Our ICC researchers
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Meet our team
Our ICC researchers
We are a mix of multidisciplinary academic researchers and interventionists. We work at the interface between theory, evidence, policy and practice around our core themes. Our team has a unique range of experience and expertise. It includes world-leading academics working across the university and wider society from:
- Health
- Criminology
- Cyber criminology
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Cyberpsychology
- Policing and law
Core team
Professor Julia Davidson, Director
Julia Davidson PhD (LSE), OBE is Professor of Criminology and Director of the Institute of Connected Communities. She is an internationally recognised expert on policy, practice and offending in the area of cybercrime and online harms.
Prof Davidson is Chair of the UK Council for Internet Safety Evidence Group and Chairs the Research Ethics Committee for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. She is a member of the Europol EC3 Expert Academic Advisory Group. She has 30 years experience of directing national and international research.
Prof Davidson has also acted as an expert advisor on online safety to governments and practitioners in the UK, EU, South America, Africa and the MENA region since 2009. Professor Davidson has worked with the media since 2003. She has worked on live and recorded interviews for BBC News, BBC World News, ITV, Channel 4, BBC Radio 4 News, and BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour.
She has worked on documentaries and has published widely in the cybercrime and child Internet safety areas. She was made Honorary Research Fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London in May 2010 and has been Adjunct Professor in the School of Law at QUT, Australia. She is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.
Dr Darren Sharpe, Associate Director
Darren is an Associate Professor in Social Justice Studies and Associate Director of the Institute for Connected Communities. His expertise includes participatory research with children, young people and vulnerable adults to help shape, inform and influence policy and practice in public care. During his time at UEL, he also worked as a Senior Consultant at the Institute of Public Care, Oxford Brookes University supporting Local Authority Directors to tackle the social care challenges facing children, young people and families. Before his appointment at ICC Darren was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University Childhood and Youth Research Institute and a Development Officer at the National Youth Agency.
Darren has lectured and written widely on participatory methods for doctoral, postgraduate and undergraduate students. He is held in high esteem by students and colleagues for his teaching, scholarship and research. His empirical work has been featured in national and international media and is considered by his peers to be a champion and innovator in the field of participatory research.
Professor Gopal Netuveli, Associate Director
Gopal's background is in natural and clinical sciences. He has research interests in epidemiology, public health, health services, social epidemiology and social policy. He is a co-investigator at the ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies in Health and Society. His research tends to assume a life course perspective with a focus on healthy ageing and use of longitudinal data.
Professor Marcello Bertotti, Associate Director
Professor Marcello Bertotti is a professor in community health and associate director of the Institute for Connected Communities at University of East London (UK). He has 20 years of work experience in research and evaluation of community health interventions, social enterprise, asset-based approaches to health, and social prescribing. Marcello has led research projects for a range of national (e.g. NHS), regional (Greater London Authority) and local government (Redbridge Council) institutions as well as UK research councils (NIHR, ESRC, AHRC). He is now leading the evaluation of a major European Commission-funded project on using a social prescribing model to support NEET groups in Italy and Portugal and is Co-Investigator of Common Health Assets, a large realist evaluation of the impact of community led organisations on wellbeing, funded by the NIHR.
Marcello has used a range of methodologies and approaches to evaluation including realist evaluation, social network analysis, asset mapping and used approaches to systematic reviews including meta-narrative and systematic mapping to study health interventions and communities. He has developed expertise in economic evaluation, particularly cost-benefit analysis (e.g. Social Return on Investment) and cost-effectiveness (e.g. cost per QALY). He is a co-founder of the International Social Prescribing Network and of the Social Prescribing Youth Network. He co-delivers an accredited Level 3 certificate in social prescribing and supervises PhD students, particularly in the area of social prescribing.
Professor Mary Aiken
Mary Aiken, PhD is a Professor of Forensic Cyberpsychology in the Department of Law and Criminology. She is attached to the Institute for Connected Communities at the University of East London. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the Geary Institute for Public Policy University College Dublin, Ireland.
