Dr Elenyd Whitfield

Profile

I joined the Unit for Psychological Medicine at the Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health in early 2022 as a Research Fellow with the APPLE-Tree study, a randomised controlled trial looking at the effects of health and lifestyle changes on participants aged 60+ with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Prior to this, I worked with the APPLE-Tree study at UCL’s Division of Psychiatry from early 2021. I am a qualitative researcher with a particular interest in visual methods. My research interests include ageing, public health, housing, inequality and cognitive impairment. 

I completed a PhD in social science at Cardiff University, looking at reflexivity and the ‘third age’, and was the lead researcher on the APPLE-Tree visual ethnography project: collaborating with an artist/photographer and participants to co-create a photographic exhibition reflecting their lived experiences. This has been shown in the Wellcome Collection, the Houses of Parliament and Holy Sepulchre Church London.  

I am carrying out a process evaluation of APPLE-Tree and am contributing to the EQUATED study, exploring the lived experiences of dementia symptoms up to the point of diagnosis, in ethnic and cultural minority populations. 

Research

Publications

Whitfield, E., Parnell Johnson, S., Higgs, P., Martin, W., Morgan‐Trimmer, S., Burton, A., Poppe, M., & Cooper, C. (2023). Nature as a “Lifeline”: The Power of Photography when Exploring the Experiences of Older Adults living with Memory Loss and Memory Concerns. The Gerontologist, 63(10).