If you are interested in undertaking a PhD, please contact me by emailing [email protected].

Professor Mona Nasser, DDS, MSc (DPH), MSc (Astro), PhD, FHEA, is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Oral Health Research at the University of Plymouth. Her research focuses on evidence synthesis, research methodology, and inclusive approaches to knowledge production in health systems, with particular expertise in systematic reviews, meta-research, and research priority setting. She has extensive experience conducting and developing different types of systematic reviews, particularly within systematic review organisations like the Cochrane Collaboration, and has contributed to methodological developments in research priority setting and participatory evidence systems (Cochrane Priority Setting Methods Group). Her work examines how evidence, stakeholder knowledge, and emerging technologies interact within complex healthcare systems to support decision-making under uncertainty.

An emerging strand of her research explores how artificial intelligence, robotics, and cyber-health technologies reshape clinical decision-making, professional practice, and patient care. She leads interdisciplinary collaborations spanning health sciences, engineering, and social sciences to investigate how evidence and technology can support equitable, resilient, and climate-responsive health systems. This includes projects examining how healthcare environments can adapt to climate challenges, such as the CARESCAPE project on climate-resilient care spaces.

As a former dentist, She also leads research examining the clinical environment of dental care, including projects such as AngST and Caring Beyond Words, which investigate anxiety, decision-making, and embodied cognitive skills in dental practice. She leads the AI and Robotics in Dentistry Laboratory, which explores the use of social robots in dental settings and the broader implications of digital infrastructure and cybersecurity in healthcare systems.

Her overarching research question is: How do humans, technologies, and evidence interact in complex systems where decisions must be made under uncertainty?

Her research addresses this question through two complementary priority areas:

• Designing evidence ecosystems for inclusive and technology-enabled health systems
• Understanding human decision-making and health in complex or extreme environments

Her work has influenced frameworks and procedures used by major research funders and international organisations, including the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR, UK), the Health Research Board (Ireland), PCORI (USA), and several offices of the World Health Organization, and has informed to policy developments as part of the Comparative Effectiveness Research Bill in the United States. Her work has also informed projects at the European Astronaut Centre (EAS - ESA).

Her contributions to evidence-based healthcare have been recognised through prestigious awards, like  the Bill Silverman Award from the Cochrane Collaboration. Her research impact has also been recognised by the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) for its reach and significance in shaping how organisations internationally prioritise health research.

She is internationally recognised for her work in evidence-based dentistry. She serves as Editor of the journal Evidence-Based Dentistry and as Subject Editor for Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods. She has designed and taught courses on systematic reviews, clinical trials, dental public health, meta-research, evidence-based dentistry, co-design, and patient involvement at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, both at the University of Plymouth and internationally, including in Italy, Australia, France, and Canada.

Her contributions to education have been recognised through awards such as Postgraduate Tutor of the Year (University of Plymouth, 2021). She has held numerous leadership roles within the academic community (inside and outside of the university), including serving on the Cochrane Board and previously as Director of the Plymouth Institute of Health and Care Research.

Current roles and responsibilities:

• Professor in Clinical Epidemiology and Oral Health Research (Dental School, University of Plymouth);
• Lead/contact point for Dental academic clinical fellows at University of Plymouth;
• Co-Convenor, Cochrane Priority setting Methods Group;
• Editor of the Evidence based Dentistry Journal.
• Oral and Dental Speciality Lead at the Southwest Peninsula Regional Research Delivery Network
• Non-Executive Board Member of Health Innovation Southwest

Qualifications

• MSc in Astrophysics, Liverpool John Moores University (2024) 
• PhD (Health Services Research/Clinical Epidemiology) 2018 Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Plymouth ( Setting priorities for conducting and updating systematic reviews) 
• Postgraduate certificate (PgCert) Clinical Education 2013 University of Plymouth
• MSc in Dental Public Health, 2009, University of London (King's College of London)
• DDS (Doctorate in Dental Surgery), 2005, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (SBMU) (Tehran, Iran) 

Other Training:

• Oxford Executive Leadership Programme, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (2024)
• Interactive Space Programme 2020 (ISP20), International Space University – 2020
•  Data Science Programmes (PenARC Health Services Modelling Associate Programme)
• Building Cost-effectiveness Models for Health Technology Assessment – CPD course (Sheffield University)

