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Nicola Innes   PhD, BDS, BSc, BMSc, MFDS (RCS Eng), MFGDP (RCS Eng), FFD (RCSI)

Professor Nicola Innes

PhD, BDS, BSc, BMSc, MFDS (RCS Eng), MFGDP (RCS Eng), FFD (RCSI)

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Available for postgraduate supervision

Teams and roles for Nicola Innes

Overview

Professor Innes is a clinician-academic with a unique background in dentistry and nursing, currently serving as Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education and Student Experience) and Head of the School of Dentistry at Cardiff University. Her career has been driven by a deep commitment to both equity in education and improving dental care.

In the Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor role, Nicola champions inclusive, student-centred education and academic excellence during a time of change in the University. As Head of the School of Dentistry, she provides strategic and academic leadership to support excellence in education, clinical training and research. Nicola works closely with colleagues and external partners to foster a collaborative, inclusive environment that supports staff development, prepares students for modern, evidence-based dental practice and advances the profession through innovation and impact. In 2024, Nicola also served as Head of the School of Healthcare Sciences, where she led a significant change in the leadership structure to strengthen governance and support cross-disciplinary collaboration. 

 

As the Oral and Dental Specialty Lead for Wales, Nicola champions clinical research in dentistry. Recently she received the prestigious Health and Care Research Wales Senior Research Leaders Award and their Impact Award for the BRIGHT Trial.

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9984-0012 

https://policyprofiles.sagepub.com/profile/22317/nicola-innes 

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nicola_Innes 

 

Publication

2025

2024

2023

2022

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2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

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2009

2008

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2005

2000

1999

1998

Articles

Book sections

Books

Conferences

Monographs

Other

Videos

Websites

Biography

 

Professor Nicola Innes
Dean and Head of School of Dentistry | Professor of Paediatric Dentistry | Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education and Student Experience)

Professor Nicola Innes is Dean and Head of Cardiff Dental School, Professor of Paediatric Dentistry, and currently Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience at Cardiff University. She also leads the Improving Dentistry Group, which focuses on advancing evidence-based, patient-centred dental care.

Nicola’s career spans healthcare, academia, senior leadership, and internationally recognised research. She began her professional journey as a Registered General Nurse before earning a BSc in Life Sciences from Napier University, followed by an intercalated BMSc in Cellular and Molecular Pathology and a BDS (Hons) from the University of Dundee. She later completed a PhD investigating the Hall Technique—a minimally invasive method for managing dental caries in children—which has since influenced global clinical practice.

After seven years in general dental practice in Scotland, Nicola transitioned into academia, beginning as a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Dundee in 2005. She was awarded membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (Faculty of General Dental Practitioners and Faculty of Dental Surgery), and an Ad Eundem Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She joined the General Dental Council’s Specialist List for Paediatric Dentistry in 2011 and became Head of Cardiff Dental School in 2020.

In 2024, Nicola also served as Head of the School of Healthcare Sciences, where she led a strategic restructure of the School’s leadership model to enhance collaboration and governance.

Her research has attracted over £8M of grant funding and 150+ peer reviewed publications. She has led several major UK-wide NIHR-funded clinical trials, including:

  • FiCTION – exploring alternative approaches to managing children’s tooth decay;
  • BRIGHT – evaluating school-based interventions to improve oral hygiene in adolescents;
  • CALM – testing CBT-based strategies to reduce dental anxiety in children.

Nicola’s work extends internationally, with collaborations and trials in Germany, the US, Australia, Latvia, Brazil, Lithuania, and New Zealand. She has co-authored Cochrane reviews, contributed to national and international clinical guidelines, and chaired development groups such as the widely used SDCEP guidance.

Her research interests are rooted in improving patient outcomes and ensuring the ethical and effective use of healthcare resources. These include:

  • Clinical trials in cariology, restorative, preventive, and paediatric dentistry;
  • Children’s perceptions of dental care and the development of child-friendly approaches;
  • Translational and educational research to support the implementation of evidence-based practice.

These areas also underpin her teaching in children’s dentistry, cariology, and evidence-based practice. While at Dundee, she co-led the implementation of a new undergraduate dental curriculum, reflecting her commitment to innovation in dental education.

