Key details
Dr Marianne Markowski
Research Fellow
In December 2020, Marianne Markowski joined the Institute for Lifecourse Development at the University of Greenwich, where she now supports the Centre for Professional Workforce Development and the Centre for Chronic Illness and Ageing in her capacity as Senior Research Fellow. She is also associated with the School of Health Sciences and contributes to research, teaching, and supervision across a number of courses.
Half of her working week is dedicated to the Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex (ARC KSS), where she is part of the Rapid Evidence Synthesis team . This responsive service supports the decision-making of local health boards and authorities by providing relevant and up-to-date evidence on specific topics.
In 2016, Marianne completed seven years of practice-based PhD research at Middlesex University, which involved designing online social interaction for and with older people. As part of this work, she developed a research tool called the Teletalker - a simple-to-use online video presence device - through which she conducted design research interventions. Her PhD was preceded by an MA in Design for Interactive Media, completed in 1999.
Between her Master’s degree and PhD research, Marianne worked for over ten years as an Accessibility and Usability Consultant, as well as a User Experience Design Consultant, across various industry sectors including retail, telecommunications, government, banking, and charities.
In 2023, Marianne was invited to become a co-convenor of the Special Interest Group in Educational Gerontology (SIG EG) within the British Society of Gerontology. The SIG EG offers three outward-facing events per year, where pertinent issues in adult education, educational policy, and (un)learning in later life are discussed.
Marianne is also a member of the Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH) and the Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN); the latter also hosts the UK Participatory Research Network.
Marianne is passionate about inter- and transdisciplinary research and is therefore well positioned within the Institute for Lifecourse Development, which undertakes a wide range of research and knowledge exchange projects across its seven centres and with partner organisations and faculties. Her research interests can be summarised using the following five keywords: healthcare workforce, co-design, technology, intergenerational engagement, and education. She likes to use participatory approaches and video where possible in her research.
A number of video outputs can be found here:
Living well as you get older! - highlight video
Learn to love to live with less
Living well with Chronic Illness
Previously Held Posts:
- 2020-2023, Research Fellow at the Institute for Lifecourse Development supporting the Centre for Exercise Activity and Rehabilitation
- 2018-2020, Lead Research Fellow in the Collaborative Learning in Practice (CLiP) project, funded by Health Education England
- 2017-2018, Lead Research Fellow in the Nurse Retention Project funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing
- 2016-2017, Research Fellow at the Centre for Positive Ageing at the University of Greenwich
- 2009-2016, PhD Middlesex University, Studentship funded by the Lansdown Centre for Electronic Art (LCEA)
- 2007-2009, UX Design Consultant and Account Manager, Webcredible
- 2005-2007, User Experience Design Consultant, Freelance
- 2004-2005, ‘3’ mobile phones Usability specialist for handsets and mobile net
Responsibilities within the university
- Support the Institute for Lifecourse Development in their R&KE activities
- Support the Institute for Lifecourse Development in research capacity building
- Carry out multi-disciplinary, high quality and impactful research and knowledge exchange
- Develop research proposals for major funders
- Dissemination of research results and other forms of outputs
- Supervision of the PGR students
- Early Career Academic representation of the School of Health Sciences
- Member of the School of Health Sciences ethics panel
Recognition
- Recognised Advance HE fellow
- Member of the British Society of Gerontology (BSG)
- Member of the Association for simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH)
- Member of Collaborative Action Research Network
Research / Scholarly interests
Marianne promotes participatory or co-production approaches where possible in her research. She is particularly interested in engaging underrepresented groups, such as people with physical and mental disabilities or those from ethnic minorities. She works closely with the Rix Institute at the University of East London to carry out co-produced research with people with learning disabilities to address ‘healthy ageing’.
The Age-Friendly Communities initiative is another topic in her current research activities. Further research interests include the use of eXtended Reality (XR) technology in transdisciplinary research, later-life learning and peer learning, as well as ageism and intergenerational engagement.
In addition, many of her completed research projects relate to the healthcare workforce:
- Co-PI – Age-Friendly Communities, Kent County Council – process evaluation (£36,000)
- Co-PI – “Living Well as You Get Older” knowledge exchange and research project
- Lead researcher on the Primary Care Educator Burnout evaluation project
- Lead researcher on the Digital Support Technician Apprenticeship in Primary Care evaluation project
- Lead researcher on the Collaborative Learning in Practice (CLiP) project (£70,000)
- Lead researcher on the Nurse Retention Project funded by the Burdett Trust (£125,646)
Marianne carries out rapid evidence syntheses for the Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex (ARC KSS), where she supports local ICBs in their decision-making processes.
Key funded projects
2016 Institute of Integrated Care: Exploring Visualization of Personhood on Pin Boards within Care Homes specialising in Dementia Care.