Research Team
Dr Kim Heyes
Reader in Inequalities and Abuse, Faculty of Health and Education
Kim Heyes is a Reader (Associate Professor) in the School of Nursing and Public Health at MMU. She leads and contributes to research on gender based violence, lone parent poverty and care and aftercare across the life course. Her academic background is in mental health, abuse studies and social policy, and her work brings together sociology, public health and applied social research. Alongside her academic role, she works closely with government departments, health services and third-sector organisations on commissioned research and evaluation. She is co-convenor of the British Sociological Association Violence Against Women and Girls study group (BSA VAWG) and leads the Gender, Abuse, Prevention and Safeguarding (GAPS) research group at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has held non-executive and trustee roles in the social care and voluntary sector, contributing to organisational governance, equality and strategic development.
Professor Michelle McManus
Professor of Safeguarding and Violence Prevention
Michelle McManus is Professor of Safeguarding and Violence Prevention and Director of the Institute for Children’s Futures at Manchester Metropolitan University. An internationally recognised expert in safeguarding, child exploitation and violence prevention, she has over 20 years’ experience spanning policing, criminal justice, public health and academia.
Michelle has played a significant role in shaping national policy and practice across safeguarding, gender-based violence and child protection. She has led major research programmes for the Department for Education, Home Office and Welsh Government, influencing approaches to child sexual abuse and exploitation, county lines, domestic abuse, serious violence and multi-agency safeguarding. Her expertise has informed statutory guidance on child criminal exploitation and county lines, while her research continues to support reform across children’s social care and safeguarding systems.
She currently serves as Special Adviser to the House of Lords Committee undertaking post-legislative scrutiny of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and has provided evidence to parliamentary inquiries on violence against women and girls, child exploitation, modern slavery and children’s social care. Michelle also leads a strategic partnership with the National Independent Safeguarding Board Wales, supporting safeguarding improvement and system reform at a national level. Her work is widely recognised for translating research evidence into policy, practice and tangible improvements in safeguarding outcomes.
Dr Clare Gunby
Senior Lecturer in Gender-based Violence, Faculty of Health and Education
Clare is a Senior Lecturer in gender-based violence in the School of Nursing and Public Health at MMU. Her research interests focus on sexual and domestic abuse, including the emotion work/labour involved in supporting/representing those who have been sexually victimised. She has recently completed work funded by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s Office examining the recommendations made in Domestic Homicide Reviews, as well as research exploring minoritised student and staff perceptions/experiences of reporting sexual violence to their university institution. She has a particular interest in the role of the specialist voluntary sector in supporting ‘recovery’ from abuse.
Emma Ball
Senior Research Associate in Safeguarding and Violence Prevention, Faculty of Health and Education
Emma Ball is a Senior Research Associate in Safeguarding and Violence Prevention at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has led qualitative analysis on national projects across England and Wales researching effectiveness of multi-agency safeguarding, focussing on several thematic areas such as domestic abuse, child criminal and sexual exploitation, and whole safeguarding systems. Emma has led on the creation of safeguarding frameworks such as the National Multi-agency Safeguarding Performance Framework, The 12Cs Collective Responsibility Model, and the Recommendation iFramework, currently being implemented within Wales. As a former social worker and practitioner, Emma is passionate about improving outcomes for individuals and families within the safeguarding system.
Elaine (Laney) Craig
Research Lecturer, Faculty of Health and Education
Elaine (Laney) Craig is a BPS accredited, Research Lecturer and core member of the GBV Research Team, specialising in violence, abuse and mental health. She works across health and social care contexts on trauma-responsive, lived-experience-led research and system reform. Her expertise includes trauma-responsive research design, qualitative and realist methodologies, Experience Based Co-Design, voice work, and film-based dissemination to support evidence-based practice.
Elaine holds a First-Class BSc in Psychology with Abuse Studies and an MSc with Distinction in Psychological Wellbeing in Clinical Practice. She is completing a PhD by Publication developing a Harm–Repair Framework to embed lived experience in system governance.
Her research focuses on trauma-responsive practice and care, domestic homicide and abuse, restrictive practices, mental health detention, and children’s residential care. Her postdoctoral work focuses on an arts-based intervention to include children and young people in Domestic Homicide Reviews.
She has contributed to grants exceeding £1.5 million. With 20 years’ filmmaking experience, she produces research films to inform policy and practice.
Dr Alina Haines-Delmont
Reader/Associate Professor in Mental Health and Coercion, Faculty of Health and Education
Dr Alina Haines-Delmont is Reader (Associate Professor) in Mental Health and Coercion at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research focuses on violence prevention, safeguarding, mental health inequalities, coercion, and systems change across health, social care and justice settings. She has particular expertise in co-produced and policy-relevant research with marginalised and underserved populations, including people experiencing mental health detention, racialised inequalities, trauma, and institutional exclusion.
Alina’s work examines how structural inequalities, discrimination and adverse life experiences shape vulnerability to violence, coercion and harm, and how services and systems can respond in more equitable, rights-based and trauma-informed ways. Her research includes studies on domestic homicide reviews, gender-based violence, femicide, racial inequalities in mental health care, and the prevention of restrictive and coercive practices. She works closely with people with lived experience, communities, policy makers and practitioners to develop evidence that informs policy, practice and service transformation. Through national and international collaborations, her work aims to improve safeguarding, reduce violence and discrimination, and promote social justice for individuals and communities experiencing multiple forms of disadvantage.
Dr Anand Ahankari
Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Health and Education
Dr Anand Ahankari is a Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. His research focuses on life-course epidemiology, maternal and adolescent health, nutrition, anaemia, and the social and environmental determinants of health, particularly among underserved populations in low- and middle-income countries. He has over 15 years of experience in research, teaching, and international collaboration across the UK and India. His work combines epidemiology, longitudinal cohort studies, community-based research, and data-driven approaches to generate evidence that informs public health policy and practice. He has led and contributed to several national and international collaborations examining nutritional health, anaemia, and health inequalities.
Alongside his academic role, Dr Ahankari teaches and supervises undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students. He is Adjunct Faculty at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India, a Board Member of Halo Medical Foundation, India, and collaborates with the NNEdPro Global Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health, UK.
Dr Mandu Ekpenyong
Senior Lecturer, MPH Global Health Programme, Faculty of Health and Education
Dr Mandu Ekpenyong is a Senior Lecturer in the MPH Global Health Programme at Manchester Metropolitan University. Mandu holds a BSc in Medical Physiology from the University of Port Harcourt, an MPH in Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health from the University of Ibadan, and a PhD in Public Health and Epidemiology from the University of Wolverhampton. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
Mandu’s research focuses on improving health outcomes among vulnerable and underserved populations through evidence-based interventions that address health system, community, and individual-level determinants of health. Her work spans maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health, health inequalities, social epidemiology, non-communicable diseases, and healthcare access in low- and middle-income countries. Employing mixed-methods approaches, her research has examined topics including maternal healthcare utilisation, postpartum depression, HIV-related stigma, adolescent health behaviours, migrant health, and healthcare experiences among marginalised communities.
Alongside her research, Mandu is committed to advancing global public health education and leads teaching in evidence-based global public health and health promotion. She actively supervises postgraduate and doctoral research.