About — Justin Aunger

I am a health services researcher with an interdisciplinary background, keenly interested in individual and organisational behaviour change. I obtained my PhD in behaviour change applied to health at the University of Birmingham and my interdisciplinary BA (Hons) in health science at University College Maastricht in the Netherlands.

I am currently employed as Research Fellow in the Core Theme of the Patient Safety Research Collaboration (PSRC) at the University of Birmingham, where I am Deputy Lead of the Pathways and Culture theme, working on building research capacity and improving patient safety. I am leading projects with a focus on improving safety culture and developing a safety net for patient follow-up in early diagnosis of lung cancer.

Previously, I graduated from my European Commission-funded PhD in 2020, which focused on developing and testing a randomised clinical trial of a behaviour change intervention with older osteoarthritic NHS patients to reduce their sedentary behaviour. Since then, I have delivered two NIHR projects using realist methodologies as the sole research fellow. My research has had a consistent focus on changing human behaviour in complex healthcare contexts. As such, I have a wide variety of skills, including traditional qualitative and quantitative research methods, behavioural science, academic writing, realist methods, project management and teamworking, and various types of evidence synthesis.

I am currently working on grant acquisition and taking on more teaching roles; I hold over £2m of funding as Co-Investigator and £300k as Principal Investigator (see my full funding record).

Career

Roles to date

Oct 2025 — now
Research Fellow II — Midlands Patient Safety Research Collaboration
Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham
2023 — 2025
Research Fellow — Midlands Patient Safety Research Collaboration
Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham
May — Oct 2023
Commercialisation and Impact Fellow
School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey
2021 — 2023
Research Fellow — Strategies to address unprofessional behaviours among staff in acute healthcare settings: a realist review
NIHR HS&DR · School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey
2019 — 2021
Research Fellow — Towards a framework for partnering as an intervention for improvement in the NHS
NIHR HS&DR · Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham
Jun 2019
Secondment — Netherlands Organisation of Applied Scientific Research (TNO)
Data Science division
2016 — 2019
Marie Curie-Skłodowska Early-Stage Research Fellow — PANINI Innovative Training Network
European Commission funded · Physical Activity and Nutritional Influences in Aging, University of Birmingham
2014 — 2016
ICT Helpdesk Manager (part-time alongside studies)
University College Maastricht

Education

Degrees

2025
PGCert in Higher Education — with Distinction
University of Birmingham
2020
Doctor of Philosophy — Behaviour Change Applied to Health
School of Sport, Exercise, and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham
2016
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) — Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
University College Maastricht

Leadership & management

Leading projects and people

During my PhD I was the Chief Investigator of a clinical trial with NHS patient participants. Since then, I have been the sole research fellow on two NIHR-funded projects, in all cases relying on robust project management skills to deliver them on time while collaborating and organising activities with colleagues — including during the pandemic. I now line-manage two researchers and supervise interns, PhD, and master's students, and am keen to foster their development.

Mentorship

Mentoring the next generation

I am also keen to mentor the next generation of researchers. In 2024, I supervised an NIHR Health Services Research undergraduate internship for an eight-week placement with a medical student from the University of Birmingham. She contributed to a systematic review on pulmonary nodule follow-up published in Chest, and has since co-authored two further papers arising from this work.

The internship also gave her a first conference experience: she attended HSR UK 2024, returned to HSR UK 2025 to deliver her first oral presentation, and presented at the HCSRN conference in Texas in April 2026 based on our research. Since completing the internship, she has gone on to secure PPIE contributor roles (including with the HDR UK Medicines Driver PIONEER Programme), a research assistant post on a CQC-commissioned literature review, and a Lister Institute summer studentship. We have continued to work together across various projects.

Connect with her: LinkedIn · Google Scholar

Citizenship

Supporting the research community

In all my roles since my PhD I have started, chaired, or joined early career researcher support groups and been a visible member of these committees, tying in with head of school and research executive meetings, alongside organising events throughout the positions I have held.

2026
Accepted as an NIHR mentor to other junior academics
2026
Invited special collection guest editor, "Advances in Qualitative and Mixed Methods Methodology for Realist Evaluation and Synthesis"
International Journal of Qualitative Methods
2025 — 2026
HSR UK Conference organiser and abstract reviewer
2025
Realist Conference abstract reviewer
2025 — now
Editorial board member
BMC Health Services Research
2023 — now
Member of ECRAG early career committee
Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham
2018 — now
Regular peer reviewer
American Journal of Human Biology, BMC Health Services Research, BMJ Open, Pilot and Feasibility Studies
2022 — 2023
ECR Community Representative
School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey
2020 — 2021
Founded and chaired a committee for early career research staff engagement
School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham
2017 — 2019
Volunteer at weekend open days — demos and presentations for prospective students
School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham

Equality, diversity & inclusion

EDI at the forefront

I work to ensure EDI is at the forefront of all my work. Examples include my dedicated research grants focused on narrowing the ethnicity gap in bullying, harassment, and abuse of NHS staff, as well as applying for grants that specifically seek to promote greater representation in health research, such as through the NIHR undergraduate internship programme.