Gareth Roberts
PhD Student and Research Fellow (Trial Coordinator)
Profile
Biography
Gareth is a Trial Coordinator at York Trials Unit, where he has worked since March 2020. He initially joined the unit as a Trial Support Officer, following his undergraduate studies and experience as a Physiotherapist in both acute and community NHS settings.
Gareth is undertaking a PhD in the Department of Health Sciences focused on improving how evidence about recruitment and retention strategies for randomised controlled trials is generated, updated and used. His doctoral research will explore how systematic reviews of Studies Within A Trial (SWATs) can be developed into living evidence resources, so that new evidence can be incorporated efficiently and trial teams can make better-informed decisions about recruitment and retention interventions.
The PhD will examine how artificial intelligence can be safely incorporated into evidence-synthesis workflows, and how statistical methods can help determine when accumulating evidence is sufficiently informative. It will also explore how living evidence can be communicated and embedded within trial design and delivery processes. The research will include interviews with trial team members to understand their needs and perspectives on using evidence about recruitment and retention strategies in practice.
This mixed-methods PhD project is being supervised by Dr Adwoa Parker (NIHR Advanced Fellow and Associate Professor) and Dr Mark Simmonds (Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination).
Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy, York St John University
- BA (Hons) Dance, Hull University
- MSc Applied Health Research
Research
Overview
Gareth's research interests include trials methodology, and Studies Within A Trial (SWATs).
Projects
- RAPSODI - An RCT assessing whether reverse total shoulder replacement is superior to an anatomical total shoulder replacement for the treatment of painful osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint in patients over 60 years old.
Previous Projects
- FIREFLI – An RCT to establish the effectiveness of safe and well visits by the Fire and Rescue Service in preventing falls and improving quality of life for people aged 70+
- PERISCOPE - What are the benefits and harms of continuation versus stoppage of biologics in patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA) undergoing orthopaedic surgery?
- VENUS-6 - A randomised controlled trial of compression therapies for the treatment of venous leg ulcers.
Research group(s)
Publications
