Meet the team
Below are introductions and contact details for the members of the team at Salford. We actively collaborate with a wide range of professionals, stakeholders, and partners across the field, recognising that such collaboration is essential for driving innovation and creating meaningful change in Adult Social Care. Through our podcast and blog, we will highlight and engage with many of these key voices.

Professor Claire Pryor
Claire is the RCN Foundation chair in Adult Social Care nursing at the University of Salford. Her career has encompassed working as a nursing assistant in care homes, a staff nurse in medical assessment and critical care units, in the community as a junior sister in intermediate care, and as a nurse practitioner for older people in mental health settings. Following her move into education, she has been a lecturer, senior lecturer, assistant professor and now professor. Her focus is on social care nursing, non-medical prescribing, nursing careers and frailty.

Professor Vanessa Heaslip
Vanessa is a Professor of Nursing and Healthcare Equity at the University of Salford. She is an experienced nurse researcher and educator. Her research lies in nursing community groups who experience social exclusion, whose voices are not traditionally heard in the academic and professional discourse and who struggle to access health and other statutory services. Vanessa has been awarded many prizes and awards including: Burdett Hero (2022), International Council of Nursing Global Nurse Leadership Scholar (2021), and Woman of the Year (2019).

Dr Melanie Stephens
Melanie is an Associate Professor in Adult Nursing at the University of Salford. Melanie is a social and health care researcher, who also contributes to the under and postgraduate programmes. She has researched the impact of pressure-redistributing chairs and night time positioning equipment in social care settings. She has also developed interprofessional studies on collaborative learning, virtual wound care clinics and placements in Uganda. More recently, she has led projects on interprofessional student training in Greater Manchester care homes, and nurse-led diabetic foot clinics and self-management education in Uganda.

Dr Siobhán Kelly
Siobhán is a Research Fellow at the University of Salford. Her research interests span several areas related to social care, with a particular focus on supporting marginalised individuals and groups/communities. She has previously worked on a range of projects around ageing, dementia, social participation, social housing, and care homes.