Adwoa Parker
Research Fellow (Trial Manager)

Profile

Biography

Adwoa Parker (née Hughes-Morley) has a background in health services research. Prior to joining York Trials Unit in the Department of Health Sciences, she worked for a number of years across a range of large, multi-centre trials and observational studies in both mental health and musculoskeletal disorders.
Adwoa's methodological interests and experience include ‘Studies Within A Trial’ (SWATs), which are self-contained studies embedded within an ongoing trial that aim to establish evidence to improve the management and delivery of trials. Her other interests include mixed methods, in particular incorporating qualitative methods in trials, the evaluation of patient and public involvement in research, systematic reviews and surgical trials.
From 2012-2016 Adwoa held an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship that explored methods to develop and evaluate interventions to improve participant recruitment into mental health trials.
Adwoa is currently a co-investigator on ACTIVE, which aims to investigate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of internal plate fixation versus external fine wire fixation for the management of Type C, closed pilon fractures of the distal tibia. She has led on (TRIALISt), which aimed to develop a training programme for staff to improve recruitment into RCTs. She is also co-investigator on PROMETHEUS, a major national programme of research funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) to facilitate the routine embedding of a recruitment or retention SWAT in ongoing randomised controlled trials.
Adwoa was previously Public Involvement Lead for the York hub of the NIHR Research Design Service Yorkshire and Humber. She currently leads the Trial Forge Studies Within A Trial (SWAT) Centre, which is focused on improving the efficiency of trials using a SWAT approach.
Adwoa is happy to supervise MSc and PhD students and welcomes enquiries from potential students on projects in her areas of interest.

Qualifications

• PhD Medicine (University of Manchester)
• PGCert Primary Care Mental Health (University of York)
• BSc (Hons) Health Sciences (University of York)

Departmental roles

• Lead, Trial Forge SWATs Centre

Research

Overview

Adwoa has research interests in the following clinical and methodological areas:

• Randomised controlled trials
• Recruitment and retention of participants into trials
• Reducing research waste
• Studies Within A Trial (SWAT)
• Patient and public involvement in research
• Qualitative research in the context of trials
• Mental health

Projects

• Articular Pilon Fracture Trial (ACTIVE): External frame versus internal locking plate for articular pilon fracture fixation.
• BATH-OUT-2: Bathing Adaptations in the Homes of Older Adults
• BioDrive AFS - an RCT investigating the impact of a biomarker-driven Antifungal Stewardship strategy on antifungal drug use and health-related quality of life for patients with acute leukaemia
• Trial Forge Studies Within A Trial (SWAT) Centre
• PROMETHEUS: PROMoting THE USE of SWATs: Routinely embedding recruitment and retention interventions within randomised trials.

Completed projects

• Connect project: Co-Production of Policing Evidence, Research and Training: Focus Mental Health.
• Pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for non-respiratory sleep disturbances in children with neurodevelopmental disorders: a systematic review
• TRaining to Improve pArticipant recruitment into randomised controLled trIalS (TRIALISt)

Research group(s)

• Trials and Statistics

Publications

Full publications list

• Adwoa Parkers's publications

External activities

Overview

Memberships

• Research Design Service, Yorkshire and Humber
• National Institute of Health Research Trial Managers' Network
• MRC North West Hub for Trials Methodology Research
• MRC Recruitment Working Group
• Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative
• Trial Forge

Editorial duties

• Studies Within A Trial (SWAT) Collection Advisor, F1000 Research
• Editorial Board Member SWATs, Research Methods in Medicine & Health Sciences 

Invited talks and conferences

• Parker, A. (2019). Reducing research waste: how Studies Within a Trial (SWATs) can improve the evidence base for doing trials better. NIHR Head office, Southampton
• Treweek, S., & Parker, A. (2018). Study Within A Trial (SWAT) to increase the evidence base for trial recruitment and retention decision making. UK Trial Managers Network Annual Meeting, London
• Parker, A., (2017). Quantitative Research Methods and the NIHR Research Design Service. Newcastle Hospital
• Hughes-Morley, A., (2016). Connect project, systematic review research stream: an overview. Police Knowledge Fund Workshop, University of York
• Torgerson, D.J., and Hughes-Morley, A., (2016). The need to undertake embedded recruitment and retention trials. University of Oxford Hughes-Morley, A., (2016). Trials, recruitment and mental health. University of York
• Hughes-Morley, A., (2016). Publishing as a PhD Student. The University of York
• Hughes-Morley, A., (2015). Improving trial recruitment by developing an evidence base. Grünenthal GmBH, Aachen, Germany
• Hughes-Morley, A., (2015). Factors affecting recruitment into depression trials: systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative evidence. University of Manchester. Qualitative Synthesis Network
• Hughes-Morley, A., (2014). Recruiting to mental health trials: how can we make it evidence-based? 8th Annual Optimizing Clinical Trials Summit. Barcelona, Spain. Allan Lloyds
• Hughes-Morley, A., (2013). What are effective methods to recruit research participants into mental health trials? The University of Liverpool
• Hughes-Morley, A., (2013). What are effective methods to recruit research participants into mental health trials? The University of Manchester