Our People

Tine Buffel is a Professor of Sociology and Social Gerontology at The University of Manchester, Founding Director of the Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group, and expert member of the WHO Advisory Group on Healthy Ageing. Leading multiple national and international research projects addressing later-life inequalities, she examines the social and spatial dimensions of ageing focusing on co-producing inclusive, equitable age-friendly environments in partnership with older people and communities.

Camilla Lewis is a Senior Lecturer in Architectural Studies at The University of Manchester. Her research focuses on urban change, inequalities, ageing, housing, belonging, and community, using ethnographic, sensory, and longitudinal methods. Camilla’s publications provide theoretical analyses on the everyday experiences of inequalities in urban environments and practical suggestions for addressing marginalisation in socially excluded groups. 

Patty Doran is a Research Fellow in the Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group at The University of Manchester. Her research focuses on healthy ageing, spatial justice, community support, and the life course, using mixed methods. She is particularly interested in co-production methods to amplify community voices. Originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, Patty has worked on various projects, including Ageing in Place, Urban Villages, and Growing Up Healthy in Families Across the Globe. 

Chris Phillipson is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Social Gerontology at The University of Manchester. His research covers social, political, and economic issues related to ageing, including social exclusion and urban ageing. He is a Fellow and former President of the British Gerontological Society and a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and has received numerous awards for his work, including an Outstanding Achievement Award from the British Society of Gerontology in 2011.

Elaine Dewhurst is a Senior Lecturer in Employment Law at The University of Manchester and Senior Expert on Age for the European Equality Law Network. Her research focuses on age discrimination, the rights of irregular immigrants, and the intersection of employment and immigration law. She is a co-lead researcher on the award-winning Uncertain Futures project, which addresses inequalities facing women over 50 in Manchester with respect to work.

Amy Barron is a Lecturer in Social and Cultural Geography at The University of Manchester. Her research explores urban ageing, social inequalities, and the life course, using creative participatory methods. Amy’s work focuses on the lived experiences of diverse older adults and the impact of urban environments on ageing. She has co-curated exhibitions for the Greater Manchester Festival of Ageing and contributes to policy development for age-friendly initiatives.

Sarah Day is a PhD researcher at Manchester School of Architecture (MSA), funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Her research examines the potential of using creative feminist practices in designing age-friendly public space. She is a Lead Analyst on the Ageing in Place Pathfinder project, working for GMCA/MSA. She works in the context of a large redevelopment project in North Manchester, using participatory action research and social network mapping to facilitate engagement with local older people. 

MaoHui Deng is a Lecturer in Film Studies at The University of Manchester. His interdisciplinary work draws from film and performance studies, gerontology, and dementia studies to explore the intersections of cinema, ageing, and dementia, tying these discourses together through the examination of time. He is currently working on a project on dementia and modernity and has received awards including the Faculty of Humanities Outstanding Teaching Award.

Mhorag Goff is a Research Associate in Health Services Research at The University of Manchester. Her research explores the implications of technology and information in organisations, focusing on the public sector. She has expertise in critical management studies, information ethics, and qualitative research methods. She has a particular interest in Actor-network theory, ethnographic methods, participatory research, and digital exclusion. 

Mark Hammond is a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Research Lead at the Manchester School of Architecture. His research focuses on architecture and urban ageing, with a specific interest in housing inequality and spatial justice. Mark employs participatory and design research methodologies, working with communities to develop age-friendly initiatives. He leads the ‘Co-creating Age-Friendly Social Housing’ project and collaborates with local government on policy-engaged research. 

Tess Hartland is a PhD researcher in Sociology at The University of Manchester, working with MUARG. Her research explores experiences of older refugees and asylum seekers in Manchester through a precarity lens, using narrative methods to capture how uncertainty and insecurity shape life course trajectories and lead to opportunities for resistance. Tess holds an MSc in Global Health and a BSc Hons in Biomedical Science. Her research interests include ageing, migration, social justice, and health. 

Dharmi Kapadia is a University of Manchester Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) Co-Director, focusing on ethnic inequalities, mental health, and older people. She is a co-investigator on major research projects including the Nuffield Foundation-funded Ethnic Inequalities in Later Life and ESRC-funded Covid Racial Inequalities in a Time of Crisis, examining life-course impacts of racism on ethnic minority older people, and a Synergi Collaborative Centre member.

Niamh Kavanagh is a Research Associate in the Department of Architecture after completing her PhD in Sociology in 2022. She employs participatory, ethnographic, and longitudinal methods with a social justice and temporal focus to explore the life course interplay of housing, gentrification, displacement, place, and materiality. Her current project, ‘Over-researched but invisible’, uses a co-creative approach to understand the impacts of over-research on a marginalised older Manchester community.

Luciana Lang is a University of Manchester Research Associate and urban anthropologist, focusing on age-friendly cities, natural and cultural heritage, and community use of shared spaces. She has led projects exploring how faith organisations support the Greater Manchester age-friendly agenda and older people’s role in using, shaping, and participating in these spaces, and has researched older people’s experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the place-based experiences of older LGBTQ+ people.

Stefan White is a Professor of Architecture at Manchester School of Architecture. His research and practice focus on the architecture and urbanism of social and environmental sustainability. Stefan co-directs the Place-Health Architecture Space Environment research group, working on projects related to healthy ageing and urban sustainability. His work has significantly impacted regional, national, and international approaches to healthy ageing, involving a wide range of stakeholders.

