Professor Stephen Walters
BSc, PGCE, MSc, PhD, CStat.
School of Medicine and Population Health
Professor of Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials
+44 114 222 0730
Full contact details
School of Medicine and Population Health
Regent Court (ScHARR)
30 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 4DA
- Profile
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I graduated with a degree in Mathematics and Economics. This was followed by a PGCE and an MSc in Medical Statistics and Information Technology. My PhD involved using computer intensive statistical methods for estimating sample sizes and analysing quality of life outcomes. I joined the University of Sheffield in January 1995. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2003; Reader in 2008 and to a Personal Chair in 2009. I was the first Director of the Design, Trials and Statistics (DTS) research group (which included the Sheffield Clinical Trials Research Unit (CTRU) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Design Service for Yorkshire and the Humber) from 2012-18.
I am a Chartered Statistician with over 30 years’ experience of health services research and technology assessment. The focus of my research has been in the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of randomised controlled trials of complex interventions; and the design, assessment, analysis and interpretation of patient reported outcomes in clinical trials. I work with clinicians from a variety of backgrounds to develop pragmatic clinical trial designs to capture the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a variety of health technologies. I have been co-investigator for more than 32 randomised controlled trials.
From 2018 to 2022 I was National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator. I have been a member of the NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Clinical Evaluation and Trials Board (2011-17); the East Midlands Regional Funding Committee for the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit Programme (2011-2012); NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research Committee (2020 to 2024). and the NIHR Pre-doctoral Fellowships Selection Committee (2019 to 2024). I have also been a member of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee (2008-2013).
I have co-authored over 400 publications (including 280 in refereed journals and 5 books, with over 26,000 copies sold). The majority of my peer-reviewed journal articles have been applied research, with the emphasis on the evaluation of new services. I have been a co-applicant, statistical advisor and collaborator on 77 funded Health Service Research projects with a total income value of £60.3 million.
- Research interests
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- Design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of pragmatic randomised controlled trials of complex interventions.
- Design, assessment, analysis and interpretation of studies with Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) outcome measures.
- Health Services Research and Technology Assessment.
- Cluster RCTs and clustering by health professional in individually randomised trials.
- Study design and sample size determination.
- Publications
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Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
Books
Journal articles
- An intervention to promote self-management, independence and self-efficacy in people with early-stage dementia : the Journeying through Dementia RCT. Health Technology Assessment, 26(24), 1-151.
- The Journeying through Dementia psychosocial intervention versus usual care study: a single-blind, parallel group, phase 3 trial. The Lancet Healthy Longevity, 3(4), e276-e285.
- Association of task-shared psychological interventions with depression outcomes in low- and middle-income countries : a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry.
- Recruitment, consent and retention of participants in randomised controlled trials : a review of trials published in the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Journals Library (1997–2020). BMJ Open, 12(2). View this article in WRRO
- Statistical analysis of publicly funded cluster randomised controlled trials : a review of the National Institute for Health Research Journals Library. Trials, 23(1). View this article in WRRO
- Endometrial scratch to increase live birth rates in women undergoing first-time in vitro fertilisation : RCT and systematic review. Health Technology Assessment, 26(10), 1-211. View this article in WRRO
- An intervention to support adherence to inhaled medication in adults with cystic fibrosis : the ACtiF research programme including RCT. Programme Grants for Applied Research, 9(11), 1-146.
- Self-management intervention to reduce pulmonary exacerbations by supporting treatment adherence in adults with cystic fibrosis: a randomised controlled trial. Thorax. View this article in WRRO
- Comprehensive review of statistical methods for analysing patient-reported outcomes (PROs) used as primary outcomes in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published by the UK’s Health Technology Assessment (HTA) journal (1997–2020). BMJ Open, 11(9). View this article in WRRO
- A breakthrough series collaborative to increase patient participation with hemodialysis tasks : a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial. PLoS ONE, 16(7). View this article in WRRO
- A randomised controlled trial to assess the clinical effectiveness and safety of the endometrial scratch procedure prior to first-time IVF, with or without ICSI. Human Reproduction, 36(7), 1841-1853. View this article in WRRO
- Bridging the age gap in breast cancer: cluster randomized trial of the effects of two decision support interventions for older women with operable breast cancer on quality of life, survival, decision quality, and treatment choices. British Journal of Surgery, 108(5), 499-510. View this article in WRRO
- Improving outcomes for women aged 70 years or above with early breast cancer: research programme including a cluster RCT. Programme Grants for Applied Research, 10(6), 1-114.
All publications
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- Research group
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PhD Students
- Norah Alghamdi
- Siqi Wu
- Cath O’ Connor
- Raveen Jayasuriya
- Zicong Wang
- Ellen Lee
- Grants
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- PUMA: Person-centred Use of Music in residents living with dementia and Associated changes in behaviour in care homes. Co-applicant. NIHR HTA Programme. (2025-2028). £1,704,177.
- StratCare Trial 2: Evaluating the clinical and cost-effectiveness of AI-driven stratified care for depression. Co-applicant. NIHR HTA Programme. (2023-2027). £1,563,070.
- FIRST: Prospective randomised controlled trial comparing three splints for finger flexor tendon repairs. Co-applicant. NIHR HTA Programme. (2022-2025). £1,151,006.
- MEErKAT: MEsenteric Excision and Kono-s Anastomosis Trial. Co-applicant. NIHR EME Programme. (2021-2027). £1,942,870.
- SPACES: Supporting Physical and Activity through Co-production in people with Severe Mental Illness. Co-applicant. NIHR PGfAR Programme. (2021-2027). £2,560,160.
- BASIS: Bracing Adolescent Idiopathic ScoliosIS Study night-time versus full-time bracing in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Co-applicant. NIHR HTA Programme. (2021-2031). £2,777,027.
- STAR-MS: Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation versus Alemtuzumab in Relapsing Remitting MS. Co-applicant. NIHR EME Programme. (2019-2027) £2,647,973.
- Teaching interests
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I have developed several courses on teaching medical statistics to medical and health science students, clinicians and allied health professionals. I have also co-authored four textbooks: 'Medical Statistics: A Textbook for the Health Sciences 5th edition' 'Medical Statistics: A Textbook for the Health Sciences 4th edition; 'How to Display Data' and 'How to Design, Analyse and Report Cluster Randomised Trials in Medicine and Health Related Research'.
I co-ordinate and teach on SMP491 'An Introduction to Statistics and Critical Appraisal' module on the Master of Public Health programme and contribute to the distance learning version (SMP4147).
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) and Chartered Statistician (C.Stat)
- Independent statistician member on several data and safety monitoring committees
- Member of the NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research Committee (2020 - 2024)
- Member of the NIHR Pre-doctoral Fellowships Selection Committee (2019 - 2024)