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Dr Heather May Morgan

Dr Heather May Morgan
Dr Heather May Morgan
Dr Heather May Morgan

LLB (Hons), CertHE, MRes, FHEA, PhD, FRSA

Dean for Enterprise & Innovation, Senior Lecturer

About
Email Address
h.morgan@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 437860
Office Address
1.077 Polwarth Building
Foresterhill Campus
Foresterhill
AB25 2ZD

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Senior Vice Principals
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School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition
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Biography

I am Dean for Enterprise and Innovation and Senior Lecturer (Teaching and Scholarship) in Applied Health Sciences, at the University of Aberdeen.

I am a multidisciplinary social scientist whose formal training spans law, French language, forensic medicine, philosophy, gender studies, social research, sociology, criminology and health services research. I was appointed to my Dean role on 01 April 2023 and promoted to Senior Lecturer within the University of Aberdeen’s Postgraduate Education Group, Institute of Applied Health Sciences on 01 August 2022, where I was a Lecturer since 2017. I previously worked at the Chief Scientist Office-funded Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, from February 2012 to September 2017. I led several multidisciplinary collaborations before transitioning into health services research in 2012. I have external experience in the independent monitoring of prisons (Scottish Government, 2010-2013).

I have over fifteen years of postgraduate experience in University research and teaching, am a multiple prize-winning public engagement with research expert, and collaborate with numerous commercial, not for profit and other sector partners. I facilitate knowledge exchange projects and have been involved in various start-up and spin out activities. I am also leading in the scale up of Aberdeen University’s work-based learning for all students in line with our 2040 strategy.

I have individually or jointly secured research funding totalling more than £1.6m. I am lead author/co-author of over thirty peer-reviewed papers and two edited collections. I review for several high impact journals/publishers and have assessed grant applications for several international governments as well as major UK funders.

I am co-creator of Aberdeen’s original, free-to-play, location-based, augmented reality game for iOS devices: [m]apping.

 

pronunciation: /ˈhɛðə/ /meɪ/ /ˈmɔːɡ(ə)n/ or [ heth-er ] [ mey ] [ mawr-guhn ]

pronouns: she/her/hers

personality type: ENFJ

Qualifications

  • LLB (Hons) Law with Options in French Language and Forensic Medicine 
    2005 - University of Aberdeen 
  • CertHE Gender Studies and Philosophy 
    2006 - University of Aberdeen 
  • MRes Social Research 
    2007 - University of Aberdeen 
  • FHEA Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 
    2011 - Advance HE/HEA 
  • FRSA Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts 
    2018 - Royal Society of Arts 
  • PhD Sociology 
    2013 - University of Aberdeen 

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships

Dean for Enterprise and Innovation

Employability and Skills Champion I sit on the University Education Committee's Employment and Entrepreneurship Committee as a representative for the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition.

External Memberships

I am:

Latest Publications

View My Publications

Prizes and Awards

I was named 'Most Accessible Lecturer (Champion for Students with Disabilities)' in the Aberdeen University Student's Association and University of Aberdeen Awards for Excellence in 2019 and nominated 'Most Inspiring' in 2019 and 'Funniest Lecturer' in 2020.

I am active in public engagement with research and a four-time Principal’s Prizes for Public Engagement with Research winner (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018). 

I was selected as a participant of the prestigious Scottish Crucible leadership and development programme in 2015.

 

Research

Research Overview

I specialise in research into the use of (digital) technologies to generate, document, analyse and respond to information about human health biomarkers and behaviours, by individuals and organisations. I research how the addition or integration of such technologies into everyday living is viewed and experienced, the ways in which they impact on social life at a number of levels (e.g. personal, public, political, economic) and their implications, including unintended consequences.

I primarily use qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis, often involving ethnographic, narrative and case study methods, in a range of settings. I also lead and/or contribute to mixed methods studies and have: undertaken systematic reviews (mixed methods and critical interpretive syntheses); utilised and developed behaviour change taxonomies; co-designed and co-analysed two large scale surveys and a discrete choice experiment; and managed feasibility and intervention (randomised controlled trial) studies.

My pedagogical research explores authentic assessment, postgraduate training, career development and employability, especially focused on work-based learning, enterprise and innovation.

