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Project team
Our Team
University of Sussex Business School
Professor Michael Hopkins (Principal Investigator)
Professor at the Science Policy Research Unit – SPRU.
Michael is a biologist with subsequent degrees in Technology and Innovation Management (M. Sc. with Distinction), and Science and Technology Policy (D.Phil). He has more than 20 years’ experience researching the sociotechnical challenges associated with medical innovation in products, services and systems for diagnostic testing. In recent years Michael has led a series of international research projects studying different aspects of the innovation ecosystems that support medical innovation, particularly in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, although not exclusively.
Research Fellow at the Science Policy Research Unit.
Joshua has five years’ experience researching research systems and scientific knowledge for epidemic response. His main research focus is knowledge dynamics and global health emergencies. His MSc dissertation was entitled "Funding Biodefense: Gaps in the fence?" Joshua's PhD focussed on the learning from pandemics and was titled "knowledge accumulation in disease outbreak response." His current work explores novel methods for evaluating research and learning lessons from international Covid-19 testing systems.
Dr Choon Key Chekar
Senior Research Associate
Choon Key has more than 10 years’ experience of cross-national comparative research on the lived experience of recent innovations in medicine, including, genomic cancer medicine and the stem cell industry in East and South Asia.
Mr Alexander Ghionis
Doctoral Researcher
Alexander is a Doctoral Researcher in the Harvard Sussex Program. His research looks at change and continuity in the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), with particular interest in the cultures and identities of its Technical Secretariat. He has a Master's Degree in Geopolitics and Grand Strategy from the University of Sussex.
Mr James Bates
Research Assistant
James is a graduate of Biology with a Masters degree in Science & Technology Policy. Having worked as a lab technician in the UK’s COVID-19 testing programme’s Lighthouse Labs, he now is dedicating his efforts to researching policies of COVID-19 testing. He also has interests in alternative methods of research evaluation, bioethics and other areas of Science and Technologies Studies.
Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Senior Lecturer in Sexual Health and HIV Medicine and an Honorary Consultant Physician at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals.
Collins obtained his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine, Abia State University, Nigeria, followed by training in general internal medicine in Birmingham. He completed his specialist training in Sexual Health and HIV Medicine in 2011. Collins has an MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a doctorate in HIV/AIDS from University College London. Collins has been involved in Global Health research in HIV since 2011 and has broad research interests on HIV treatment outcomes in resource-constrained settings and sexually transmitted infections.
Professor Gail Davey is a Professor of Global Health Epidemiology.
Gail is a medical epidemiologist specialising in skin-related Neglected Tropical Diseases in low
resource settings. Following training in epidemiology at Master and doctoral level at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Davey moved to Ethiopia to work with national colleagues in the School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University. There, she initiated a multidisciplinary program of research into podoconiosis (endemic nonfilarial elephantiasis). On returning to the UK, she has continued to expand podoconiosis research within Ethiopia and into other endemic countries.
Professor in Infectious Diseases
Prof Martin Llewelyn has 16 years’ research experience and 28 years’ clinical practice
experience and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He undertook higher specialist training in Infectious Diseases and General Internal Medicine in North Thames. Martin’s research is focused on the common, life-threatening infections which affect patients in the NHS, in particular on healthcare associated and antibiotic resistant pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile.
University of Cambridge
Lecturer in Sociology of Science and Technology.
Stuart’s work focuses on biomedical innovation and his research has investigated a diverse range of emergent biotechnologies, such as stem cell therapies and synthetic biology. An expert on diagnostics policy, in particular regulatory policy, he has conducted hundreds of interviews with senior figures in industry, regulatory bodies and biomedical science. His work is situated at the interface of science and technology studies, medical sociology, history of medicine, bioethics, innovation studies and regulatory studies.
INGENIO UPV (Spain)
Associate Professor of Innovation Management in INGENIO (CSICUPV),Technical University of València (Spain).
David has over 10 years’ experience researching innovation in medical devices. Prior to his academic career, he spent seven years as a R&D Project Manager in a Spanish medical technology company, where he leaded numerous R&D Projects. Part of the results of those projects was reflected in three European Patents, where he figures as inventor with other researchers. He has participated in several projects about medical innovation and led a research contract with a Spanish Centre of Research on Rare Diseases for analysing rare diseases policies in five European countries.
Enrique has 25 years experience as a manager in a private company within the Health Technologies sector. He oversaw 95 employees across 23 work centers. More recently, he has worked as a European Funding Project Manager in a R&D Consultancy company. He comes from an academic/research background in the area of Social Sciences and Innovation Management (especially in medical innovation).
CIRCA (Ireland)
Consultant
Dr Jim Ryan B.Sc., Ph.D. is an experienced specialist in science policy and innovation management with emphasis on life sciences. He is a full-time consultant with CIRCA, and has worked extensively as a consultant on projects in Europe, Middle East, Thailand, Malaysia, China and Azerbaijan. He has also represented Ireland on many international committees. Past employments include 6 years as
director of BioResearch Ireland (Ireland’s National Biotechnology Programme) with responsibility for developing biotechnology strategy and for commercialising university research.
Ansbach University of Applied Sciences (Germany)
Professor for Biotechnology and Bioethics.
Sibylle has more than 25 years of experience in technology assessment, innovation studies and strategic analysis of the uptake, dissemination and perception of new technologies. Major research projects were the development of an assessment tool for sustainable drug supply, the development of a roadmap for synthetic biology in Europe and more recently, the analysis of communication effects on the perception of new biomedical developments
Ms Anne Nikiforov
Project Assistant
Anne Nikiforov studied industrial biotechnology at the University of Applied Sciences in Ansbach with a B.Sc. degree. During her studies she worked on projects like: "The establishment of a molecular genetic test system as proof of Neisseria gonorrhoeae for the routine diagnostics." In the context of her bachelor thesis she researched the analysis of linguistic usage in science and media and its influence on the public attitude towards medical-biological research. She is currently working as a project assistant for OCTS in the German team focusing on "Commercial testing systems".
Science-Metrix/Elsevier (Canada)
Dr Etienne Vignola-Gagné
Research Analyst
Etienne Vignola-Gagné is an analyst with Science-Metrix/Elsevier. He conducts mixed methods assessments for major research funders and universities. He also contributes to research projects on bibliometrics of cross-disciplinarity and societal outcomes of science; or biomedical innovation policy. Some of his prior research can be found in journals such as Quantitative Science Studies or Science and Public Policy.
ACT-IVD (Australia)
Robyn Meurant
Principal Consultant, ACT-IVD
Robyn Meurant is a medical laboratory scientist, by training, with extensive experience in running diagnostic laboratories. She has been the regulator of IVDs for Australia; at WHO she was working on Ebola and Zika PHEICs, and has been a regulatory consultant. In 2009, she was awarded the Australian Society of Microbiology’s Distinguished Service Award. She now has her own consultancy, ACT-IVD, where she brings together her interests in regulation, IVDs, infectious diseases, and regulatory system strengthening. She is a member of the MHRA Expert Advisory Group for IVDs and is an advisor to FIND.
Africa Health Research Institute (South Africa)
Dr Erofili Grapsa
Statistician at Africa Health Research Institute and freelance data analyst
Erofili has a PhD in Statistics from the University of Southampton and extensive experience in analysing complex datasets as well as applying advanced statistical methodologies. She is currently based in South Africa where she has been working as a freelance statistician and independent researcher for academic institutions, NGOs and government organisations. Her interests lie in research for policy making, social and health statistics as well as labour market research. She recently joined AHRI and the OCTS team to provide quantitative insights in the assessment of TTI systems.