Nan Zhang is a Senior Lecturer in Medical Sociology and Social Gerontology at the Department of Social Statistics of The University of Manchester. She is the founder and lead of Global Network for Ageing Research on China/Chinese (GNARC). Her research focuses on the social and environmental impact of urbanisation and health inequality in later life in the Global South, with a particular emphasis on China. Nan’s work addresses issues of ageing, wellbeing, and inequality. 

Alan Lewis is a Senior Lecturer in Architectural Studies and the Head of Architecture at The University of Manchester. His research focuses on the implications of an ageing population for housing design, aiming to enhance older occupants’ health, wellbeing, and independence. Alan has led projects on daylighting in older people's housing and extra-care housing for people with sight loss, investigating how architects incorporate user representations of older occupants into housing design.

Paul McGarry is the Head of the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub and Assistant Director of Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Public Service Reform Directorate. He has worked on ageing projects since 1997, including setting up the Age-Friendly Manchester Programme. Paul is a founding member of the WHO’s Global Network and the UK Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities and is a research fellow at The University of Manchester. 

Linda Naughton is a Research Fellow on the Ageing in Place in Cities project in the Department of Sociology at The University of Manchester. Her background is in Human Geography, and her research interests include geographies of ageing, city development narratives, creative/spatial methodologies, and utopian studies. Linda has published on topics such as social capital, ageism, and the impact of COVID-19 on age-friendly cities and communities. 

Joana Salles is a PhD researcher in Visual Anthropology at The University of Manchester. Her research uses audio-visual methods to investigate how older people from marginalised communities organise to resist gentrification and reclaim urban commons in Manchester and Brussels. Joana’s work draws on theories of spatial justice and the right to the city, aiming to provide a platform for marginalised voices and inform community and policy initiatives.

Jingwen Zhang is a Lecturer in Sociology at The University of Manchester. Her research focuses on rural–urban migration, gender, and health in later life in China from a life course perspective. Jingwen is interested in life course theory, gender, social determinants of health, and longitudinal data analysis. She has led projects on unmet needs for long-term care and valuing carers and previously worked at the ESRC Centre for Care. 

Miriam Tenquist is a PhD researcher in Sociology at The University of Manchester. Her research explores how social relationships and experiences of place are affected for geographically dispersed ethnically minoritised communities, focusing on the older Chinese community in the UK. Miriam’s interests include ethnicity, ageing in place, life course perspectives, and community structures. She is currently a Research Manager at NEST Pensions.

Rujin Wang is a postgraduate researcher in Architecture at The University of Manchester. Her research focuses on how outdoor spaces impact the well-being and daily lives of older adults in urban China. Using a mixed-methods approach, she combines ethnographic research, spatial analysis, and survey data to examine spatial practices and issues of inequality in urban environments. Rujin aims to contribute to age-friendly urban design and policy discussions. 

Marion Vannier is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at The University of Manchester. Her research focuses on life imprisonment, prison studies, and the experiences of elderly life-sentenced prisoners. Marion is currently working on a project on hope among elderly life-sentenced prisoners in the UK, funded by the UKRI Future Leaders’ scheme, after completing her MSc and DPhil at the University of Oxford. She has previously worked as a lawyer and legal officer in various international contexts. 

Sandaru Weerasinghe is a Lead Analyst at Greater Manchester Combined Authority on the Ageing in Place Pathfinder project with Manchester School of Architecture. Her now-completed PhD research used virtual reality to explore the fear of crime, focusing on spatio-temporal variations in urban ageing and environmental criminology. Sandaru uses digital technologies and geospatial visualisations to drive data-driven decision-making for sustainable cities.

James Fletcher is a Lecturer at the Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour at the University of Bath and a former research fellow at The University of Manchester. James has a background in medical sociology and gerontology. He is interested in digital ageing and creative methods, with a focus on cognitive impairment and inclusive data generation. His research covers several areas of the political economy of ageing and dementia, with an emphasis on using social theory and creative methods to understand later life disability as a political entity. 

Beth Mitchell is the Ageing Well Programme Manager at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, part of the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub. She plays a key role in redesigning health and care systems to enable older people in Greater Manchester to age well in place. Beth leads initiatives in falls prevention, mental health, physical activity, and women’s health. She works collaboratively with stakeholders across the GM Age-Friendly Eco-system to drive policy and practice changes.

Sophie Yarker is a Lecturer in Health Geography in the School of Science, Engineering and Environment at The University of Salford and a former Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on age-friendly communities, social infrastructure, community organisations, and local attachments. Sophie has a background in human geography and sociology, with interests in wellbeing, urban change, and the impacts of urban environments on healthy ageing.

Rebecca Lines is the Learning Officer for the UK Network of Age-Friendly Communities at the Centre for Ageing Better. She works to inspire, connect, and support members of the UK Network of Age-Friendly Communities, affiliated with the World Health Organisation (WHO). Rebecca manages projects to improve employment and skills support for people aged 50 and over, ensuring the voice of lived experience shapes better services. She previously worked with the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub.

Sarah Wilkinson is the Evidence Manager for the Research, Impact and Voice team at the Centre for Ageing Better. She explores current trends in ageing, supporting colleagues on commissioned research projects. Sarah has over thirty years’ experience in the public, voluntary, and community sectors, focusing on addressing inequalities. She previously worked as Equalities Research Coordinator at Ambition for Ageing and is passionate about inclusion to ensure everyone can live a good later life.