Research Areas

Anthropology

View Research Area

Applied Health Sciences

Supervising
View Research Area

Education

View Research Area

Law

View Research Area

Nutrition and Health

View Research Area

Philosophy

View Research Area

Sociology

View Research Area

Research Specialisms

  • Higher Education
  • Health and Social Care
  • Higher Education Teaching
  • Management and Organisation of Education
  • Research Skills

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Current Research

My current substantive work explores people's uses, experiences and views of various health technologies within and independently of health and social care services (e.g.  wristwatch ECGs, smartwatches for running; ambulance drones; AI in the NHS; GPS in elite football; apps for resistance training; nutrition tracking; medical education simulation; fertility tracking; sleep hygiene; athletes’ use of performance apps; apps/wearables for weight loss; video-delivery of exercise programmes in sheltered housing); electronic records in ambulances (ERA); post-intensive care rehabilitation: an evaluation of the scaling up of the InS:PIRE programme; RAACENO: the use of devices to inform prevention of childhood asthma attacks; and blockchain technology’s potential application for health services and research.

My pedagogical research considers authentic assessment in both University and work-based learning, assessment and feedback processes, postgraduate student support and mentoring and the development of graduate attributes through work-based placements at postgraduate level.

My previous work looked at: European Fans in Training (EuroFIT): working with professional football clubs to help men become more active and less sedentary; self-management of long-term health conditions (including using health self-monitoring technologies); surveillance interventions for healthy behaviours in pregnancy (particularly around smoking, including the use of home indoor air quality monitoring and financial incentives contingent on carbon monoxide exhalation monitoring); and gender/deviance in police CCTV operations.

Funding and Grants

Dates

Award holder(s)

Funding body

Title

Value

April-July 2023

Co-applicant (PI: Jess Wood, University of Aberdeen)

Public Engagement with Research Unit, University of Aberdeen

Wellbeing and Health practices of past to present in the Outer Hebrides, a community exploration

£1500.00

2022-23

Co-applicant (PI: Kirsty Kiezebrink, University of Aberdeen)

Learning and Teaching Enhancement Programme, University of Aberdeen

Learning Better Together

£2065.98 

August-September 2022 (6 weeks)

Principal Investigator (PI)

School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen

Summer Teaching Development Project to explore graduate attributes in MSc Applied Health Sciences.

£1,500.00

2022

Co-applicant (PI: Dr Sarah Sivers, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen)

NHS Grampian R&D Endowments Research Grant

Towards Avoiding Conflict in Difficult Care Management Decisions: understanding the causes of local disputes in paediatrics in order to develop pathways to dispute resolution in NHS Grampian.

£12,000.00

2022

Co-applicant (Co-PI: Dr Silvia Casini, University of Aberdeen)

Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) Scholarship – Charlotte Lock

Reflecting on the Echo: A Postphenomenological Investigation into the Lived Experience of the Transthoracic Echocardiogram.

£20,658.00 per year x 3 years (not claimed due to student health-related withdrawal)

2022

Local Principal Investigator (collaborative award with University of Highlands and Islands, University of St. Andrews and North Uist Historical Society)

IDEAS fund (British Science Association/Wellcome Trust

Aire Air Sunnd (Attention to Wellbeing).

£3,000.00

2022

Co-applicant (PI: Corina Weir, University of Aberdeen)

Learning and Teaching Enhancement Programme, University of Aberdeen

Enhancing resilience through supporting reflective thinking and writing.

£2,105.00

2021

Co-applicant (PI: Jennie MacDiarmid, University of Aberdeen)

University of Aberdeen, Pump Prime Funding

Pathways to sustainable and healthy diets: Young people’s views about climate change and eating less meat.

£6,987.55

August-September 2021 (6 weeks)

Principal Investigator

School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen

Summer Teaching Development Project to explore assessment in work-based learning.

£1,500.00

2021-2022

Co-applicant (PI: Camilla Mørk-Røstvik, University of Aberdeen)

University of Aberdeen, Pump Prime Funding

Assistance for the Menstruation Research Network UK.

