Professor Nathan Davies is the recipient of our 2026 Senior Leader Vivensa Academy Excellence Award. We spoke to him about leadership rooted in personal values, his plans to build research capacity and his commitment to creating lasting change in the field of ageing research.
Nathan Davies is Professor of Ageing and Applied Health and Care Research at Queen Mary University of London, where he also co-leads the Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health. Additionally, he is Co-Director of Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Integrated Care.
Throughout his career Nathan has been deeply committed to building inclusive, supportive working environments. For him, leadership is rooted in personal values as much as professional ambition. He says: “Leadership isn’t just about strategy – it’s about who you are.”
Growing up in the South Wales Valleys as a gay man and first-generation university student has shaped Nathan’s understanding of inclusion and opportunity. These experiences inform how he leads today. “It’s about creating a positive culture and community where people can really flourish,” he says. “If we are thriving, then our work is going to thrive.”
Reflecting on the Senior Leader award, he says: “I feel honoured. To have that acknowledgement is really meaningful.”
Improving care for older adults
Nathan’s research focuses on improving care for older people living with complex and multiple conditions, including dementia and frailty. His work spans areas such as decision-making, end-of-life care, and everyday challenges like eating and drinking. He explains: “People don’t just have one condition – they live with multiple things. At the heart of what I do is one key question: how do we improve care for older adults in a way that really matters to them?”
Connecting research to frontline care
Nathan believes that one of the most important and under-resourced areas in ageing research is capacity building. That’s why he has made it a focus of his award. He will fund placements for people working in social care, in clinical roles, and further education colleges. “There are people working in health and social care who may never have had the opportunity to engage with research,” he explains. “This gives them a chance to see its value and take that into their roles.”
From the other side, there are researchers – particularly those without clinical backgrounds – who may not see how their work translates into real-world settings. To address this, Nathan will create opportunities for researchers to undertake clinical placements. “I think sometimes we forget what’s happening on the ground,” he reflects. “Giving researchers the time to experience that directly will make the research more impactful.”
By strengthening this connection between research and frontline care, Nathan hopes that research can be more responsive to the needs of older people and to those delivering care.
Building skills for impact
The second pillar of Nathan’s award plans focuses on developing skills. He is keen to create opportunities for people to upskill in qualitative research. Therefore, he will deliver online ‘boot camps’ for researchers across disciplines.
Alongside this, he will offer dedicated training in co-production. This will allow researchers to see how they can meaningfully work with older people and communities to shape research and services.
The final pillar of Nathan’s vision centres on collaboration and innovation across the research pipeline. He plans to host a series of ‘sandpit’ events. These will bring together early- and mid-career researchers from across disciplines, from basic science through to applied health and care research. They will focus on tackling some of the most pressing challenges facing older people, and encourage new ideas and approaches. He explains: “It’s about bringing people together and creating space for collaboration, creativity and new thinking.”
A commitment to creating lasting change
Underlying all of Nathan’s plans is a commitment to creating lasting change – both in who participates in research, and how research is carried out. His intention is that the support pathways he’ll put in place with the award funding – from placements to training – will carry on long after the funding ends.
For Nathan, the ultimate goal is clear: to strengthen the connections between people, practice and research, and to create a more inclusive system that delivers meaningful improvements for older people.
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Connect: If you’d like to connect with Nathan, you can contact him via his Vivensa Academy member profile here.
Nominate: Do you know a Senior Leader in ageing-related research? Our 2027 Excellence Awards will open in September 2026. Members of Vivensa Academy can self-nominate or nominate others. They must explain how they have demonstrated research excellence and a genuine commitment to our key values for research.
Also in the series: Read about our 2026 Team Achievement winners here. You can also read about our two 2026 Rising Stars: Dr Mahmoud Bukar Maina here and Dr Claire McDonald’s article is coming soon.
