Early Career Researchers Committee
Serena Salvi
MSc, PhD.
Serena is a Research Associate at Lancaster University’s Department of Health Research and a member of the International Observatory on End-of-Life Care. Currently, she is involved in a European-led project focusing on a non-pharmacological palliative care interventions for people with advanced dementia living in care homes. Her academic background is in Psychology. She holds an MSc in Developmental Psychology from the University of Milano Bicocca (Italy) and a PhD in Behavioural Economics from Northumbria University (UK). Her primary research interest is in palliative care for advanced dementia. Previously, she researched how ageism and age-based stereotyping impact health-seeking behaviours in older adults.
Ilona Barańska
MPH,MSc,PhD
Ilona is an Assistant Professor in Laboratory of Research on Ageing Society in the Chair of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine of the Jagiellonian University Medical College.
She is a specialist in public health, sociology and biostatistics. In 2021 she defended Ph.D. thesis at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Jagiellonian University Medical College. Since 2015, she has been working at the Department of Sociology of Medicine at the Chair of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the Jagiellonian University Medical College. In 2015-2024, she was involved in the realization of 7 international and national projects (including 7th Framework Programme, Erasmus+, HORIZON 2020 and HORIZON-HLTH-2021).
Research interests: health of older people, quality of care and quality of dying in long-term care facilities, the quality of life of family caregivers of the older people and the data analysis and visualization.
The author or co-author of 26 scientific publications including 18 published in journals with IF (total Impact Factor: 61.63, Hirsch Index: 7) and 7 presentations at international conferences.
She is skilled in data analysis and visualization, and also uses statistical analysis programs (such as: SPSS, Statistica, R Program).
Carmen Elise
Carmen is currently a research assistant on the European In-Touch project at University College Cork (UCC) and a final year PhD researcher at the National University of Ireland Maynooth (MU), specialising in the domain of dementia employing medical imaging and behavioural techniques.
She has a Psychology degree with honours from the Université of Nîmes (France) and obtained with distinction a medical Postgraduate Certificate in Ageing and Frailty studies from Trinity College Dublin (Ireland).
In parallel to her research, Carmen Elise is a lecturer in Psychology with a professional certificate in teaching and learning.
Carmen Elise was President of Neuroscience Ireland – ECRN and is a proud member of the Age Friendly University group, the PPI Forum and the Psychology Society of Ireland.
Brenda van den Broek
Federica Riva-Rovedda
MSc, RN
Federica is involved in the European In-Touch project as a research buddy in the Care Partner Advisory Group for the Italian side. Currently, she is a PhD student in Medical Pathophysiology at the Department of Public Health and Paediatrics of the University of Turin (Italy). Her research focuses on the experiences and needs of people affected by Motor Neurone Disease undergoing home mechanical ventilation and their family caregivers. Previously, she graduated in Nursing and obtained her Master’s degree in Nursing Science at the University of Turin. During her Master’s degree she collaborated with the nursing research group of the Department of Public Health and Paediatric Sciences of the University of Turin for the evaluation of the Interreg project ‘Reaction – Community Care Networks for Frailty’.
Marie-Lee Yous
RN, MSc, PhD
Elena Casabona
PhD Student
Elena is a final year PhD student in Medical Physiopathology at the Department of Public Health and Pediatrics at the University of Torino, Italy. Her doctoral project focuses on geriatric care, specifically on the use of technology to prevent falls in older adults living at home or in nursing homes.
Her research interests include geriatrics, public health and the role of nurses in policy making. In fact, she is involved in a European project sponsored by the European Academy of Nursing Science (EANS), which investigates the contributions to decision making made by nurses at different levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.Her collaboration with the University of Torino began during her Master’s degree in Nursing Science, with a research grant at the Vaccination Hub during the COVID-19 pandemic. The collaboration continues in a thesis on the willingness to receive heterologous COVID-19 vaccine and its associated factors in Italy.
