Mark is Head of the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy at the University of Nottingham. His nursing experience is in mental health and care of the older adult. His academic background is medical sociology and his research programme has focused on people's experience of health and health services. A current strand of this work concerns the contribution of self help groups to health and wellbeing, including a project funded by the Big Lottery Fund that examines practitioners’ support for the development of self help groups. Other recent studies have included the role of midwife teachers in preparing newly qualified midwives to deliver care to women and their families, and factors affecting nursing students’ decisions to ‘stay the course’.