Researcher in Focus for October's newsletter is Dr Sharon Walsh, assistant professor in economics at the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, University of Galway. Sharon shared her research interests and insights with us: 

What is your area of research?

As an economist interested in health and ageing, my research focuses on the key economic issues of finance, provision and access, in the context of health and social care. Through my research work, I seek to generate high quality empirical evidence, which is policy relevant. In particular, I aim to generate research output that will help to inform future resource allocation decisions at both policy and practice levels. As a society, we are faced with limited resources, and the challenge of how to allocate these resources in a way that generates the greatest societal benefit. When we are planning for how best to care for and support our older people in future, we need evidence on the mix and types of policy and practice interventions which are likely to generate the greatest impact within the resource constraints we face. My research seeks to provide such evidence by considering how such services and supports should be financed, delivered and accessed. 

What made you interested in this area?

I have a deep appreciation for the role of older people in our society, and I believe that as a society, we need to consider how best to support older people to live in a way that is in line with their own personal identities and preferences. Growing up, I spent a lot of time with older people, and I think that this played an important role in my decision to focus my research in this area. I have a huge amount of respect for older people, and I have significant empathy for the challenges that they sometimes face. I believe that we have a collective responsibility to respect older people, and not to underestimate them as individuals, or indeed the contribution that they can make to society.

What impact would you like your research to have?

I hope that the research evidence that I generate will help to improve the lives of people with dementia and their carers, and indeed, older people more generally. My focus is on generating economic evidence to inform decision-making, which may appear to be somewhat cold, calculated, and disconnected, but at the heart of the motivation for this work is a desire to inform policy and practice decisions that go to improve the lives and outcomes of the people who are impacted by them. 

Who has helped or inspired you in your area of research?

Professor Eamon O’Shea was, and continues to be, a huge source of inspiration to me. As a mentor, he is selfless in his support and guidance. I have always felt hugely supported and encouraged in everything that I have done. As a fellow academic and economist, I have huge admiration for the impact that Eamon has had on the dementia policy landscape in Ireland. As academics, it is easy to sit in the shadows and simply focus on generating research for academic publication. The hard part is taking the additional steps to translate this evidence into the public and policy domains. Eamon has been incredible at this and will be a source of great inspiration to me for the remainder of my career. 

 What do you do when you are not working?

I am a mom of two small kids, aged 4 and 6, so when I am not working, I spend my time with them. These years are so precious, so I try to make the most of my time with them. 

What is your favourite pastime? 

I love to walk and listen to interesting podcasts. 

Contact Details:

Dr Sharon Walsh, Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, University of Galway. 

sharon.walsh@universityofgalway.ie