Lesley Ward

Dr. Lesley Ward is a Research Fellow in the Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing at Northumbria University, specializing in mixed-methods research on yoga interventions for health conditions. She holds a PhD in Health Sciences from the Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, where she investigated yoga for musculoskeletal conditions. Her career includes postdoctoral work at Oxford University on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and longitudinal qualitative research before joining Northumbria. She co-developed the CLARIFY checklist to standardize yoga research reporting. Dr. Ward’s work focuses on process evaluations of healthcare interventions, particularly the Gentle Years Yoga trial for older adults with multimorbidity and the PLACES project for children’s communication support. She received the Scientific Article Prize from the International Society for Complementary Medicine Research for her 2018 RCT on yoga for rheumatoid arthritis pain and sleep management.

Education: PhD in Health Sciences (focused on yoga for musculoskeletal conditions), postdoctoral training at Oxford University in RCT methodologies. Research interests include complementary medicine, yoga intervention protocols, healthcare process evaluations, and guideline development for clinical research transparency. She has contributed to over 30 peer-reviewed articles spanning yoga efficacy, qualitative healthcare studies, and systematic reviews.

Grants/Funding: Lead researcher on NIHR-funded trials (Gentle Years Yoga, PLACES project). Awards: Scientific Article Prize (2018). Professional roles: Co-author of CLARIFY guidelines, Leadership Programme Fellow with the Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine.