Professor Carl Thompson

Profile

My research scope includes health services research, implementation and decision science and evidence based healthcare.  I am a registered nurse with a portfolio of NHS experience ranging from nursing assistant to NHS Trust non-executive director. Prior to coming to Leeds in 2015, I held a personal chair in health sciences at the University of York. I have published 3 books and more than 120 peer-reviewed research articles on subjects ranging from evidence-based practice to clinical decision making to the application of social network theory in health services.

My research can be characterised as "how people use information in clinical practice and policy making". I have secured or collaborated on £20m+ of projects and programmes from funders such as the UK NIHR, MRC and ESRC.  Current research includes the use of wearable technology for contact tracing in care homes (NIHR, £2m PI); computerised decision support systems in nursing and midwifery (NIHR, £0.5m); the relationship between staffing and quality in care homes (STaRQ study, £1m, NIHR, HSDR). I am a core partner in the Nurturing Innovation in Care Homes (NiCHE Leeds; Leeds Care Home Association and University of Maastricht) and a member of the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber CLAHRC "Improvement Science" theme. I was formerly the lead for Yorkshire and Huimber’s first CLAHRC's Translating Research into Practice in Leeds and Bradford (TRiPLaB) theme. 

I have supervised a number of PhD students in the area of clinical decision making and judgement (Dr Una Adderley, currently National Lead for Wound Care, NHS Improve; Dr Huiqin Yang, currently Health Technology Assessment lead for a private health economics consortium; and Dr Ana Castro; Chilean Government Studentship.

I welcome applications from prospective students intererested in applied implementation and decision science. 

I have sat on on a number of national and overseas funding panels/boards including the NIHR's HSDR funding committee; the Irish Health Research Board and the Northern Irish HSC R&D.  I am a visiting professor at the Universities of Alberta (Canada) and East Anglia (UK). I collaborate with colleagues in Australia, the Netherlands, the US and Canada and welcome approaches from colleagues interested in implementation science and clinical decision making/judgment. 

I was formerly Director of Research in the School of Healthcare and Pro Dean for Applied Health Research, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds.

Qualifications

• DPhil, Social Policy, University of York, 1996
• BSc Hons (1st class with distinction), Social Policy, University of York, 1993
• RN, York College of Nursing, 1989

Student education

I teach a range of sessions in areas of medical informatics, decision making and judgement and leadership in the faculty of medicine and health. I supervise undergraduate research dissertations and support students as part of the NIHR's Fellowship Scheme (from Pre Doctoral to Post Doctoral) and those undertaking masters level study.  

Research groups and institutes

• People, systems and services

Current postgraduate researchers

• Lucy Hall