Professor Simon Murphy Principle Investigator of the School Health Research Network
Simon is the director of DECIPHer, having worked at Cardiff University since 2004. Simon’s interests are in children and young people’s health behaviours and working with policy and practice to improve health improvement efforts.
Dr Kelly Morgan Deputy Director of the School Health Research Network
Kelly is a Senior Research Fellow having worked at Cardiff University since 2015. Her role focuses on the strategic delivery of the network, fostering collaborations and undertaking multiple public health research projects. A key focus of her research is the improvement of the health and well-being of children and young people. She is particularly interested in the development and evaluation of complex interventions aimed at increasing physical activity, improving dietary behaviours and mental health outcomes.
Dr Honor Young SHRN International Lead
Honor joined DECIPHer and Cardiff University in 2014. She has been working as the deputy academic lead on SHRN since 2020. Honor’s research interests centre around interventions for health improvement in school and further education settings, with a focus on sexual health, dating and gender-based violence.
Knowledge Exchange and External Affairs
Maria Boffey Knowledge Exchange and External Affairs Manager
Maria’s role in the SHRN Network is to manage its development by way of knowledge exchange, external affairs and communications, ensuring it meets the needs of schools, researchers, and key health and educational stakeholders. She provides support schools, whilst developing the strategic national and regional partnerships. Her passion for supporting the well-being of children has been a constant throughout her career, spending over 20 years within the third sector leading on a wide range of national programmes to support improved practice and policy outcomes for looked after children. She has also been a School Governor since 2007 in special, primary and secondary school settings. Maria has also worked on a number of research studies with Cardiff University, DECIPHer and CASCADE, as well as being an author of numerous well-being publications.
Rory Chapman Digital Communications & Events Officer
Rory joined SHRN in 2024 and is responsible for the Network’s online communications, digital events, and enhancing SHRN’s digital presence. Rory helps to manage the SHRN website by creating, updating and maintaining website content, as well as facilitating online webinars to showcase the networks ongoing research. He is also helping to oversee SHRN’s new branding strategy and brand consistency.
Survey and Data Management
Lianna Angel SHRN Survey Manager
Lianna joined Cardiff University in 2012 and has worked across multiple research centres. She transferred to DECIPHer from the Centre for Trials Research (CTR) in 2019 and became the SHRN Survey Manager in 2021. She is responsible for running the biennial Student Health & Wellbeing Survey and the School Environment Questionnaire in all SHRN registered secondary schools across Wales.
Safia Ouerghi Research Assistant
Safia Ouerghi initially joined DECIPHer in 2020 as a part of a third-year professional placement during her undergraduate studies in Psychology at Cardiff University. Since graduating in 2021, she now works as a Research Assistant at DECIPHer. In her role, Safia has led the recruitment and data collection for expanding the School Health Research Network (SHRN) into primary schools across Wales. Safia’s research interests are centred around mental health and physical activity, with a particular emphasis on underrepresented groups and key developmental time points.
Edna Ogada Research Assistant
Edna finds the process of organising and managing data very calming. Originally from Kenya, she has worked on large health and social science data sets while living in the United States, Kenya, Tanzania and the United Kingdom. She has lived in Wales since the end of 2015 and joined DECIPHer as a data manager in April 2021.
Dr Max Richard Ashton Research Assistant
Max joined DECIPHer in 2024, after completing his PhD on teachers’ professional learning and classroom practice in relationships and sexuality education (RSE) at Cardiff University. His role involves supporting data management processes surrounding SHRN surveys, such as maintaining data dictionaries. Max’s research interests include gender and sexuality, young people’s health and wellbeing, and the ways in which policy is translated into practice in education.
Data Analysis
Nick Page SHRN Analyst
Originally from Exeter, Nick moved to Wales in 2007 to begin his studies and have spent the whole of his academic career living and working within Wales. He was awarded a PhD in a public health-related field from Cardiff University in 2015, became a member of the WISERD team in 2016, and has been working at DECIPHer since January 2019.
Shujun Liu Research Assistant
Shujun joined Cardiff University in 2022 and has been working with DECIPHer since 2024. She was awarded PhD in Journalism from Tsinghua University. Shujun’s research explores the intricate connections between media, public perception, and policy-making in the context of public health and climate change.
Administrative Support
Umera Mahmood Administrative Assistant
Umera provides an administrative service SHRN engaging in and completing a range of routine tasks to meet operational and customer service requirements. She provides support and guidance on general administration, research, and meeting support. She provides assistance in organising and coordinating the various tasks related to SHRN’s communications, including reviewing documents and providing editorial support when needed and ensures that the SHRN team is supported.