She is a member of the Academic Advisory Board at Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3). Professor Aiken is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, a Global Fellow at the Washington DC Wilson Center, a member of the Medico-Legal Society of Ireland, an International Affiliate Member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and a Fellow of the Society for Chartered IT Professionals. Her research interests include online harms, safety tech, child protection online, internet psychology, AI, human factors in cybersecurity, juvenile cyber delinquency and criminality, organised cybercrime, online behavioural profiling, personal cybersecurity and safety.
Dr Rachel Liebert, Senior Research Fellow
Dr Rachel Liebert works with theories of decoloniality, exploring and challenging the impact of white supremacy in experience, policy and practice. Dr Liebert is currently working on the Tīpuna Project, a community-based collaboration between Māori and Pākehā researchers, artists and activists in Aotearoa to experiment with the decolonial possibilities of communing with our Indigenous and settler ancestors.
Dr Ruby Farr, Senior Research Fellow
Ruby works on the delivery of the Well Communities Programme with a specific interest in the role of civic engagement in activating the health and well-being of local residents. Ruby is also undertaking a PhD.
Dr Ainul Hanafiah, Research Fellow
Ainul Hanafiah, PhD (Cantab) is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Connected Communities, University of East London. Her research experience is in global health with wider interests in health and community-based services and interventions, mental health, and children and young people's safeguarding. Her expertise is in programme/service evaluation, and qualitative and mixed methods research. She is currently leading efforts to implement NHS social prescribing in Malaysia.
Ainul has been involved in various local and global health, community, and safeguarding-related projects in the UK, Malaysia, Africa, and India.
Dr Oliver Keenan, Research Fellow
Oliver is co-designing the MRes in Social Justice programmes with Dr Darren Sharpe at the Institute of Connected Communities (ICC). He teaches and supervises students on the MRes in Social Research and Social Justice programme. He is currently a research assistant and quantitative research lead at ICC’s Evaluation Unit. He is also involved in positive psychology approaches – specifically evaluating the impact of a mindfulness intervention in promoting eudaimonic well-being and its potential application for prejudice reduction. He is passionate about using research to further social aims of justice and well-being as well as promoting participatory approaches which emphasise working in collaboration with the research participants.
Oliver is a quantitative researcher and is keen to make statistical programming more accessible to upcoming researchers.
Oliver has a BSc, and MSc and will shortly be awarded a PhD in Psychology.
Nora Morocza, Research Fellow
Nora works on the evaluation of a range of health and social care programmes delivered by public and third sector organisations at local, regional and national level. These projects focus on health and social equity for marginalised communities, children and vulnerable adults. Her expertise includes realist evaluation methods and using implementation science to inform health and social care programming. She is also coordinating the Institute for Connected Communities Early Career Researcher Training Programme at UEL.
Nora has extensive experience in researching human-nature connections, with specific interest in the links between human and ecosystem health; the health and wellbeing impact of nature connectedness, environmental activism and environmental justice, nature-based tourism and recreational walking. She is currently writing her PhD about recreational walking in the UK.
Boglarka Meggyesfalvi, Researcher
Boglárka (Bogi) Meggyesfalvi is a Researcher with expertise in child protection, online safety, and youth participation, with a focus on influencing policy and practice in these areas. With a background in criminology and international project management and evaluation, Bogi has coordinated multi-country initiatives in the Europe and Latin America, aimed at enhancing youth participation and strengthening child protection systems. Her work extends to advocacy and legislative compliance in these fields.
Prior to joining ICC, she served as a Child Rights Representative senior officer, auditing alternative care providers and contributing to policy development for preventing online child sexual abuse and exploitation. She has experience in delivering training to police forces and educational professionals, and organising expert seminars on child safeguarding.
She is a published author, with peer-reviewed articles and practical guides to her name. She is currently pursuing her PhD, focusing on child protection in the digital age. Her research at ICC contributes to the institute's work on cybercrime, child safety in immersive virtual reality environments / the metaverse, social media and online harms, aligning with the multidisciplinary approach of the team.
Alexandra Deac, Research Assistant
Alexandra has a background in global mental health, with a focus on psychosocial health and mental health determinants. She is particularly interested in improving the synergy between research and practice through engaging in bottom-up, participatory research approaches directly applicable to enhancing current service delivery. At ICC, Alexandra is focusing on the interface between digital media, cyberpsychology and its intersection of physical and mental health.
