The Team

Dr Kate Grafton

Sheffield Hallam University

Co-Lead of the South Yorkshire CAHPR Hub

Professional Group: Physiotherapy

Research Biography

Kate is currently Deputy Head of the Department of Allied Health Professions at Sheffield Hallam University, where she leads the department research capacity development work and isresponsible for post-registration education.

In addition to being co-hub lead, Kate is also on the National CAHPR Strategy Group, and is Vice-Chair of the CSP Research and Development Committee.

Areas of research interest include:

  • the evaluation of pain and functional outcome measurement
  • musculoskeletal physiotherapy
  • professional identity and the global migration of physiotherapists
  • physiotherapy practice and knowledge translation in economically developing countries

Contact Kate

Kate on Twitter


Dr Angela Green

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Co-Lead of the South Yorkshire CAHPR Hub

Research Biography

Angela is Lead Clinical Research Therapist in an acute NHS Teaching Hospitals Trust, and co-leads the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Clinical Research Network and AHP Specialty Research Network.

Angela completed her MSc in Health Practice at Salford University with a Northern and Yorkshire NHS Executive Research and Development Department funded project. Her PhD in Rehabilitation was achieved at Hull University in 2008, and explored patient involvement in physiotherapeutic consultations.

Currently involved in building AHP research capacity & helping to engage AHPs and service users in clinical trials, Angela also Chairs the Trans Humber Consumer/PPI Research Panel and supervises a PhD student.

Contact Angela


Dr Alison Bruce

Bradford Institute for Health Research

Professional Group: Orthoptics

Research Biography

Alison is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) post-doctoral research fellow and leads the BiB research programme investigating children’s vision.

She is Head Orthoptist for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and has considerable experience in clinical practice. Alison has held two NIHR fellowships her doctoral fellowship was based in the School of Vision Science and Optometry, University of Bradford and her research examined the structure of the eye using Ocular Coherence Tomography (OCT) in children and adults with poor vision (amblyopia).

Her current research programme is investigating the impact of vision on children’s early developing literacy, exploring reasons for non-adherence to treatment and developing programmes of applied health research in these areas.

Alison holds Honorary Research Fellow positions at the Dept. of Health Science, University of York and at the School of Vision Science and Optometry, University of Bradford.

She was awarded the Royal Society of Medicine Squint Forum Prize in 2016 for her research.

Contact Alison

Alison on Twitter


Dr Sue Pownall

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Co-Lead of the South Yorkshire CAHPR Hub

Professional Group: Speech and Language Therapy

Research Biography

Sue is an active researcher with an interest in assessment and treatment interventions for dysphagia, health service research, implementation of research into clinical practice and educational approaches to skill sharing across professional boundaries.

She completed her PhD at the University of Sheffield in 2009 after investigating the management of patients presenting with dysphagia following stroke.

Sue is currently collaborating on an international research study evaluating a new intervention for treating chronic dysphagia using electrical stimulation and a study exploring a portable assessment for identifying aspiration in people with swallowing problems.

She also leads a study exploring ways to optimize nutrition and hydration for residents with dysphagia in care homes.

Contact Sue