Search Menu
People

Professor Kate Gillies

Professor Kate Gillies
Professor Kate Gillies
Professor Kate Gillies

Personal Chair

About
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 438159
Office Address

Health Services Research Unit

University of Aberdeen
3rd Floor, Health Sciences Building
Foresterhill
Aberdeen
AB25 2ZD

School/Department
School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition
Twitter
ORCiD

Biography

I am an MRC Senior Non-Clinical Fellow and Professor working in Methodological Research related to participant centred trials. 

My research interests focus on the design and delivery of participant centred trials: from point of initial contact through to feeding back results to individuals.   I  lead research in the application of behavioural science to trials methodology. For example, framing problems of recruitment and retention as behaviours and exploring the opportunities to improve these aspects through the design of participant centred, theoretically informed, interventions. This work is multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder and involves using mixed methods approaches to develop, evaluate and implement interventions to support decision making in this context. To find out more about specific project please click on the 'Research' tab at the top of the page. My research has been supported by various funders.

                                       

I also lead the  mixed-methods process evaluations in many of our trials to improve both the experience for potential participants and the overall efficiency of the trial.  Work in this area is ongoing across the portfolio of CHaRT trials.

 

Visual abstract of our STEER project which used behavioural approaches to develop interventions to address trial retention. Full paper here.

             

Qualifications

  • MSc Public Health and Health Services Research  
    2009 - University of Aberdeen 
  • PhD Biochemistry 
    2007 - University of Dundee 
  • BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science 
    2001 - Glasgow Caledonian University 

Latest Publications

  • How should trial teams make decisions about the proportions and diversity of the ethnic groups in their trial?

    Treweek, S., Gillies, K., Witham, M. D., Devane, D., Khunti, K., Bower, P., Parker, A., Soulsby, I., Ostrovska, B., Prowse, S., Green, H.
    Trials, vol. 25, 768 (2024)
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Laparoscopic cholecystectomy versus conservative management for uncomplicated symptomatic gallstones: economic evaluation based on the C-GALL trial

    Hernández, R. A., Ahmed, I., Edwards, K., Hudson, J., Gillies, K., Bruce, R., Bell, V., Avenell, A., Blazeby, J. M., Brazzelli, M., Cotton, S., Croal, B. L., MacLennan, G., Murchie, P., Ramsay, C.
    British Journal of Surgery
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • What is the carbon footprint of academic clinical trials? A study of hotspots in 10 trials

    Griffiths, J., Adshead, F., Al-Shahi Salman, R., Anderson, C., Bedson, E., Bliss, J., Boshoff, A., Chen, X., Cranley, D., Doran, P., Dunne, F., Gamble, C., Gillies, K., Hood, K., Kavanagh, C., Malone, J., Mcgregor, N., Mcnamara, C., Midha, E., Moore, K., Murphy, L., Newman, C., O'reilly, S., Perkins, A. M., Pett, S., Sydes, M. R., Whitty, L., You, F., Fox, L., Williamson, P. R.
    BMJ Open, vol. 14, no. 10, e088600
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • ‘It’s a bit kind of nebulous’:: Unanticipated impacts of patient referral pathways on clinical trial recruitment

    Newlands, R., Johnson, D., Soomro, N., Heer, R., Gillies, K., McCann, S.
    Contributions to Conferences: Oral Presentations

  • The UK resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta in trauma patients with life-threatening torso haemorrhage: The (UK-REBOA) multicentre RCT

    Jansen, J. O., Hudson, J., Kennedy, C., Cochran, C., Maclennan, G., Gillies, K., Lendrum, R., Sadek, S., Boyers, D., Ferry, G., Lawrie, L., Nath, M., Cotton, S., Wileman, S., Forrest, M., Brohi, K., Harris, T., Lecky, F., Moran, C., Morrison, J. J., Norrie, J., Paterson, A., Tai, N., Welch, N., Campbell, M. K., UK-REBOA Study Group
    Health Technology Assessment, vol. 28, no. 54
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

View My Publications

Prizes and Awards

MRC Senior Non-Clinical Fellowship 2023-2028. Medical Research Council.

