Nicholas Clarke
Research Fellow
Dr Nicholas Clarke is a Research Fellow and Converge Programme Coordinator. He completed an MSc in Applied Social Research (TCD) and a PhD in epidemiology and public health (UCC). Dr Clarke has led a number of programmes of research in the fields of cancer prevention and survival, and was awarded a HRB Emerging Investigator Award in 2022. Currently, he coordinates the four streams of the Converge research programme: 1) Epidemiology and surveillance of chronic disease burden, 2) Population implementation and intervention effectiveness, 3) Health impact modelling and 4) Global health.
Dr Clarke has led specific research programmes in population-based cancer screening, head and neck cancer survival and health services research. He is experienced in the design, conduct and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative research studies, as well as the development of evidence and theory-based interventions, behaviour change techniques, and in the conduct of randomised and non-randomised trials. He is the principal investigator on a number of studies, including a trial to increase uptake within Ireland’s national population-based BowelScreen programme, a qualitative study exploring barriers to participation in BowelScreen among marginalised women, and a programme of research investigating the role of defensive information processing in Ireland’s three national population-based cancer (breast, cervical and bowel) screening programmes (HRB EIA).