

Cancer research cluster
Our mission is to improve cancer care for all. We work with experts from a diverse range of disciplines, including technology, science, engineering and psychology. We work alongside NHS professionals, Government, patients and their families, from the very young, to the very old. When we work together, we create innovative ways of being diagnosed quicker and living well, with and beyond cancer. Our work helps optimise cancer outcomes and impacts positively on experiences of care.
Research interests
Evidence shows that people with cancer have unmet needs, particularly at the point of diagnosis, end of treatment and longer term. Whilst some people feel well, others are struggling with the consequences of cancer treatment, creating a burden of illness that impacts on quality of life, patient outcomes and family life. Early diagnosis is considered a cornerstone of improving cancer survival- and is importantly related to improved patient experience and quality of life.
Our work focuses on changing the way we diagnose and support people with cancer – and families managing cancer – in order to meet increasing demands and care needs. We work across the age span and disease course - from diagnosis to survivorship and palliative care.
Research areas
- Early diagnosis
- Inequalities in cancer outcomes (individually and intersectionally)
- Cancer as a chronic condition
- Influence of cancer treatment on people, informal carers, parents, siblings and other family members. Specific interests include:
- Symptom assessment and management
- Psychological support needs
- Decision-making
- Multi-morbidity
- Survivorship
- End-of-life care.
- Patient reported outcome and experience measures
- Optimising teamwork and patient care
- Digital health/connected health, supportive technologies and web-based programmes to support mental and physical health for people with cancer.
Research methodologies
- Participant co-design
- Mixed methods
- Development and evaluation of complex interventions
- Film technologies
- Creative arts based approaches.
- Research Priority Setting Partnerships
- Questionnaire design and validation approaches
- Data linkage, statistical and machine learning
Areas of interest for doctoral study
We welcome approaches from people wishing to undertake postgraduate research with us. We particularly welcome enquiries in the following areas:
- Prevention and early diagnosis
- Supportive care and innovations
- Cancer in children, teenagers and young adults
- Digital health.
Please contact Freda Mold (freda.mold@surrey.ac.uk) and Jenny Harris (jen.harris@surrey.ac.uk), our postgraduate research directors, if you are considering postgraduate research.
Current PhD research
- The psychosocial needs of siblings when a brother or sister is diagnosed with cancer (Zoe Polly; supervised by Faith Gibson and Anna Cox)
- Understanding breast cancer screening uptake among women of Black African descent in the UK- Individual and socio-cultural factors (Anietie Aliu; supervised by Afrodita Marcu and Robert Kerrison).
- How, why, for whom and in which contexts does telemedicine work to meet the routine follow-up consultation needs of people with malignant and non-malignant haemato-oncological disorders? (Michelle Kenyon; supervised by Emma Ream and Cath Taylor).
- Understanding socioeconomic differences in breast cancer outcomes (Mar Estupiñán Fdez. de Mesa; supervised by Katriina Whitaker, Emma Ream and Afrodita Marcu).
- Improving supportive care during immunotherapy: co-design of a patient reported outcome measure to assess adverse events in people with renal and melanoma cancers (Alexandra Pritchard; supervised by Jo Armes and Jenny Harris).
- Adaptation and pilot testing of the Registered Nursing Forecasting (RN4CAST) nurse survey for use in the ambulatory chemotherapy setting (Zhuming Bao; supervised by Jo Armes and Jenny Harris).
- Improving predictive validity of tumour markers in pancreatic cancer: Developing and validating predictive models using a large United Kingdom primary care database (Claire Price; supervised by Agnieszka Lemanska, Nadia Smith (National Physics Laboratory) and Debbie Cooke).
- Data-driven solutions to improving pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Developing and piloting a primary care intervention (Hugh Claridge, supervised by Agnieszka Lemanska, Spencer Thomas),
- Data-driven solutions to address healthcare inequalities of prostate cancer in the United Kingdom using routinely collected primary care data (Gayasha Somathilake; supervised by Agnieszka Lemanska, Sotiris Moschoiyannis and Elizabeth Ford (Brighton and Sussex Medical School)
- Improving early cancer diagnosis for people with learning disabilities. (Natalie Gil; supervised by Robert Kerrison, Anna Cox and Katriina Whitaker)
- Investigating the influence of early diagnosis on psychological adjustment in cancer survivorship (Laura Boswell; supervised by Katriina Whitaker, Jenny Harris, Jo Armes, and Georgia Black (Queen Mary University of London)
Example projects
New projects
Researchers
Cluster lead

Professor Katriina Whitaker
Professor of Psychology and Lead for Cancer Care
Cluster members

Susie Aldiss
Research Fellow (Child Health)

Dr Anne Arber
Visiting Reader in Cancer and Palliative Care

Professor Jo Armes
Professor of Cancer Care and Lead for Digital Health

Dr David Bartlett
Senior Lecturer of Exercise Immunology

Laura Boswell
Postgraduate Research Student

David Brighton
Lecturer, (adult nursing)

Dr Gemma Bryan
Research Fellow

Jane Cockle Hearne
Research Fellow

Professor Melaine Coward
Head of the School of Health Sciences

Professor Sara Faithfull
Visiting Professor of Cancer Nursing Practice, Lead for Clinical Innovation

Professor Faith Gibson
Professor of Child Health and Cancer Care

Dr Jenny Harris
Senior Lecturer in Cancer Care and Health Statistics

Dr Chris Jacobs
Associate Professor, Genetic and Genomic Counselling

Dr Robert Kerrison
Senior Lecturer in Cancer Care

Dr Agnieszka Lemanska
Senior Lecturer in Health Data Science
Dr Afrodita Marcu
Research Fellow (RA II)

Jackie McBride
Associate Professor in Integrated Care, Head of Professional Preparation within Integrated Care

Alexandra Pritchard
Postgraduate Research Student

Professor Emma Ream
Professor, Director of Health Sciences Research

Dr Katie Sutton
Research Fellow