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Rhiannon Evans   Reader; Associate Director, DECIPHer; Deputy Director, NIHR Reviews Team.

Dr Rhiannon Evans

(she/her)

Reader; Associate Director, DECIPHer; Deputy Director, NIHR Reviews Team.

Reader

School of Social Sciences

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Media commentator
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Available for postgraduate supervision

Overview

Overview

I am a Reader in Social Science and Health, based at DECIPHer (Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement), School of Social Sciences. I am an Associate Director at DECIPHer and am academic lead for the 'Healthy Social Relationships' research programme. I am due to commence the role of Deputy Director in April 2025. I am Deputy Director and Health Inquities Lead for the NIHR PHR Reviews Team. I am a member of the SPARK Management Board and the SPARK International Working Group.

The substantive focus of my research is the improvement of mental health and wellbeing, in addition to the prevention of self-harm and suicide. I have a particular interest in the health inquities experienced by underserved populations, notably those who are care-experienced.

My methodological focus is on complex-systems informed systematic reviews, intervention development, process evaluation and qualitative methods. I have leading expertise in intervention adaptation for implementation in new contexts, having co-led NIHR-MRC funded methodological guidance.

 

Publication

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

Adrannau llyfrau

Cynadleddau

Erthyglau

Gwefannau

Monograffau

Research

Research Interests

  • Children and young people
  • Mental health, social and emotional learning, and wellbeing
  • Self-harm and suicide
  • Domestic violence
  • School-based intervention
  • Family-based intervention, notably in kinship care, foster care and residential care
  • Development, adaptation, evaluation and implementation of interventions
  • Qualitative research methods
  • Complex-systems informed, mixed-method systematic reviews
  • Global health (particularly in relation to intervention adaptation)

Recent Selected Research Funding (Infrastructure and Grants)

  • Rhondda Cynon Taf Health Determinants Research Collaboration (RCTHDRC), NIHR, (£5,000,000), 2023-2028.
  • Supporting smokers attending for lung cancer screening in YORshire to QUIT (the YORQUIT study). Yorkshire Cancer Research, (£2,406,395), 2024-2028.
  • NIHR Public Health Reviews Team, NIHR-PHR, (£1, 500,000), 2024-2029.
  • Test and Learn. Centre for Homelessness Impact, (£611,190), 2023-2025.
  • “Feeling loved and appreciated”: a mixed methods study to examine care-experienced children and young people’s relationships and their association with mental health and wellbeing. Health and Care Research Wales (£400,000), 2023-2026 .
  • Evaluation of Step-Up / Step-Down, The Fostering Network in Wales, (£30,000), 2023-2024.
  • Piloting of a Namibian School Health Research Network (SHRN), Global Opportunities (£2,500), 2023.
  • Mental health provision for children and young people in schools and FE colleges (11-25 years) with experiences of care: Mixed-method study of implementation, acceptability, need and priority outcomes, Health and Care Research Wales (£284,638), 2022-2024.
  • Family-focused adolescent and lifelong health promotion (FLOURISH). Horizon, (2,999,492), 2023-2026.
  • Commonwealth Fellowship / ERASMUS Fellowship in collaboration with University of Namibia and Ministry of Basic Education, Namibia, Commonwealth Fellowship / ERASMUS, 2022.
  • A co-produced qualitative exploration of young women’s perspectives on psychological distress in their population and priority actions for responding, NIHR-PHR. (£42,062), 2022.
  • Family group conferencing for children and families: Evaluation of implementation, context and effectiveness (Family VOICE), NIHR-PHR. (£1,173,396), 2021-2025.
  • Review of Statutory School and Community-Based Counselling Services and research and design of a pilot for primary aged children, Welsh Government. (£149,982), 2020-2021
  • Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), Heath and Care Research Wales. (£2.488,488), 2020-2025.
  • Mental Health and Wellbeing Interventions for Care-experienced Children and Young People: Systematic review of intervention theories, process, effect and equity, NIHR PHR (£277, 789). 2020-2022.
  • Family Recovery after Domestic Abuse (FReDA): A feasibility trial and nested process evaluation of a group based psychoeducational intervention for children exposed to domestic violence and abuse. NIHR PHR (£570,808), 2019-2021.
  • DECIPHer short course teaching Univeristy of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Newton Mobility Fund (£9,700), 2019.
  • HASTAG South Africa and Nepal, MRC Research to improve adolescent health in LMIC settings. (£504, 247), 2019-2020.
  • British Academy Rising Star Impact Award, British Academy (£11, 500), 2019-2020.
  • Evaluation Health Pathfinder, SafeLives (£200k), 2019-2020.
  • The Transdisciplinary Research for the Improvement of Youth Mental Public Health (TRIUMPH) Network, UKRI. (£1.2m), 2018-2020.
  • Secure Futures. Social Care Wales (£100,000), 2018-2019.
  • Adaptation of evidence-informed complex population health interventions for implementation and/or re-evaluation in new contexts. MRC Methodology Research Programme. (£320,261), 2018-2020.
  • What Works Centre for Children's Social Care, Department for Education. (£4.8m) 2017-2020.
  • Centre for Population Health and Wellbeing Research (NCPHWR), Health and Social care Research Wales. (£1.5m), 2018-2020.
  • A cluster randomised controlled trial of an intervention to improve the mental health support and training available to secondary school teachers – the WISE (Wellbeing in Secondary Education) project, NIHR. (£1.3m), 2015-2019.

