Alexandra Chapman

Alexandra began her PhD studentship on 1st Oct 2014 within the School of Criminology, Politics and Social Policy at Ulster University.

Her research explored and examined how adopting a person-centred policy might impact adult social care provision in Northern Ireland for older users. It focussed primarily on the concept of personalisation exploring if and how a similar approach could be translated into policy in Northern Ireland, as little research has been undertaken in this area.

Taking a qualitative approach to gather a range of perspectives from people aged over 50 regarding social care provision in Northern Ireland, it sought to amplify the voice of future and present older social care users to help inform practitioners and contribute to the debate about how a person-centred policy should be defined, and if a similar approach could work for adult social care. It is hoped that the findings will influence policy-makers in adult social care in Northern Ireland.

Alexandra’s supervisors were Dr Ann Marie Gray, Prof Gillian Robinson and Dr Jennifer Hamilton.

In March 2016, Alexandra was co-organiser of the ‘Planning for the future: Older people in Northern Ireland‘ event which was part of the Imagine Belfast festival.

In March 2017, Alexandra was one of two UK post-graduates selected to take part in the Social Policy Association Insight into Publishing Scheme being run with the journal  Social Policy and Society.   The scheme is designed to give postgraduate researchers a better understanding of the process and requirements of publishing in an established Social Policy journal.

July 2019: Alexandra graduated from Ulster University – many congratulations.