MRC Strategic Skills Methodology Research Fellowship 2014-2019. Medical Research Council.

CSO Postdoctoral Research Training Fellowship 2009-2012. Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government.

 

Research

Research Overview

Trials methodology; behavioural science; behaviour change; participant experience; process evaluations; mixed-methods.

 

Research Areas

Applied Health Sciences

Supervising
View Research Area

Research Specialisms

  • Healthcare Science
  • Applied Science

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Current Research

Methodological research related to RCTs

Behavioural approaches to trials methods

I lead several projects (or work packages within projects) that have applied behavioural science to understand key trial problems such as recruitment and retention. These include:

I also supervise PhD candidates in this area as lead academic supervisor or lead methods expert:

Other recently completed or ongoing trials methods projects that I lead

 

 

 

       

Process evaluations within ongoing RCTs

  • REGAL: Recurrence of Endometriosis: A randomised controlled trial of clinical and cost-effectiveness of Gonadotrophin Releasing Hormone Analogues with add-back hormone replacement therapy. Started recruitment in 2021.
  • REINFORCE: A Real-World, In-Situ, Evaluation Of The Introduction And Scale-Up Of Robot-Assisted Surgical Services In The NHS: Evaluating Its Impact On Clinical And Service Delivery, Effectiveness And Cost. Started recruitment in 2023.
  • PARTIAL: A randomised trial of the clinical and cost effectiveness of PARTIAL vs radical nephrectomy for clinically localised renal cell carcinoma. Started recruitment in 2023.

Recently completed 

 

Other applied Health Services Research Projects

I-TRAC - In-home Tracking of glaucoma: Reliability, Acceptability, and Cost: the I-TRAC Study (Chief Investigator)

REINFORCE - Real-World Evaluation of Robot-Assisted Surgical Services (REINFORCE): Work Package 1 - Optimisation of RAS implementation and scale up  (Methodological lead)

RoboCOS: What outcomes are important for evaluating robotic assisted surgery as a service-level change? An outcome mapping exercise to inform core outcome set development  (Methodological lead)

TestES Consortium: Testosterone Effects and Safety in Men with Low Testosterone levels  (Methodological lead)

 

Collaborations

 

I actively collaborate with other methodologists and trial teams both nationally and internationally on a range of trials methodology projects, highlights include:

 

 

Supervision

My current supervision areas are: Applied Health Sciences.

I supervise PhD candidates at the University of Aberdeen and other Institutions, recent examples include:

  • Design and delivery of greener trials - Frank You (MRC DTP Studentship)

  • Can  audit and feedback be applied to target  healthcare professionals recruitment and retention behaviour in RCTs? A mixed methods exploration - Mojca Cerar (SGSSS DTP studentship)

  • Behavioural Optimisation and Operational Strategies for Trials  - Naomi Young

 

  • How do trial teams plan for trial retention? - Ellen Murphy (University College Cork)
  • Ryan McChyrstal (University of Glasgow)
  • Alice Marie Toader (University of Liverpool)
  • Ella Howes (University of Leeds)

 

Recently completed

 

Funding and Grants

I have been involved as a co-applicant and work package lead on a portfolio of national and international grants generating in excess of £19 million, with almost £3 million as Chief Investigator, predominantly over the past 5 years. These awards include a range of funders, methodological and applied research, but all are relevant for national or international healthcare. Select awards over past 5 years include:

