Meet the team
Find out more about our researchers.
Meet the team
Professor Caroline Nicholson
Professor of Palliative Care and Ageing
Biography
Caroline Nicholson is a clinical academic nurse who champions Palliative Care For ALL. She holds a chair in Palliative Care and Ageing within the School of Health Science, University of Surrey and a Visiting professor at St Christopher’s Hospice London.
Caroline qualified as a Registered Nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital London. She worked as a specialist Palliative Care Nurse before undertaking a combined BSc (Hons) in Community Nursing DN/HV Certs at King’s College London. She went on to an MSc in Medical Anthropology at Brunel University London before completing her PhD at City University, London in 2009. She is a FHEA from the Institute of Education and holds a diploma in psycho-dynamic approaches to old age from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, London
Caroline leads a research programme focussed supporting older people and their carers to live AND die well over a life long-lived. https://www.surrey.ac.uk/living-and-dying-well-research She is particularly interested in the transitions that occurs in the last phase of life and supporting integrative services and structures to enable care closer to home. She has published extensively in the field of frailty including co-editing the BGS guidance on end of life and frailty for clinicians across the multi-disciplinary team. She is a core re member of the European Association for Palliative Care Reference group on Ageing and Palliative Care and Faculty member of the International Fellowship in Palliative Care. She has a long-held interest in the experiences and palliative care needs of older people and their families and is co-lead in End of life Care for the British Geriatrics Society.
Dr Richard Green
Surrey Future Fellow
Biography
Richard was awarded a prestigious Surrey Future Fellowship in April 2023 to develop an ambitious interdisciplinary programme of research focused on understanding and addressing complex challenges in health and social care using artificial intelligence, systems thinking, and simulation methods. His current work explores how agent-based modelling (ABM) and participatory approaches can be used to investigate under-examined areas of care provision and access, primary, community, palliative, unpaid, and integrated care contexts.
Richard’s research vision is shaped by a commitment to advancing qualitative and mixed-method research that accounts for the complexity of care systems and the lived experiences of older adults and their caregivers. He is particularly interested in how simulation methods can support both research and policy.
Richard completed a BSc in Criminology and Sociology at Royal Holloway University and then an MSc in Social Research Methods at the University of Surrey, before completing his PhD in Sociology in partnership with both universities on an ESRC studentship. His PhD explored men's experiences following treatment for prostate cancer in a qualitative interviewing study. Before joining the PALLUP study, Richard worked at the Office for National Statistics as a Senior Research Officer, working on facilitating research access to secure data for research that serves the public good.
Dr Sarah Combes
Research Fellow
Biography
Sarah Combes is a clinical academic nurse specialising in palliative and end of life care for older people living with advancing frailty, dementia, and multiple long-term conditions. She holds dual roles as a Research Fellow at the University of Surrey and NIHR Senior Research Leader: Nursing and Midwifery at St Christopher’s Hospice.
With a background in leadership, change management, and education across sectors, Sarah brings a systems-level perspective to translational research. Her focuses is on decision-making and workforce development to support people nearing the end of life.
Prior to moving to Surrey, Sarah's was awarded a prestigious HEE/NIHR Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow which she completed at King’s College London. Her PhD focused on developing a behaviour change intervention to support health and social care professionals to better instigate and support advance care planning with older people living with advancing frailty. Sarah continues this work through What matters most? A study using co-production methodologies to support meaningful conversations with older people in the last phase of life. Sarah is also the Research Fellow on In the Driving Cessation Decision Seat, a study testing the feasibility and acceptability of a driving decision aid for people with dementia within UK memory services.
Sarah’s previous studies have focused on improving home-based palliative care for older people with advancing frailty, and building regional partnerships to improve end-of-life care coordination across community settings.
