Project Lead:

• NIHR PHIRST PHRESH Collaboration – Project Lead for: VIBE— Views And Impact Of Brent’s EVE Project: a multi-method evaluation of support for women engaged in sex work NIHR20000067
• STOLEN: Social, Tangible and Observed Lived Experiences of Non-consensual Image Use 

Lead Research Fellow:

• TAPER: DisconTinuAtion of hormone rePlacement thERapy (TAPER) study. Led by Dr Sarah Hillman.
  How and why do women decide about, and experience stopping HRT, why do women decide to restart and is a clinical trial comparing stopping methods feasible?
• The C-POP Study: To explore the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a study comparing the effectiveness of colpocleisis with sacrospinous fixation (SSF) in women with apical pelvic organ prolapse. (NIHR 151938)
  A joint research collaboration, led by Professor Laura Jones, aims to explore the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a study comparing the effectiveness of colpocleisis with sacrospinous fixation in women with pelvic organ prolapse 
• DASH: Domestic Abuse Survivors’ perceptions of public good and Harm in the use of administrative datasets for Public Health Research (DASH)
  Led by Dr Micheala James at Swansea University (NIHR169912)

Research Fellow - Qualitative Process Evaluations:

• CSTICH-2 Trial: Emergency Cervical Cerclage to Prevent Miscarriage and Preterm Birth - a Randomised Controlled Trial [NIHR HTA (16/151/01)]
• ROTATE Trial: Rotation of the fetal head at full cervical dilatation (NIHR127818)
• UNiTY Trial: A randomised controlled trial evaluating the clinical and cost effectiveness of IVF versus IUI for UNexplained InfertiliTY. (NIHR 135258)

El graduated in 2001 from Liverpool John Moores University with BSc in Applied Biology. She took up a post based at the Institute for Agricultural Technology, Bornim (ATB), in Germany in 2001, where her academic career began focusing on quantitative methods – specifically food safety microbiology.

Following maternity leave and a career break, she began working as an NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor and as an Infant Feeding Support worker for Coventry City Council, at which point she also returned to research and academia at University of Warwick, completing her Masters (Child Health) part-time. She then continued her part-time postgraduate studies, undertaking her doctoral research, which focused on experiences of birth trauma, and accessing support for birth trauma for parents from marginalised and racialised groups. This work had a specific focus on LGBTQ+ parents, and mothers who are Black, Asian or dual heritage who had given birth in the UK.

Since 2019, El has worked on several qualitative process evaluations of clinical trials related to maternal and reproductive health, including the CSTICH-2 and ROTATE trials. She was part of the evaluation of the NIHR Associate Principle Investigator (API) Scheme.  Her qualitative process evaluations work explores the experiences of trial approach, entry and participation for trial participants, those who have declined trial participation and research delivery and implementation teams and recruiting sites. 

El has worked with colleagues in School of Nursing and Midwifery on a number of projects which focus on risk and violence, which have included co-production of research with sex workers, survivors of domestic violence. El was named on the successful grant application for the Dept for Education Triennial Serious Case Reviews report (2017-2019). She worked on the in-depth qualitative analysis of Serious Case Reviews where children and young people had been harmed or died, as part of a joint collaboration between University of Birmingham and University of East Anglia.

El was previously the lead research fellow on the multi method pre-feasibility C-POP Study, exploring the acceptability of a future trial of different surgical interventions for women with pelvic organ prolapse. The C-POP study is funded by National Institute for Health Research.

El is currently leading VIBE – an NIHR funded evaluation of the EVE project in Brent, which is a project supporting women in on-street sex work to access addiction services and wider housing and health support. She is also the lead research fellow on the TAPER Study, working with Dr Sarah Hillman to explore decision making and support for women who choose to discontinue their HRT.

El received funding from Image Angel to undertake a mixed methods study exploring the outcomes and impact of non-consensual intimate image abuse, with content creators and victims of personal experiences of abuse. She was also awarded funding through Research Better Together to collaboratively identify and co-produce maternity research prioritised by local parents in Birmingham.

El works closely with local and national community organisations and aims to embed principles of co-production in her research. El’s research predominantly focuses on engaging with populations who are underserved by healthcare, and under-represented in research to improve access and outcomes in health and wellbeing.