Ian has a background in mental health nursing and is currently a researcher and lecturer at Bangor University. Ian is particularly interested in qualitative approaches with a background of applying Appreciative Inquiry, positioning theory and semi-structured interviews within his research. Ian is interested in how language constructs accepted realities that result in positive and negative social actions and how these realities can be challenged. The primary focus of his research has been the lived experience of people living with dementia and giving a voice to seldom heard groups.

His PhD reconfigured the Appreciative Inquiry methodology to support a group of people living with dementia to design a short film, which was then used to positively influence the language used by others about dementia.

Ian is a co-lead for the work package, Environments of Ageing as a member of the Centre for Ageing & Dementia Research (CADR) and is a principal investigator in the Celtic Advanced Life Science Innovation Network (CALIN) project. The CALIN project connects business, academia and healthcare with experts from six leading universities across Ireland and Wales. The network provides small to medium enterprises access to technology, scientific expertise, and a network of life science innovators to support the development of products, processes and services, with Bangor University leading on the health and wellbeing theme.

Ian is involved in supporting Public Health Wales regarding the All Wales Dementia Care Pathway of Standards, focussing on standard 16: Dementia Care Mapping (DCM). Ian was the author of the Welsh national strategy and implementation guide for DCM, published in 2022. During the covid-19 pandemic, Ian was involved in a study which used DCM to gain an insight into experiences on mental health wards during lockdown. Another research project explored the experience of a person living in a care home with dementia during lockdown. Ian is currently leading a project funded by Improvement Cymru to explore how the DCM model can be applied to clinical case note writing about people living with dementia.

Ian is a researcher on the Rare Dementia Impact Study and leads a study exploring the referral pathways for people living with dementia in Wales. He also leads the Rare Dementia Support in Wales group, which is a monthly on-line support group for people affected by rare types of dementia in Wales.

Ian has previously completed a Small Business Research Initiative project which attempted to provide an innovative solution to the acute anxiety often experienced by people living with dementia when travelling to and attending hospital appointments. Many of his projects have resulted in outcomes that have value beyond the study itself, including the development of new pathways for people living with dementia who are admitted to older person’s mental health wards, health board policies regarding sexual safety and the development of the first published guidance for clinicians working with transgender people living with dementia.

Ian leads the MSc Dementia and is a supervisor to MSc and PhD students. He has spoken at national and international conferences regarding his research and has a record of delivering educational and organisational development workshops, using Appreciative Inquiry, with external stakeholders.