Transitions of Healthcare Graduates and the Impact of Covid-19 and Embedded Models of Knowledge Co-Production. She completed her PhD at the University of St Andrews in 2019 and studied the interconnection of research, policy and practice for improving sepsis care in Scotland.

Find out more about Tricia on their profile page.

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Daria is the Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Co-ordinator, temporarily filling a maternity cover position. She is dedicated to fostering meaningful connections with the community and ensuring that public perspectives are integral to our research initiatives. Daria has a wealth of experience, having served as a Communications and Events Co-ordinator at the University of Oxford and in various communications roles at Ukrainian public authorities.

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Stella's expertise is in public health research and practice. Her research focuses on examining health system responses to prevention and control of chronic conditions and co-development and evaluation of health service improvement interventions. She has a research track record spanning a period of 13 years in which she published over 25 scientific articles, reports, and briefings. Dr Arakelyan currently uses participatory and system thinking methods in partnership with patients, caregivers, health and social care professionals, and wider stakeholders to explore systems problems and co-design hospital- and community-based complex interventions to optimise health and care services for people with multimorbidity and their informal caregivers.

Find out more about Stella on her profile page.

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Colin is one of our Public Contributors, providing expert knowledge and lived experience to ensure the research works for the public. 

Colin is actively involved as a patient representative on several UK University research projects. 

Colin: “I am passionate about ensuring that every voice matters and passionate about lessening the health and social care inequalities. As a former Patient Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (Scotland) and a lay member in my local Health and Social Care Partnership and NHS, I ensure that my voice is heard. I represent my locality in Seniors Together and recently became a member of SOPA."

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Gregor provides the administrative support for the SET4 project. He has worked in three previous roles at the University; in Admissions for the College of  Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, then supporting undergraduate students in the School of Informatics, and latterly supporting PhD students in an Informatics CDT programme. 

Gregor acts a a conduit between the affiliated ACRC, SET4 and AIM-CISC programmes.

Find out more about Gregor at his profile page.

Watch Gregor describe his role at the ACRC

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Tim is the Founder and CEO of Edinburgh Systems, a leading Scottish consultancy dedicated to advancing Systems Engineering and Systems Thinking practices across multiple sectors. As an industrial partner and sub-awardee on the SET4 grant, Edinburgh Systems plays a pivotal role in enhancing systems approaches to health and social care.

A Chartered Engineer (CEng), Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET), and Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP) with INCOSE, Tim has over 20 years of experience in complex systems design, optimisation and understanding. He holds a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professorship in Systems Engineering at Heriot-Watt University and teaches at the University of Edinburgh including leading the Systems Thinking for Health and Social Care programme.

Tim’s interest in healthcare is underpinned by over 15 years of volunteering with the British Red Cross, where he gained experience in emergency medicine as ambulance crew. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he co-led a volunteer team that designed and produced over 60,000 certified PPE items for the NHS in Scotland ahead of existing supply chains.

 Recent pioneering work includes the Zero Emissions Flight Infrastructure (ZEFI) programme, which has shaped the roadmap for UK airports to achieve net-zero emissions through hydrogen and electric aviation. Tim’s leadership continues to influence national policies and industry standards, driving innovation that benefits both industry and society.

Find out more about Tim at his profile page.

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Colin Cunningham is Visiting Professor in Systems Engineering in the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh.

Colin’s background is in systems engineering, programme management and technology development for the world’s biggest and most powerful space and ground based telescopes, based at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre.  For the last seven years, he has been introducing systems engineering and thinking into the University curriculum, initially funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

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Yetong (Yvonne) is a PhD student, supervised by Professors Ian Underwood and Sean Smith. She also has an MSc in Artificial Intelligence and a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Edinburgh. Her research, aligned with the SET4 programme, centres on optimising patient care transitions in multi-level care settings for individuals with multiple long-term conditions (MLTC), utilising advanced system engineering and AI/ML methodologies.