Gary Hodge

Gary Hodge is a Research Fellow at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, where he conducts impactful research in social care, particularly within care home settings. He is a registered Mental Health Nurse with expertise in qualitative, person-centred, and lived-experience methodologies, including autoethnography, storytelling, and art-based research. He also contributes to mixed methods and meta-synthesis projects. Gary is actively involved in supervising PhD students with a focus on reflexive supervision and positionality.

His research interests include:

• Social Care Research (especially care homes)
• Palliative and End-of-Life Care
• Dementia and public engagement
• Nursing and midwifery education
• Sustainability in healthcare
• Reflexive and qualitative methodologies

Recent publications highlight his work on palliative care barriers, care home research culture, patient and family challenges in end-of-life care, and student attrition in nursing programs. These studies, published in journals like Frontiers in Sociology, Journal of Long-Term Care, and Nurse Education Today, reflect a consistent focus on improving care through evidence-based, participatory research.

Gary is an Honorary Clinical Fellow of South West Clinical School(s) and actively contributes to research networks including:

• Researchers in Palliative and End-of-Life Support (RIPELS)
• Realist Approaches in Dementia Evaluation and Research (RAID-ER)
• Peninsula Dementia Research Group (PDRG)

He is also part of the Early Career Researcher editorial team for the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Gary supervises both academic and clinical academic PhD students across diverse topics in nursing and midwifery. While no specific grants are mentioned, his involvement in multi-institutional, public-engagement, and policy-relevant research suggests active grant-funded work. His research aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals related to health, well-being, and quality education.