Staff Profile of Dr Llinos Haf Spencer

Name:

Dr Llinos Haf Spencer

Position:

Research Officer

Email:

l.spencer@bangor.ac.uk

Location:

Fron Heulog

Phone:

01248 38 3171

Professional Roles/Qualifications

Project Coordinator, School of Nursing, Bangor
Research Officer, School of Nursing, Bangor
Project Administrator, Dyslexia Unit, Bangor
Teaching Fellow, School of Psychology, Bangor
Teaching in Higher Education Certificate, University of Wales.
Ph.D. Psychology, University of Liverpool
B.A. (Hons) Psychology, University of Liverpool

Research interests/Current Projects

Dr Llinos Haf Spencer is a Research Officer in the Centre for Health-Related Research, Bangor University. She is currently working on two research projects: the EPIC Project, and the My Choices Project. The EPIC Project is a joint project between Bangor University and Cardiff University. The main aim of this SDO funded project is to evaluate a child-centred intervention for diabetes medicine management. The My Choices Project is Bangor University based and is funded by WORD. The main aim of the My Choices Project is to map out the palliative care services for children in North Wales.

Previous to the EPIC and My Choices Projects, Llinos has worked on various other projects at the School of Healthcare Sciences/Centre for Health-Related Research since 2003. These projects included a Welsh Assembly Government project investigating Welsh language awareness in healthcare provision in Wales; a Welsh Language Board funded project investigating the impact of the Twf scheme (a Welsh Language Board initiative on language transmission in the family) and the role of professionals in promoting bilingualism amongst young children; and a HEFCW funded scoping study investigating bilingual provision in nurse education in Wales.

Before becoming a full time researcher in 2003, Llinos taught Psychology to undergraduates at the School of Psychology, Bangor University. She completed her PhD (Spencer, 2000) at The University of Liverpool, and her thesis and later work (Hanley, Masterson, Spencer & Evans, 2004; Van Daal, Spencer, Cashman & Hoxhallari, 2003) investigated the orthographic depth hypothesis and the early reading skills of children living in Wales.

Professional Bodies/ Membership of network/associations

Graduate member of the British Psychological Society
Member of the School of Welsh Medium Studies at Bangor
Member of CYD-Bangor University

Recent Publications

Irvine, F. E., Roberts, G. W., Spencer, L. H., Jones, P. R., and Tranter, S. (2008). Twf and Onwards: Impact assessment and the way forward. Welsh Language Board, Cardiff, UK.

Spencer, L. H., Roberts, G. W., Irvine, F. E., Jones, P. R., and Baker, C. R. (2007). Using cluster analysis to explore survey data. Nurse Researcher, 15(1): 37-54.

Roberts, G. W., Irvine, F. E., Jones, P. R., Spencer, L. H., Baker, C. R., & Williams, C. (2007). Language awareness in the bilingual healthcare seeting: a national survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 44: 1177-1186

Irvine, F. E., Roberts, G. W., Jones, P. R., Spencer, L. H., Baker, C. R., and Williams, C. (2006). Communicative sensitivity in the bilingual healthcare setting: A qualitative study of language awareness. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 53(4), 1-13.

Roberts, G. W., Irvine, F. E., Jones, P. R., Spencer, L. H., Baker, C. R., and Williams, C. (2004). Report of a Study of Welsh Language Awareness in Healthcare Provision in Wales. Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff.

Spencer, L. H., & Hanley, J.R. (2004). Learning a transparent orthography at five years old: reading development of children during their first year of formal reading instruction in Wales. Journal of Research in Reading, 27 (1), 1-14.

Spencer, L. H., and Hanley, J. R. (2003). The Effects of Orthographic Consistency on Reading Development and Phonological Awareness; Evidence from Children Learning to Read in Wales. British Journal of Psychology, 94, 1-28.

Spencer, L. H., Edwards, M., Prys, D. & Thomas, E. M. (Eds.) (2004). Geiriadur Termau Seicoleg/Dictionary of Terms for Psychology. School of Psychology, University of Wales, Bangor. ISBN: 1 84220 0283.

Hanley, J. R., Masterson, J., Spencer, L. H., & Evans, D. (2004). How long do the advantages of learning to read a transparent orthography last? An investigation of the reading skills and reading impairment of Welsh children at 10 years of age. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57A, 8, 1393-1410.

Van Daal, V. H. P., Spencer, L. H., Cashman, S., & Hoxhallari, L. (2003). The Wales Dyslexia Screening Test/Prawf Sgrinio Dyslecsia Cymru (pilot project). Dyslexia Unit, University of Wales, Bangor.