Alexandra is passionate about collaborating with vulnerable communities in resource-scarce settings (with a particular focus on crises) and strives to demonstrate a commitment to improving health and mental health outcomes.
Liliana Galicia Mesa, Research Assistant
Liliana is a Research Assistant with a background in psychological wellbeing practice. She has clinical experience in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services, delivering low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)–based guided self-help for common mental health difficulties. She holds an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology.
Her research spans quantitative and qualitative methods within multidisciplinary teams. She supports the design, delivery and analysis of research that informs policy, practice and service development, with a focus on community-engaged research, structural inequalities, and equity in mental health.
Liliana is also co-founder of a Community Interest Company delivering psychoeducational workshops for Latin American women in London, promoting culturally responsive and accessible mental wellbeing support.
Emmanuela Osei-Asemani, Research Assistant
Emmanuela is a research assistant, at the Institute for Connected Communities. Her expertise includes using community-centred strategies and participant-driven methods towards advancing equitable healthcare practices. She also has expertise in carrying out patient and public involvement (PPI) work in the design and execution of clinical trials.
Before her appointment with the ICC, Emmanuela worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, within the clinical trials unit, on various trials including the Supporting Mums study, a UK-wide clinical trial.
Through her work to date, Emmanuela has actively sought opportunities to connect with diverse populations towards understanding their perspectives on existing health disparities and barriers to representation in clinical research. This has involved working closely with local community organisations and disseminating the findings across a variety of settings including at the Prestigious Society for Academic Primary Care Conference.
Mrs Michelle Woolley, Senior Administrator
Michelle oversees the financial, HR and grant bidding processes and records for the Institute, maintaining procedures that dovetail with those of the wider University.
Austine Karibo, Administrative Officer
Austine is the Administrative Officer (Health & Safety Officer/Diary Manager) responsible for the day-to-day running of the institute. She is a member of the University of East London Environmental Sustainability Board and an EMS Internal auditor. She is skilled in facilitating sexual health training with a background in community engagement. She is also a member of the Association of University Administrators.
ICC Emeritus
Professor Gail Findlay, Emeritus
Gail leads the Well Communities programme and the development of evidence-based health improvement approaches linked to the ICC research agenda. She is recognised nationally and internationally for her expertise in the field of community development. She was the Director of Camden and Islington Health Action Zone and worked for the Health Development Agency and then NICE as Regional Associate Director for London.
Professor Allan Brimicombe, Emeritus
Allan Brimicombe is Professor Emeritus at the University of East London. He was Head of the Centre for Geo-Information Studies for 20 years.
He is a Chartered Geographer, and a Fellow of the Royal Statistical, Royal Geographical and Geological Societies. He is a Director of the British Society of Criminology and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Allan has worked in both the private sector and academia. He gained his higher degrees at the University of Hong Kong while he was in the Far East for 19 years. There he pioneered spatial decision-support systems using numerical simulation techniques.
His other research interests include data quality issues, spatial data mining and machine learning, and quantitative and mixed methods. These have been applied to crime, health, education, natural hazards, utilities and business. Allan has been a member of the Crime and Criminal Justice Transparency Sector Panel which provided advice to the transparency delivery teams for crime data in the Home Office, and criminal justice data in the Ministry of Justice.
He was a non-executive member and Deputy Chair of the National Statistician's Crime Statistics Advisory Committee which advised the Home Secretary, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Office of National Statistics on all matters relating to the collection and publication of crime statistics. Allan was a Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on Olympic and Paralympic Legacy.
This followed work from 2009 to 2015 on the Olympic Games Impact Studies commissioned by the Economic & Social Research Council on behalf of the International Olympic Committee. Allan spearheaded the founding of the MSc and Professional Doctorate in Data Science at UEL where he taught research methods, quantitative data analysis, computer-assisted qualitative analysis and algorithmic machine learning. He is a Justice of the Peace and a serving magistrate.