£7, 320.00

2020-2022

Co-applicant (PI: Elena Giannaccini, University of Aberdeen)

Brigstow Institute Ideas Exchange, University of Bristol

First Talk Introductions: Towards enabling closer mother-child interactions in utero .

£1,000.00

November 2019-December 2021

Co-applicant (PI: Marjorie Johnston, University of Aberdeen)

Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund, Fellowship Development Award

Engaging with the Children of the 1950s study: telling the story of Aberdeen.

£9,002.00

2019-2021 (extended 2022-)

Co-applicant (PI: David Fitzpatrick, University of Stirling)

Chief Scientist Office HIPS/19/28

Creating safe handover systems for the pre-hospital environment.

£269,963.00

2019-2020

Co-applicant (PI: Zoe Skea, University of Aberdeen)

NHS Grampian R&D Endowments Research Grant

Baby boxes and parental capabilities: developing a measure of social outcomes.

£10,427.00

2019

Co-applicant (PI: Amudha Poobalan, University of Aberdeen)

Learning and Teaching Enhancement Programme, University of Aberdeen

Enhancing postgraduate learning and experience: Evaluation of the SUCCESS PLUSprogramme (Socio-cUltural Coaching for Careers and Employability to Support Success:Pathways for LifeUnderpinning Success).

£1,957.55

14 September 2018

Personal award

 

Principal’s Prize, University of Aberdeen

Principal’s Prize for Public Engagement with Research 2018, Winner: Senior Category.

£400.00 + £400.00 for activity

2017-2021

Co-applicant (PI: Steve Turner, University of Aberdeen)

 

National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) (Reference: 15/18/14)

Research study: Reducing asthma attacks in children using exhaled nitric oxide as a biomarker to inform treatment strategy – a randomised trial (RAACENO).

£1,467,090.00

2016-2018

Co-convenor (with Beverley Searle, University of Dundee)

 

Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES)

Funds to establish ‘Pollinating Wellbeing’ Forum.

£5,440.00

02 August 2017

Personal award

Principal’s Prize, University of Aberdeen

Principal’s Prize for Public Engagement with Research 2017, Outstanding Achievement: Early Career Category.

£200.00

July 2017

Co-PI (with Ed Welch and Pete Stollery, University of Aberdeen, and Andrew Sage, Andrew Sage Arts and Entertainment)

Aberdeen Humanities Fund/Development Trust: Cities of Ghosts

For the [M]apping knowledge exchange and commercialisation project.

£740.00

June 2017

Lead applicant, group award

Marie Curie Alumni Association, Scotland Chapter

Funds to support HSRU public engagement activity in late 2017.

£198.80

May 2017

Lead applicant, group award

Public Engagement with Research Unit, University of Aberdeen – Enabling Award

Funds to support HSRU public engagement activity at May Festival 2017.

£424.60

May 2017

Co-PI (with Ed Welch and Pete Stollery, University of Aberdeen, and Andrew Sage, Andrew Sage Arts and Entertainment)

Sport Aberdeen/Aberdeen City Council using funds from The Heritage Lottery Fund

For the [M]apping knowledge exchange and commercialisation project. To work with Sport Aberdeen to co-create a version of our app for the March Stones initiative over summer 2017.

£1,800.00

May 2017

Principal Investigator

Institute for Medical Education, University of Aberdeen

Funded summer intern position. To support exploration of digital health medical education in the UK.

£1,500.00

February 2017

Personal award

Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen

Staff Development Budget. To attend and present at a conference.

£300.00
Teaching

Courses

Teaching Responsibilities

I contribute to the training, supervision and assessment of BSc, MSc and PhD students across a range of disciplines’ programmes at the University of Aberdeen. I previously taught on University of Aberdeen undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Gender Studies, Sociology and Health Studies in the School of Social Science (2007-2012) and social aspects of health in the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition (since 2009), as well as on the interdisciplinary Sixth Century Course in Sustainable International Development (2011).

 

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

I have also taught on courses for staff through the University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Academic Development and contribute teaching for Postgraduate Research students through the Graduate School's programme of workshops.

 

Publications

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Books and Reports

Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings

Contributions to Conferences

Contributions to Journals

Contributions to Specialist Publications

Non-textual Forms

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