Spencer, L. H., & Hanley, J. R. (2002). The Word Recognition Abilities of Welsh and English Reception Class Children. The Psychologist in Wales: Newsletter of the Welsh Branch of The British Psychological Society, Issue 13, pp 2 – 5.

Spencer, L. H. (2000). The Role of Phonological Awareness in the Beginning Reading of Welsh and English Speaking Children. Unpublished PhD Thesis. The University of Liverpool, UK.

Recent Conference presentations

Spencer, L. H., Noyes, J., Williams, A., Edwards, D., and Williams, G. Evidence into practice: evaluating a child-centred intervention for diabetes medicine management. Feeling Good: Health Information for Children Conference, Chester University, 23-24th June 2009

Spencer, L. H., Noyes, J., Williams, A., Edwards, D., and Williams, G. Developing a new type of information pack alongside and for children and young people with type 1 diabetes. 1st International Children’s Conference: Children in a Changing World, Queens Belfast University, 23-24th April 2009.

Williams, A., Noyes, J., Hughes, A., Carter, C., Spencer, L. H., Edwards, D., Vogels, W., and Williams, G. Health Knowledge: information for children, Symposium, RCN International Nursing Research Conference, Cardiff 24-27th March 2009.

Noyes, J., Williams, A., Spencer, L., Edwards, D., Williams, G., Russell, I., Rycroft Malone, J., Lowes, L., Gregory, J., Brocklehurst, P., Allen, D., Carter, C., Lewis, M., Sharpe, J., Jackson, J., Tudor Edwards, R., Whitaker, R., Samuels, M. (2008). EPIC Project: Evidence into practice: evaluating a child-centred intervention for diabetes medicine management. ‘It’s all in the mix’ second annual conference. Building Evidence for Health Care: Mixing Methods in Trials. 4th December 2008, Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea.

Williams, A., Noyes, J., Spencer, L. H., & Edwards, D. (2008). EPIC Project: Evidence into practice: evaluating a child-centred intervention for diabetes medicine management. North Wales Clinical School Research Symposium and Open Day. September 12th 2008. Bangor University.

Spencer, L. H., Roberts, G. W., Irvine, F. E. & Jones, P. R. Effective strategies for gaining rich qualitative data using telephone interviewing methodology. Communication and Ethics in Medicine Conference, Lugano, Switzerland, June-July 2007

Spencer, L. H., Jones, P. R., Irvine, F. E., & Roberts, G. W. Measuring the effects of a multi-faceted research recruitment strategy – what works best? Royal College of Nursing International Research Conference, York, March 2006

Roberts, G. W., Irvine, F. E. & Spencer, L. H. Report of a Study of Welsh Language Awareness in Healthcare Provision in Wales. The Welsh language in healthcare conference and awards, Cardiff, May, 2005

Spencer, L.H. Language awareness within the bilingual healthcare setting: comparisons between occupational groups, Communication and Ethics in Medicine Conference, Linköping, Sweden, June 2004

Spencer, L. H. & Irvine, F.E. Language Awareness in Healthcare: Survey of Language Awareness amongst Healthcare Practitioners in Wales, Royal College of Nursing International Research Conference, Cambridge, March 2004

Spencer, L. H. & Van Daal, V.H.P. The Wales Dyslexia Screening Test. Welsh Dyslexia Project Conference, Cardigan, February 2003

Spencer, L. H. & Van Daal, V.H.P. The Wales Dyslexia Screening Test. Welsh Dyslexia Project Conference, Powys, January 2003

Spencer, L. H. The Bangor Dyslexia (Screening) Test. Dyslexia Teaching Certificate Course, Dyslexia Unit, University of Wales, Bangor, October 2002

Spencer, L. H. An investigation into the phonological awareness and reading skills of English monolingual and English/Welsh bilingual Year 1 children. Third International Symposium on Bilingualism Conference, Bristol, 18-20 April, 2001

Spencer, L. H. The effects of orthographic consistency on reading development and phonological awareness: Evidence from children learning to read in Wales. Society for the Scientific Study of Reading Conference, Stockholm, 22-23 July, 2000

Spencer, L. H. Teaching Psychology through the medium of Welsh, and the development of the Welsh terms for Psychology dictionary. Teaching in Higher Education (tHE) Scheme Presentations Session, University of Wales, Bangor, 27th March 2001

Spencer, L. H. Dyslexia in a transparent orthography like Welsh. Dyslexia Conference, Dyslexia Unit, University of Wales, Bangor, March 2001

Spencer, L. H. Dyslexia and Welsh. Dyslexia Conference, Dyslexia Unit, University of Wales, Bangor, March 2000

Spencer, L. H. Learning to read English and Welsh. Departmental Presentation at the school of Psychology, University of Wales, Bangor, September 1999