Professor Adrian Renton, Emeritus
Professor Renton is a consultant academic public health physician. He has a track record in building and leading innovative research groups, programmes and structures in medicine, health and well-being internationally, and in teaching and training.
Professor Renton became Foundation Director of the Institute of Health and Human Development (now the Institute for Connected Communities) in 2007. Raising over £5m from Local Government, PCTs and notably the Wellcome Trust and Research Councils, he established the Institute's policy relevance and credibility at the top end of the academic league.
He has held a Bronze Level NHS Clinical Excellence Award (2010) and has acted as a consultant to UNAIDS, WHO, and the World Bank.
Professor Renton's current research and intervention interests are about the impact of the media on politics, health and wellbeing and corporate cybercrime; and the use of music in constructing political, historical and news narratives. He sits on the Coordinating Committee of the Media Reform Coalition.
ICC Honorary
Antonia Bifulco, Honorary Professor
Professor Bifulco's research focuses on social and lifespan influences on psychological disorders. She has investigated childhood experience, adversity and attachment style intergenerationally. She is an advocate of intensive interview measures and runs training courses for researchers and practitioners on attachment style, childhood neglect/abuse and parenting. She currently directs an ESRC grant on designing an online interview on life events and difficulties concerning depression and physical illness.
Professor Angela Harden, Honorary Professor
Angela is Professor of Community and Family Health. She is currently leading work on new models of antenatal care, addressing low birth weight and community-centred approaches to promoting health and well-being. Angela is also an internationally recognised expert on systematic reviews and evidence synthesis.
Prof Dave Cooper, Visiting Professor
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Mohsen Rajabi, Honorary Associate in Research
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Dr Nicholas Marsh, Honorary Associate in Research
Nicholas is a highly experienced social worker and researcher with a strong background in child development, community social work, leadership, education, and service transformation. He has led the design and delivery of large-scale and impactful programmes for government agencies and not-for-profit organisations. Additionally, he is proud to volunteer as a Council Member for the Chicago Children's Advocacy Center.
ICC Affiliates
Elizabeth Walters
Elizabeth is a Lecturer in Public Health. Her research interests include health inequalities, community development and implementation science. Her PhD research explores the sustainable implementation of community development approaches in Public Health, due to be completed in 2024.
Prof Andrew Ravenscroft
Andrew Ravenscroft is a Psychologist, Professor of Education and Social and Community Work and Senior Research Advisor in the School of Childhood and Social Care at UEL. Over the past decade, Andrew has spearheaded collaborative efforts across ten funded projects, focusing on interventions and social innovations for marginalised youth. His career is marked by a dedication to socio-technical research, particularly in fostering inclusive dialogue in education. This includes designing digital dialogue games for critical thinking. Andrew's impactful research, totalling over £6.44 million in funding and 160 publications, involves collaborations with universities, tech companies, NGOs, and healthcare services.
Dr Charlotte Maughan Jones
Charlotte is a Veterinary Surgeon with a PhD and research experience in x-ray phase contrast imaging, who now lectures in Biomedical Engineering. She is also a skilled science communicator with media training and has extensive experience delivering science outreach to school-aged children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Dr Gulnar Ali
Dr Gulnar Ali diligently blends ontological and humanistic perspectives to mental health and well-being. With a particular interest in the ontological aspect of human phenomenon, Gulnar's professional background ranges a wide spectrum of teaching, clinical practice and research experience in Spirituality, Psychiatry, Medical Anthropology, Nursing Philosophy and Islamic studies.
Alice Reedy
Alice has undertaken research into children’s perspectives on what makes them want to read in their free time, and what barriers make them less likely to do so. She tries to use the outcomes of this research to support teachers to understand what they can do to get children reading through choice and thus increase their chances of academic and life success. Alice is currently undertaking further research into what affects children’s choices of text, in the hopes that she can uncover more insights into how to get children reading.
Dr Evi Stamatiou
Dr Evi Stamatiou is a Senior Lecturer in Acting for Stage and Screen and Course Leader of the MA/MFA Acting for Stage and Screen at the University of East London. She has a PhD in Actor Training and Direction from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London.