 

 

Teaching

Current Teaching

Evaluating Interventions in Complex Systems (MSc Social Policy)

Evaluating Interventions in Complex Systems (Professional Doctorate)

DECIPHer Methodological Short Courses

I am convenor of the DECIPHer Intervention Adaptation short course (commenced 2022), and presenter for the Process Evaluation short course (which I led 2016-2019), both delivered at Cardiff University annually.

I have contributed to the leadership of bespoke versions of the short course programme nationally and internationally, delivering courses to the following: Welsh Government; Kings College London; HSC Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland; University of Aalborg, Denmark; University of Aarhus, Denmark; University of Southern Denmark, Denmark; University of Stellenbosch, South Africa; University of Namibia, Namibia; University of Galway, Ireland; University of Wageningen, Netherlands; University of Klagenfurt, Austria; and Canadian Institute for Collaborative Learning Institute in Evaluation, University of Waterloo, Canada.

 

Biography

Career

  • 2022 -         : Reader, DECIPHer, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
  • 2017 - 2022: Senior Lecturer, DECIPHer, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
  • 2015 - 2017: Research Fellow, DECIPHer, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
  • 2014 - 2015: Research Associate, DECIPHer, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
  • 2013 - 2014: Public Health Tutor (Lecturer Epidemiology), School of Medicine, Cardiff University

Education and Qualifications

  • Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
  • PhD in Social Sciences, Cardiff University
  • MSc Social Science Research Methods, Cardiff University
  • MSc Public Policy, University of Bristol
  • BA Hons Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford

Honours and awards

Honors

  • 2023 - 2024  Winston Churchill Fellow, The Churchill Fellowship (Preventing suicide among care-experienced children and young people in collaboration with South Korea and USA)
  • 2017              Dillwyn Medal Social Sciences, Business and Education, The Learned Society of Wales

Committees and reviewing

Funding Committees

  • 2024             NIHR PHR Funding Committee
  • 2020 - 2022  HCRW Social Care PhD Funding Panel (Deputy Chair)
  • 2019 - 2022  NIHR School for Social Care Research Funding Panel (External Methodological Expert)
  • 2019             ESRC Measuring Wellbeing Assessment Panel
  • 2018 - 2022  HCRW Social Care Funding Panel

Supervisions

PhD Capacity Development

I lead the delivery of the DECIPHer bespoke training programme as part of the £40m ESRC Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP).

PhD Supervision

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the area of children and young people's mental health, self-harm and suicide. I am particularly interested in the role of family in mental health outcomes, including the experience of being in care. I am keen to supervise PhDs with a focus on methodological innovation, especially in relation to the international adaptation of interventions for new contexts.

Current PhD Students

Sophie Borgia (ESRC) (2024-2027): The perspectives, experiences and perceived impacts of social and school policies in relation to the inclusion or marginalisation of gender minority students: A mixed methods case study in Wales

Dr Lucy Maddox (NIHR) (in collaboration with University of Bath and University of Birbeck) (2022-2027): Development of an intervention to reduce compassion fatigue in adolescent mental health ward staff

Bethan Pell (ESRC) (2021-2025): Theorising inter-generational violence between children and parents: A qualitative study in Wales

Sofie Langergaard (University of Aalborg) (in collaboration with University of Aalborg, Denmark) (2019-2025): Reducing social isolation among older people: An intervention study in municipal senior centres

Lorna Stabler (ESRC) (2019-2025): What are siblings’ lived experiences of providing kinship care? Identifying pathways to improving kinship care outcomes