Dr Rosalind Willis BSc, MSc, PhD
Associate Professor in Gerontology, Faculty Director of Graduate School
I joined the Centre for Research on Ageing in 2010, and I teach and conduct research on the topics of ethnicity, care and support, and dementia.
Although ethnicity and culture shape how we think about care in later life, all groups are united by a dedication to support family and friends.
I am interested in research on support and care in later life, and much of my work has a focus on ethnic diversity. I am originally from County Meath in the Republic of Ireland, and my experience as a first generation migrant to Britain has influenced my research interests. Questions I have considered in my research include: What are the determinants of informal support, and what evidence is there for or against the stereotypes surrounding ethnicity and care? How do people from different ethnic groups talk about motivations for providing care? Why do people from minority ethnic groups report lower satisfaction levels with social care services than people from white groups? My research aims to provide recommendations to policy makers and practitioners to ensure services meet the needs of the whole community.
Other research interests include mental health and ageing, dementia, schizophrenia and personality disorder. I have a particular interest in service evaluations, and equality of access to services. My evaluation of the Croydon Memory Service informed the development of England’s National Dementia Strategy in 2009. I was a co-applicant on the University of Southampton’s Doctoral Training Centre in Dementia Care, funded by the Alzheimer’s Society, which launched in 2015. My research into the understandings of dementia in Pakistan provided important new data from a low-and-middle-income context.
I teach on the MSc in Gerontology, the MSc in Gerontology (Distance Learning), and MSc in Global Ageing & Policy (Distance Learning), and I supervise PhD students. I also provide qualitative methods and NVivo software training. I am the Faculty Director of Graduate School, and I have conducted research on the emotional impacts of research on PhD students.
I am a member of the British Society of Gerontology, and I was the Treasurer of the BSG Executive Committee (2014-2017). I chaired the University of Southampton’s conference organisational committee in 2014 when we hosted the 43rd BSG annual conference.