Anna Caffrey
Anna Caffrey is a senior lecturer in public health and nursing. She is passionate about reproductive justice. Previously Anna has worked in strategy consulting as well as a community midwife in the United States
Dr Katie Wright
Dr Wright is a Reader in International Development. She has two main research interests focused on gender and development in Latin America and globally: (i) gender, human wellbeing, and international migration and (ii) gender, microfinance and sustainable livelihoods. She was previously an ESRC Post-Doctoral Fellow and a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Bath where she was also a PI on a further ESRC project. She completed her PhD on gender relations and microfinance in Peru at the former Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool.
Dr Rahime Belen Saglam
Rahime's research and teaching focus on data privacy, cybersecurity, software development and the ethical implications of emerging technologies, with expertise spanning data privacy regulations, human factors in cybersecurity, AI ethics, and the development of responsible technologies.
Dr Angie Voela
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ICC Associates
Dr Andrew Barnfield
Dr Barnfield is a mixed-methods researcher with experience in evaluation, ethnography, and systems approaches. He has conducted evaluations of the Health Schools London programme and EU Structural Funds programmes that impact health. He has led work packages in EU Joint Action projects that explored the implementation of best practices for health promotion and integration of preventative health in national policies and policy sustainability. His most recent project was the transdisciplinary project Tackling Upstream Unhealthy Urban Development (TRUUD) which used systems approaches to increase receptiveness for, and inclusion of, health and health inequalities in Whitehall urban development decision-making.
Professor Muhammad Akhtar
Muhammad Akhtar is Associate Professor in HRM and People Analytics, Interim Director of Research Impact & Innovation, Editor-in-Chief of the Working Paper Series, and Research Lead for Business Management at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law, University of East London. He holds a PhD in Management from Huazhong University of Science & Technology, China, and an MA in Management from the University of Chester, UK.
With over 20 years of experience across banking, international education, and higher education, Dr. Akhtar has held roles at MCB Bank, Bank Alfalah, The University of Faisalabad, Cyprus International University, and NUST, Pakistan. He is a Fellow of the CIPD (UK), the Higher Education Academy (UK), and a senior management consultant.
He has published in international journals, delivered commissioned research, led consultancy projects, and presented at global conferences. He also serves as a PhD supervisor, external examiner, keynote speaker, and editor, and has developed academic partnerships with institutions in Lithuania, Cyprus, and China.
Dr Paul Watts
Paul is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health in the Department of Health and Nursing. He currently leads epidemiology and research methods modules on the Public Health degree programmes. His research interests are the social and environmental determinants of health and health behaviours, healthy ageing and quantitative research methods.
Dr Theeba Krishnamoorthy
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Dr Sadie King, Health Fellow
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Dr Juan F Martín-Lázaro, Visiting Fellow
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Schønning Eysturoy, Visiting Fellow
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PhD AND MRes STUDENTS
PhD students currently undertaking research with us
- Adrian Ford
- Alesandro Amatruda
- Angelina Adesola
- Anita Holmes
- Asha Mohamed
- Cassandra Beckford
- Chinedu Anyaegbu
- Chinji Carol Finjap
- Clement Ifeanyi Nwabuonwor
- Cyndie Demeocq
- Donatella Cuoco
- Faith Abaneke
- Gauthier Mbango
- Grace Oduola
- Jamilson Bernardo De Lemos
- Jorge Castro Caicedo
- Josepha Reynolds
- Joshni Jose
- Lydia Akinola
- Mark Tsagas
- Melanie Manning
- Oluseyi Timothy Olayiwola
- Oreoluwa Dorcas Rasheed
- Shirat Lubega Namaganda
MRes students currently undertaking research with us
- Khevyn Ibrahim
- Harinder Dhesi
- Maia Robles
- Karina Cruz
- Mo Jafar
- Rachana Jadhav
- Ana Ramos
- Asha Mohamed
- Caroline Tosal-Suprun
- Craig Wilkie
- Jamsheda Young
- Kanchan Kerai
- Mara Elizabeth Livermore
- Mary-Jane Prendergast-Lister
- Mya Coco-Bassey
- Veron Duberry