Dr Amanda Farley BSc (Hons), PhD, FHEA

Medicine and Health
Associate Professor in Public Health and Epidemiology
Head of Post Graduate Research (PGR) for the Department of Applied Health Sciences

Contact details

Email: a.c.farley@bham.ac.uk

View my research portal

Address: University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Amanda Farley is an Associate Professor in Public Health and Epidemiology working in the Department of Applied Health Sciences. She has 20 years’ experience of research within the field of public health and teaches epidemiology and research methods on the masters in public health (MPH), undergraduate medical sciences (BMedSc) and undergraduate medicine degree (MBChB) programmes. Amanda is Head of Post Graduate Research (PGR) for the Department of Applied Health Sciences overseeing PhD, MD and MSc by research programmes within the department.

Amanda’s research interests centre on the development/ testing of interventions to support people to change behaviours that harm health, and quantification of the effects of behaviour change. In particular, she has significant expertise and track record in the field of tobacco addiction. Amanda is experienced in conducting systematic reviews, feasibility and full-scale trials and has been lead/co-applicant of funding awarded from the NIHR, MRC and CRUK for work within these fields.

Qualifications

Associate Professor in Public Health and Epidemiology:

Postgraduate certificate in academic practice (PCAP), 2015
PhD in Public Health, University of Birmingham, 2013
BSc in Neurosciences, University of Central Lancashire, 1999

Biography

In 2003, Amanda joined the University of Birmingham as a research associate, employed on a HEFCE funded project to evaluate the national expansion of medical schools. This included a review of admissions processes to medical schools which was published by the BMJ.

In 2005, Amanda joined the behavioural medicine team within the Department of Applied Health Sciences (then called Department of Public Health and Epidemiology) to work on a Phase III randomised controlled trial which tested the effectiveness of nortriptyline in combination with nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation. Within this team, Amanda became a UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol studies funded Research Fellow and undertook a part time PhD which investigated the supportive care needs of surgical lung cancer patients and the prognostic significance of smoking. Alongside her PhD, she led and co-applied for funding for projects on smoking cessation, smoking reduction and weight management.

In 2012, Amanda took up an assistant professor post in public health and epidemiology and was promoted to associate professor in 2021. She has led and is involved in teaching at both masters (MPH) and undergraduate (MBChB, BMedSc) level. Her research interests centre on supporting people to change behaviours that harm health and on quantifying the effects of behaviour change. She has over 60 publications and has been lead/co-applicant on grants totalling over £5.5M awarded from NIHR, MRC and CRUK for work in these fields.

Teaching

Masters in Public Health (MPH)

Lecturer - Epidemiology, Statistics and Research Methods, Practical Epidemiology and Statistics, Health Promotion module, Systematic Reviews and Evidence Synthesis modules
Dissertation supervisor

Medicine and Surgery (MBChB)

Evidence Based Medicine and Research Methods tutor
Communication skills tutor
Health Information Evidence Review (HIER) project supervisor

Medical Science (BMedSc)

Project supervisor

Postgraduate supervision

Amanda is interested in supervising PhD students in the fields of behavioural change, tobacco addiction, e-cigarettes and drug and alcohol addiction.

Research

Broadly speaking, Amanda’s current research falls into the following areas:

Development and testing of interventions to support people to change behaviour
Quantification of the effects of smoking/smoking cessation/e-cigarette use/behaviour change on physical and mental health

Publications

Selected publications (Amanda Farley nee Parsons):

Day, E., Manitsa, I., Farley, A. & Kelly, J. F. (2024) The UK National Recovery Survey: nationally representative survey of people overcoming a drug or alcohol problem BJPsych Open. 10, 2, e67.

Gjorgjievski, D., Stavrikj, K., Jordan, R., Adab, P., et al A Farley (2023) Randomised controlled trial testing effectiveness of feedback about lung age or exhaled CO combined with very brief advice for smoking cessation compared to very brief advice alone in North Macedonia: findings from the Breathe Well group BMC Public Health. 23, 1, 12 p., 1887.

Hartmann-Boyce, J., Theodoulou, A., Farley, A., et al (2021) Interventions for preventing weight gain after smoking cessation Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Vol 10, 281

Taylor G, Lindson N, Farley A, et al (2021) Smoking cessation for improving mental health Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Vol. 3, 09.03.2021, p. CD013522.

Middleton G, Fletcher P, Popat S, Savage J, Summers Y, Greystoke A, Giligan D, Cave J, O’Rourke N, Brewster A, Toy E, Spicer J, Jain P, Dangoor A, Mackean M, Forster M, Farley A et al (2020) The National Lung Matrix Trial of personalised therapy in lung cancer Nature 583, pages 807–812

Mason F, Farley A, Pallan M, Sitch A, Easter C, Daley A (2018) Effectiveness of brief behavioural intervention to prevent weight gain over the Christmas holiday period: a randomised controlled trial BMJ 363, k4867

Aveyard P, Lewis A, Tearne S, Hood KR, Christian-Brown A, Adab P, Begh R, Jolly K, Daley AJ, Farley A et al (2016) Screening and brief intervention for obesity in primary care: a parallel, two-arm, randomised trial Lancet DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31893-1

Farley A, Aveyard P, Kerr A, Naidu B, Dowswell G (2015) Surgical lung cancer patients' views about smoking and support to quit after diagnosis: a qualitative study Journal of Cancer Survivorship 2015 DOI 10.1007/s11764-015-0477-4

Taylor G, McNeill A, Girling A, Farley A, Lindson-Hawley N, Aveyard P (2014) Change in mental health after smoking cessation: systematic review and meta-analysis BMJ 348:g1151

Aubin HJ, Farley A, Lycett D, Lahmek P, Aveyard P (2012) Weight gain in smokers after quitting cigarettes: meta-analysis BMJ 345: e4439

Aveyard P, Begh R, Parsons A, West R (2012) Brief opportunistic smoking cessation interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare advice to quit and offer of assistance Addiction 2012 doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03770.x

Farley AC, Hajek P, Lycett D, Aveyard P (2012) Interventions for preventing weight gain after smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD006219. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006219.pub3.

Parsons A, Daley A, Begh R, Aveyard P (2010) Influence of smoking cessation after diagnosis of early stage lung cancer on prognosis: a systematic review of observational studies with meta-analysis BMJ 340:b5569 doi:10.1136/bmj.b5569

Parsons A, Ingram J, Inglis J, Aveyard P, Johnstone E, Brown K, Franklin M, Bermudez I (2009) A proof of concept randomised placebo controlled factorial trial to examine the efficacy of St John's wort for smoking cessation and chromium to prevent weight gain on smoking cessation Drug and Alcohol Dependence Jun 1;102(1-3):116-22.

Aveyard P, Johnson C, Fillingham S, Parsons A, Murphy M. (2008) Nortriptyline plus nicotine replacement versus placebo plus nicotine replacement for smoking cessation: pragmatic randomised controlled trial BMJ 336:1223-1227.

View all publications in research portal