Honours and awards

International

  • 2025 Recipient of the 2025 IADR Giddon Award for Distinguished Research in the Behavioral Sciences: Innes N, Fairhurst C, Whiteside K ... Marshman Z. (2024) Behaviour change intervention for toothbrushing (lesson and text messages) to prevent dental caries in secondary school pupils: The BRIGHT randomized control trial. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 52, 469-478.
  • IADR Educational Research Group Faculty Award (2014)
  • British Council Workshop; Fluoride Metabolism and Public Health Award - International Collaboration meeting in Bauru, Brazil (2014)
  • First Prize Senior Clinical Research Category of Hatton Awards: International Association for Dental Research (2011)

National

  • Senior Research Leader Award, Health and Care Research Wales (2025)
  • Impact Award for BRIGHT Trial, Health and Care Research Wales Annual Conference (2024)
  • First Prize Senior Colgate Award: British Society for Oral and Dental Research (2010)
  • Chief Scientist's Office, PhD Research Training Fellowship (2000)
  • Royal Odonto-Chirurgical Society of Scotland Undergraduate Award (1998)
  • First Prize Unilever Award (pre & post-doc.) British Society for Dental Research (1996)

Supervisions

Current supervision

Idris Busaily Busaily

Idris Busaily Busaily

Glesni Guest-Rowlands

Glesni Guest-Rowlands

Clinical Lecturer in Special Care Dentistry

Zahra Khubrani

Zahra Khubrani

Past projects

PhDs (current)

Idris Busailly – Investigation of, and strategies for, improving the implementation of research evidence in general dental practice using radiography and fluoride varnish as two case studies. Year 2 (full-time, Cardiff University)

Louay Hanafi – The use of PEEK as an aesthetic and minimally invasive material for preformed crowns for children with compromised primary molars. Year 2 (full-time, Cardiff University)

Alexander Gormley - £398,971.00 NIHR Doctoral Fellowship NIHR302605 HARMONY – HeAlthieR sMiles fOr childreN with cleft bY improving tooth decay prevention and management. Year 3 (full-time, Bristol University)

Heather Lundbeck – Addressing the barriers to, and facilitators of, behaviours associated with general dental practitioners’ use of Minimally Invasive Dentistry for the management of carious lesions. Year 3 (part-time, Cardiff University)

Mark Robertson – CHANGE: Stakeholders’ experiences of dental management of CHildren with disabilities, And developmeNt and evaluation of an educational intervention for underGraduate dEntal students; a mixed methods study. Year 3 (part-time, University of Dundee)

Zahra Hassan Khubrani - Perception of aesthetic in patients undergoing complex restorative Dentistry. Year 1 (full-time, Cardiff University)

Glesni Guest-Rowlands - How Can Shared Decision Making Be Supported For Dentists, Patients And Families Of Patients With Learning Disabilities? Year 1 (part-time, Cardiff University)

 

PhD (awarded)

Ali Farahani - Assessment of the Index of Orthognathic Functional Treatment Need (IOFTN); systematic review and 4 retrospective studies (Cardiff University, PhD by publication) 2025

Melis Alkyildiz – Evaluation of the Occlusal Effects of the Hall Technique and Investigation of Children's Satisfaction (part-time, Aydin Adnan Menderes University, Turkey) 2024

Greig Taylor – Pathways for the management of molar incisor hypomineralisation in the UK. A cost-effectiveness analysis. 2023

Dalia Bajabir – Behavioural changes and modification of known environmental factors as part in reducing the occurrence of cleft lip and palate. 2021

Waraf Al-Yaseen – Mind the gap; what influences the changes in clinical care decision making from undergraduate to qualified dentist. 2020

Nassar Seifo – Silver diamine fluoride as a caries preventive treatment. 2020

Mariana Araujo – The Hall Technique and ART in a school setting; a randomised control clinical trial. Joint with University of Sao Paolo, Brazil.  2020

Heba Sabbagh – Investigation into the prevalence and aetiology of orofacial clefts in Saudi Arabia; a gene-environment interaction study. Post-graduate College of MDN presentations 2013 1st prize.  2015

 

MPhil (awarded)

Saarah Juman - Epidemiology Of Orofacial Clefts And Craniofacial Anomalies In A Multi-Ethnic Population (full-time)

 

MSc (awarded)

Hal Esler – Radiographs of children in primary dental care; quality of FiCTION Trial radiographs.    2020

Sam Rollings – Establishing the limitations of digital subtraction radiography to investigate progression/regression of caries lesions after ‘sealing-in’ in a clinical environment. 2017

Mark Robertson – The Hall Technique in learning disabled children; an observational study and systematic review with clinical recommendations.  2018

Contact Details

Specialisms

  • guideline development
  • Dental public health
  • E-Oral Health and teledentistry
  • Clinical Trials
  • Systematic reviews