Dr Maria Allen

Dr Maria Allen

Senior Research Fellow, Public Health

Telephone number

+44 (0) 1792 295886
Sim Bay 018 - 018
Ground Floor
Haldane Building
Singleton Campus

About

Maria is a Senior Research Fellow, her research is on family carers, care inequalities and social care markets with a particular focus on the role of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in the social care sector.  She currently holds a Health Care Research Wales Social Care Research Fellowship award that explores the contribution and role of social enterprise organisations in supporting family carers.  She has established and is currently Chair of the Care Research Interest Group in Wales (CRIG) and is a member of the Welsh Government’s Cross-Party Group on Ageing and Older People, the British Society of Gerontology and the European Social Policy Network on Ageing. 

Prior to her Fellowship award, Maria worked at the Centre for Ageing and Dementia and Swansea Centre for Health Economics where she was a Co-Investigator for the COVID-19 Impact on the Support and Management of the COVID Pandemic on Older People in Wales (COSMO) project where she led and conducted qualitative research with unpaid carers of people living with dementia. 

Areas Of Expertise

  • Social care
  • Family (unpaid) care and care inequalities
  • Ageing
  • Voluntary, community, social enterprise in social care
  • Family carer well-being
  • Care ethics
  • Social care policy
  • Co-production and participatory research methods
  • Mixed methods social care research

Career Highlights

Research

Maria has led several research grants including the Research Wales Innovation Fund that explored the role of third-sector organisations in supporting carers of people living with dementia, the Global Wales Mobility Fund exchange visit programme, an evaluation of the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales’ programme for dementia-friendly communities in Wales, and an evidence review for Welsh Government on employment opportunities for older workers in Wales. 

Her research has been published in international academic books and journals, including International Journal on Care and Caring, and Social Policy Review.  She has also produced a number of podcasts, blog posts and briefings on her research findings. 

Collaborations