About
Dr Dalia Tsimpida is a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol), Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS), and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). She currently works as a Lecturer in Gerontology at the University of Southampton, where she also serves as the Examination Officer and Employability Coordinator within the Department of Gerontology. Additionally, Dr Tsimpida leads the Thematic Cluster 'Data Skills & Methods' at the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SCDTP), organising interdisciplinary training and overseeing support for more than 50 Doctoral Researchers across four partner universities (Universities of Southampton, Brighton, Portsmouth and Chichester).
As Faculty Advisor, Dr Tsimpida led the establishment of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Student Chapter at the University of Southampton - the first of its kind in the UK - fostering student engagement in ageing research. Her editorial contributions include serving as Academic Editor at PLOS ONE, and as Editorial Board Member of BMC Public Health.
Over the past decade, Dr Tsimpida’s academic career has combined world-class research, policy influence, and institutional leadership - advancing scholarship in the spatial and social dimensions of health inequalities and informing local, national, and global responses to population ageing and sensory health disparities. Her research focuses on the social epidemiology of hearing loss and its intersection with noncommunicable diseases, with particular emphasis on lifecourse health inequalities and their structural and spatial determinants. She explores the mechanisms by which socioeconomic, environmental, and place-based factors shape vulnerability and access to care, and develops evidence-informed interventions aimed at improving population health outcomes.
She is a Special Advisor at the World Hearing Forum (WHF) and a Consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO), where she actively contributes to informing global hearing health strategies, policies and plans. Her internationally recognised research has earned her several awards, including the International Society of Audiology (ISA) Scholarship Award in 2020 for her groundbreaking work on the early detection of hearing loss in primary care - a key step toward inclusive and healthy ageing.
Dr Tsimpida was the Primary Investigator of the New National Study of Hearing, leading the first update of hearing loss prevalence estimates among older adults in England in 40 years. Her research uncovered a previously unknown north-south divide in the prevalence of hearing loss among older adults of similar age profiles, challenging the assumption of the inevitability of hearing loss in older age, often referred to as 'age-related hearing loss'. This work revealed that the increasing prevalence of hearing loss may not be solely attributed to ageing but could be linked to social and lifestyle changes. She introduced the concept of 'lifestyle-related hearing loss,' and developed the Conceptual Model of Hearing Health Inequalities (HHI Model), which illustrates the factors that impact individuals earlier in life and, if modified, could reduce hearing loss in older age.
Her work pioneered a new era in assessing hearing health inequalities by proposing the monitoring of the burden and distribution of hearing loss in older adults using routine health information systems, revealing the limitations of current data for planning sustainable care models, and proposed that the prevalence estimates should be based on the already available, actual data that reflect populations' needs, rather than on age projections. Dr Tsimpida's research has significantly influenced policy, prompting the integration of hearing care into health strategies both in the UK and globally. Following extensive engagement with policymakers and the co-production of a Policy Brief with Place Directors in Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System (ICS) - which emphasised the need to integrate hearing care into health strategies - one of the key recommendations from this analysis was later included in the Chief Medical Officer's Annual Report 2023. This recommendation calls for the monitoring of hearing loss data, recognising its links to depression, dementia, falls, and frailty.