Active Projects

• CAREscape - Climate-Adaptive Reimaginings for Enhancing Healthcare Spaces of the Future project (funded by British Council)
• Caring Beyond Words: Fostering innovation and creativity in dental care for individuals with intellectual disabilities (NIHR Programme Development Grants)
• Orbiting Life: Design, Launch & Recovery of Life Science Payloads for Space Research (UoP R&D Solutions Fund)
• AngST project – Studying the non-verbal tells of anxiety in dental practice  (MPS Foundation-funded)
• PRIDE project - Privacy-preserving Robotics in Dentistry 
• STARS - Systematic Threat Analysis of Radiation from Space  systematic reviews project
• Methodologies for Agenda setting and Research Prioritisation (MARS) 
• Cochrane Priority Setting Methods Group
• Feasibility of Human Physiological and Cognitive Responses in Extreme Analogue Environments: Multidisciplinary Investigations into Vision, Perception, Masticatory Functions and Environmental Empathy as part of Caving Analog Mission: Ocean, Earth, Space (CAMões)
• NGO decision making during complex disasters: an ecological approach (funded by Brown University, Centre for human Rights and Humanitarian studies

• Fellow of Higher Education Academy
• The Cochrane Collaboration
• Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE)
• Medical Council Foundation of I.R. Iran

• Co-convenor, Cochrane Priority Setting Methods Group
• QUEST Visiting Fellow (2023 - 2024) QUEST Center - BIH at Charité (bihealth.org)
• Editorial Board, Evidence based Dentistry Journal
• Subject Editor, Cochrane Evidence and Methods Journal
• Member of Methods Board, Cochrane Collaboration

Current research students and staff

• Araz Ahmed, Academic Clinical Lecture
• Imane Heddi, Academic Clinical Fellow
• Dharmendra Selvaratnam – Visual Analysis system to detect and predict the signs of anxiety in health care (PhD – Co-supervisor)
• Michael Gulley (PhD – Co-supervisor)

Previous research students and staff:

• Shiamaa Al-Mashhadani - A Conceptual Framework for Improving the  Oral Health of Children with Disabilities (PhD – Director of Studies)
• Hamid Sadri - The Economic Impact and Policy Implications of Innovative Medical Technologies on the Canadian Healthcare
• Nicholas Peres - Bridging the Gap: Technological Mediation and the Development of Humanistic Skills in Medical Simulation: Lessons from Covid-19 and the Impact of Immersive Media and Minimal Viable Simulation (MVS) (Co-supervisor/ PhD) 2024
• Alexander Pollard - Academic Clinical Fellows in Restorative Dentistry
• Nicole Thomas (Director of studies/PhD) Oral Health Literacy Intervention (2022)
• Alexander Legge- Academic Clinical Fellow in Primary care/ MClinRes student - The impact of enhanced PPE on clinical performance and communication
• Tom Thompson - postdoctoral fellow in oral health inequalities (2020-2021)
• Jacqui Knight - Visiting Specialist on the project (Enhancing the acquisition of soft skills, sensitivity and anticipation in training clinical dentists) (2021)
• Agatha Haines, Ideas Exchange: Design and the post bio-tech-body(Co-supervisor), PhD as part Cognovo project
• Anastasios Plessas (Director of studies), ResM, Impact of stress on the practice of dentistry 
• Zoe Allen (co-supervisor), PhD, Exploring the referral interface between general dental practice and salaried dental services 
• Jaysan Charlesford and Martha Paisi: (Postdoctoral fellows in Oral Health Inequality - investigating the impact of a community and patient centred Dental School on the existence and gradient of oral health inequalities in Devon and Cornwall (ICOD project). 
• Klara Łucznik and Mihaela Taranu - (Postdoctoral fellows) ColLaboratoire 2020 project

Visiting Researchers: 

• Yvette Gonzalez, MPH, Senior Climate Researcher, Sky Indicators project
• Gulcan Tecrili - Health Economist, Turkish Ministry of Health (Supported by Short Scientific Mission (STSM) COST EU Action EVBRES) 
• Sumanth Kumbargere - Faculty of Dentistry (Manipal University, Melaka campus) 
• Shiamaa Al Mashhadani - Dental Services Department, Dubai Health Authority
• Alexandru-Petru Vasile - Intern, European Space Agency, Cologne, Germany (Supported by Short Scientific Mission (STSM) COST EU Action EVBRES)