SPARC - Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity

Peter, Richard, Verity, Nicky and Lucy

Please note that although the funding period for SPARC has ended, SPARC is continuing to operate within a new project KT-EQUAL. Peter Lansley, Verity Smith and Lucy Chappell continue to be very active and involved with SPARC.

The Reading Office

Professor Peter Lansley, Director, SPARC
p.r.lansley@reading.ac.uk

Miss Verity Smith, Co-ordinator, SPARC
Please note that Verity Smith has retired.

Dr Lucy Chappell, Publicity Officer, SPARC
l.chappell@reading.ac.uk

School of Construction Management and Engineering
URS Building
The University of Reading
Whiteknights
PO Box 219
Reading RG6 6AW
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 118 378 7179
Fax: +44 118 931 3856

Director (PI): Professor Peter Lansley, BSc, MSc, PhD, MCIOB, FCOT
Peter Lansley is Professor of Construction Management at the University of Reading which he joined in 1984 after 14 years as Director of Building Industry Research at Ashridge Management College. Since then he has held various roles including: Head of the Department of Construction Management & Engineering; Dean of the Faculty of Urban and Regional Studies; Director of Social Science Research for the University; and Pro-Vice-Chancellor.

Since 1997 he has been particularly involved with facilitating a stronger interdisciplinary community of researchers with an interest in the needs of older people and disabled people. He has assisted EPSRC in the development of the EQUAL initiative, has chaired its EQUAL awards panel and has directed the EQUAL Research Network. Currently he is heavily involved in advising several research councils and two research charities on the long term development of ageing research, an activity which complements the reality of directing the SPARC programme which ended in December 2008 and KT-EQUAL which commenced in January 2009, for which the challenge of achieving many and varied outcomes within short-times scales is of the essence.

His major long-term interest, helping construction firms improve their performance, has led to a range of research, consulting and training activities as well as 250 books, papers and articles, largely concerned with human and organisational performance in the construction industry, innovation and bridging the gap between research and practice. One outcome of these activities, was the receipt of major innovation award for the development of the internationally acclaimed AROUSAL simulation system which is used for developing senior managers in the construction and engineering industries.

He has advised national and international bodies and governments on organisational and management development issues and on the evaluation and assessment of research and innovation programmes. In 1996 he was a member of the RAE assessment panels for Town & Country Planning and Built Environment and in 2001 on the panel for Built Environment research. For twelve years he served on the Main Board and Programme Committee of the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB), where he had special responsibility for the CIB Working Commissions and Task Groups involved the needs of older people and disabled people.

Recently completed EPSRC awards include: as Principal Investigator - Response to Recession of Large UK Construction Firms (GR/J08065/01), EQUAL: Meetings for the Emerging Community (GR/M99149), and as Co-investigator with members of King’s College London - Introducing Assistive Technology into the Existing Homes of Older People (GR/N33218).

Peter Lansley is a member of the Chartered Institute of Building, a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, and in 2008, in recognition of his contribution to facilitating ageing research, he was appointed an honorary fellow of the College of Occupational Therapists.

He obtained his BSc in Mathematics from the University of Leicester in 1968, and subsequently an MSc in Statistics from the University of Newcastle and PhD in the Management of Innovation from the University of Reading.

Research Interests: Management of innovation; development of research communities; evaluation of research; assistive technology; older people and the built environment.

Current membership of external bodies includes:
Member Advisory Board, Institute of Aging, Canada, 2008-; Member, Advisory Group, OPAN, 2008-; Member, Grants and Research Committee, Dunhill Medical Trust, 2007-; Member, Advisory Group, UK Occupational Therapy Research Foundation, 2008-; Member, Commissioning Panel, Life Long Health and Well Being Programme, 2007-; Member, UK Age Research Forum, 2005-; Member, Peer Review College, EPSRC, 2000-; External Examiner, Faculty of Engineering, University of the West Indies, 2000-

Co-ordinator: Verity Smith, BA Sociology, MA Rural Social Development
Verity is an Academic Fellow at University of Reading, where she has worked for 13 years, the last three as Coordinator of the EQUAL Research Network. Originally trained in social work, she has 17 years experience in field and residential social work, also management in Social Services Departments. She then worked for 2 years as a community development worker in Africa, followed by completing an MA in Rural Social Development.

Her subsequent varied work at the University of Reading has included co-ordinating Masters courses, lecturing on communication, groupwork, teamwork, gender studies, facilitation and training methods. She has co-ordinated and taught on many short courses and workshops, both at the University of Reading and in Asia and Africa. She was involved in setting up a project with Oxford University and East African Universities on the effect of climate change on farming and poverty.

She is a firm believer in networking and the contribution of good administration towards its effectiveness. In addition, she is the carer for an elderly, handicapped parent.

Publicity Officer: Dr Lucy Chappell, BSc, PhD
Dr Lucy Chappell holds a BSc in Zoology from the University of Aberdeen and a PhD from the University of Glasgow which she obtained whilst working at the Institute for Animal Health. Prior to joining SPARC as Publicity Officer she worked as Press and Communications Officer for the Health Protection Agency. She has considerable experience of public understanding of science activities. She project managed exhbilitions mounted by IAH, including at the Royal Agricultural Show, has worked with professional bodies, including the Royal Society of Chemsitry, and has taken science into schools, including a spell as 'researcher in residence' at a community college.

The Brighton Office

Dr Richard Faragher, Director, SPARC
r.g.a.faragher@brighton.ac.uk

Dr Nicky Hewson, Co-ordinator, SPARC
Please note that Nicky Hewson is no longer at Brighton University.

School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Science
University of Brighton
Room 807, 8th Floor
Cockcroft Building
Moulescoomb
Brighton BN2 4GJ
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 1273 642124
Fax: +44 1273 679333

Director: Dr Richard Faragher, BSc, DPhil
Richard Faragher is Principal Research Fellow at the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Brighton which he joined in 1994. He is a biological gerontologist who has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the cell biology of human ageing over the last 10 years.

In 2003 he was awarded the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Conference Science Medal for outstanding scientific achievement for his work on the accelerated disease Werner's syndrome. He is a member of the BBSRC Experimental Research on Ageing (ERA) Special Initiative Committee and the Research ADVISORY of the charity Research into Ageing and was Treasurer of the British Society for Research on Ageing from 1999 to 2003.

He has organised several interdisciplinary meetings including the Oriel 98 meeting designed to network clinicians and cell biologists and Chemistry of Ageing meeting held jointly by BBSRC and the Royal Society of Chemistry. In addition to three appearances at the British Association Annual Festival of Science he has extensive experience of working with newspapers, radio and television.

Co-ordinator: Dr Nicky Hewson, BSc, PhD
Dr Nicky Hewson has a PhD from the University of Leeds and joined the University of Brighton as SPARC Co-ordinator in June 2007. Her very varied background includes working as a florist, as assistant editor for the Royal Entomological Society, as a wildlife consultant and as financial accountant for Lloyds TSB. She has also taught on a variety of courses at the University of Leeds. In 1999, she worked as project co-ordinator for a disabled children's charity in Coventry. Her interests include entomology, education and promoting public engagement in current scientific issues.