  • Gillies K (CI). Behavioural Optimisation And Operational Strategies For Trials: The BOOST Approach. MRC Senior Non-Clinical Fellowship. 04/23 - 03/28 £1,649,861
  • Goulao B, Gillies K, Campbell M, Ramsay C. Patient and public INvolvement In target differeNces in Trials (The PINpoINT Study). MRC New Investigator Research Grant (BG). 10/23-04/26. £534,210
  • Gillies K (CI). Implementation of trial methods research: a study of challenges and opportunities -TRiP study. MRC Trials Methodology Research Partnership. 07/22 – 01/23 - £12,855
  • Soomro N, Gillies K, Breckons M, Challacombe B, MacLennan G, Vale L, Narahari K, Sheerin N, Stewart G, Nicol D, di Mambro D, Heer R. The PARTIAL study – a randomised trial of the clinical and cost effectiveness of PARTIAL vs radical nephrectomy for clinically localised renal cell carcinoma. NIHR HTA. 02/22-01/27 - £1,876,106
  • Gillies K (CI), Duncan E, MacLennan G, LeBrec V, Lendrum R. What are the key challenges and opportunities for mounting a trial of prehospital REBOA? A behavioural diagnosis to inform a definitive evaluation. 10/21-03/22 - £12,000
  • Treweek S, Gardner H, Gillies K, Witham M, Devane D, Khunti, Bower P, Parker A, Oshisanya A, Soulsby I. . Improving ethnic diversity in trials: helping trial teams recruit and retain the ethnic groups essential for results with community-wide relevance and applicability. Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government’s Health & Social Care Directorate. 11/21-03/23 - £188,146.
  • Williamson P, Yap C, Eldridge S, Gillies K, Hughes D, Gates S, Jaki T, Taylor R, Walwyn R, Tudur-Smith C, Vale C,  Wason J, Hosking J. Doctoral Training Programme 2021 – Trials Methods Research . Medical Research Council. 09/22-09/26 - £2,518,806
  • Beard D, Matthew C, Harji D, McGaughey F, Torkington J, McGrath J, Gillies K, Davies L, Vale L, MacLennan G, Soomro N, Bhattarai N, Bach S, Shaikh S, Campbell MK. A Real-World, In-Situ, Evaluation Of The Introduction And Scale-Up Of Robot-Assisted Surgical Services In The NHS: Evaluating Its Impact On Clinical And Service Delivery, Effectiveness And Cost. NIHR HSDR 01/22-03/25 - £1,359,238
  • Howick J, Gillies K, Treweek S, Bower S, Edwards A, Bostock J, Hood K. PrinciPIL: Developing and Testing PILs that do not Cause Harm. MRC Better methods, better research Programme.  MRC Better Research, Better Methods Programme.  01/21 - 08/22 -  £312,832 
  • Brehaut J, Presseau J, Gillies K, Grimshaw J, Ramsay C, Duncan E, Fergusson D, Marlin S, Graham I, Spencer H, Weijer C, Taljard M, Gordon J, Richards D, Rodger M.  Using behavioural science to understand and improve participation in clinical trials. CIHR. 02/21-02/26 - £551,440
  • Gillies K (CI), Azuara-Blanco A, Hernandex R, Forrest M, Maclennan G. Digital technologies for home monitoring glaucoma: a feasibility study. NIHR HTA Programme. 08/20 - 12/22 - £289,313 
  • Williamson PR, Emsley R, Sydes M, Land T, Brown J, Lalloo D, Mabey D, Hood K, Devane D, Farrell B, Allen E, Kirkham J, Gillies K, Yap C, Blazeby J, Avery K, Weir C, Jaki T, Wason J, Hughes D, Farron A, Morris T, Landray M, Wordsworth S, Villar Moreschi S. Trials Methodology Research Partnership, Medical Research Council. 06/19 - 01/23 -  £458,665

 

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

I teach on the Qualitative Methods module for the Masters in Public Health. I supervise Masters students across the MPH and other in-person and online Masters courses. I contribute to the Real World RCTs and PPI in trials modules that HSRU has developed.

Publications

Page 1 of 2 Results 1 to 100 of 144

Show 10 | 25 | 50 | 100 results per page

Refine

Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings

Contributions to Conferences

Contributions to Journals

Contributions to Specialist Publications

Other Contributions

Update