You are here:

MethodsCon programme

The provisional MethodsCon programme is available below. The full programme will be published in the near future. Sessions will be in three main formats:

  • Interactive Seminars are bite-sized versions of our successful Innovation Fora series. Contributors will convene participatory sessions engaging the audience in a new idea, emerging theme, interdisciplinary synergy or change of direction in health and social science research methods. They will be facilitated by a lead individual or team with a view to outlining current thinking or developing ideas for methodological innovation. Utilising the expertise of colleagues in the room, this could lead to establishing a community of practice, co-producing pitches or manifesto design, developing an NCRM Innovation Fora application or larger funding proposal.
  • Professional Development Workshops are broad and open to enable creativity and freedom. These slots will aim to shine a light on a passion project, spark new collaborations, explore innovative approaches to methods quandaries or collectively develop technical work-around solutions and methods hacks.
  • Innovation Incubators will focus on deep dives into particular areas of interdisciplinary methods used in health research.

Provisional programme


Day 1: Tuesday, 13 September

Interactive Seminars

  • Including the nation: Fran Harkness (Kohlrabi Consulting)
  • Survey community of practice: Gabriele Durrant (University of Southampton)
  • Mind the gap: survey statistics in practice: Gerry Nicolaas (NatCen)
  • Using theory and behaviour change techniques to inform interventions: the selection process: Stephanie Lyons (The University of Manchester)
  • Art and Design-based research methods for co-designing a Mixed Realities Playkit to prepare Children for an MRI Scan without a General Anaesthetic: Dylan Yamada-Rice (Manchester Metropolitan University)
  • Natural language processing to capture person-first or identity-first language: Julia Kasmire (The University of Manchester)
  • Freedom of Information requests as a research tool: Kathrin Lauber (University of Edinburgh)
  • Up-skilling Experts by Experience for Involvement in Co-Production in Research: Mick Hill (Northumbria University)
  • Using Action Research methods to explore the implementation of Health Impact Assessment (HIA): Monica O'Mullane (University College Cork)
  • Cold water therapy: An engine for subjectivities, bodies and credibility?: Robert Meckin (The University of Manchester)
  • DiD IT?: A difference-in-differences investigation tool for public health: Roger Morbey (Public Health England)
  • Designing deliberative research to create a suite of digital mental health support tools for young people: Sohila Sawhney (Barnardos)
  • Designing and implementing a cross-disciplinary, cross-sectional Course on Health and Migration: Ursula Trummer (Center for Health and Migration, Vienna)

Professional Development Workshops

  • COMPLEX-IT: A Case-Based Modelling and Scenario Simulation Platform for Health Research: Brian Castellani (Durham University)
  • Investigating whether exposures influence the variability of outcomes: motivation, implementation and interpretation using GAMLSS: David Bann (University College London)
  • Investigating change across time: the challenges of cross-study comparative research and possible solutions: David Bann (University College London)
  • Exposing the myth of the hysterical female by comparing expert and patient accounts of PMS with robust epidemiological data regarding premenstrual symptoms: Sally King (King's College London)
  • Non-linear relationships in quantitative research: what are they and how to analyse them?: Frederick Ho (University of Glasgow)
  • "Alexa, I just ate a donut." Innovations in recalls and real-time methods for measuring eating: Laura Johnson (NatCen)
  • Many Models: Conducting Sensitivity Analyses in R: Liam Wright (University College London)
  • Introduction to QGIS and Spatial Data: Nick Bearman (Geospatial Training Solutions)
  • Analytical Integration of Mixed Methods data: Why? When? How?: Rebecca Johnson (University of Birmingham)
  • How can we break methodological boundaries to enable and empower those living with dementia to be research leaders?: Katey Warran (University of Edinburgh)

Day 2: Wednesday, 14 September

Innovation Incubators

  • Developing the science of translation in health innovation: Niels Peek (The University of Manchester)
  • The emergence of SMART methods – non-expert platforms for social science and health research: Brian Castellani (Durham University)
  • From Pandemics to Syndemics: From Methodological Fragmentation to Methodological Dialogue in the Face of Systemic Structural Crises: Ciara Kierans (Liverpool University)
  • Inclusive datawalking for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): Lucy Beattie (University of the West of Scotland)
  • Sociogenomics, education and health: Neil Davies (University of Bristol)
  • Creative methods and alternative therapy: Robert Meckin (The University of Manchester)