Dr Laura Cowley

Research Officer and Data Scientist

Health Data Science

l.e.cowley@swansea.ac.uk

Basic Welsh Speaker

Open Plan Office - 307
Third Floor
Data Science Building
Singleton Campus

Available For Postgraduate Supervision

Research Links

ResearchGate

ResearcherID

Scopus

About

Dr Laura Cowley is a Research Officer and Data Scientist with a background and interest in children’s health, social care, and family justice research. Laura holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Liverpool, and an MSc with distinction in Neuropsychology from Bristol University. She completed her PhD at the Division of Population Medicine, Cardiff University, in 2019. Laura went on to work on several child health-related research projects at Cardiff University and also worked at Public Health Wales, where she gained experience in using linked data to deliver insightful research to improve population health and wellbeing among children in Wales.

Laura’s current research focuses on the use of administrative data and statistical modelling to answer a wide range of research questions relating to child and family health and social care outcomes in Wales and beyond. She is currently undertaking a three-year Health and Care Research Wales-funded Social Care Fellowship.

Laura is a member of several research networks including the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN); the Decisions, Assessment and Risk Special Interest Group (DARSIG) of the European Social Work Research Association; the International Research Network on Infants and Child Protection Systems; and the Child Welfare Inequalities Network.

Areas Of Expertise

Child maltreatment
Abusive head trauma
Child health and social care
Public health
Data science
Data linkage
Clinical prediction modelling
Epidemiology

Career Highlights

Teaching Interests

Laura has experience in preparing teaching materials, formulating exam questions, lecturing, facilitating practical statistical programming sessions, and mentoring and supervising PhD students.

Laura’s teaching interests include child health and social care, public health, data visualisation, research methods, statistics, and epidemiology.

Research Award Highlights Collaborations

Publications

Research Highlights

Farr, I., Cowley, L., Broadhurst, K., Odd, D., Jones, C., Bailey, G., Alrouh, B., Abouelenin, M., Cusworth, L., Doebler, S., Ford, D., & Griffiths, L. (2024). Health service use of infants involved in family justice care and supervision proceedings in Wales: a data linkage study. International Journal of Population Data Science, 9(1)
https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v9i1.2362, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66059
Marchant, E., Griffiths, L., Crick, T., Fry, R., Hollinghurst, J., James, M., Cowley, L., Abbasizanjani, H., Torabi, F., Thompson, D., Kennedy, J., Akbari, A., Gravenor, M., Lyons, R., & Brophy, S. (2022). COVID-19 mitigation measures in primary schools and association with infection and school staff wellbeing: An observational survey linked with routine data in Wales, UK. PLOS ONE, 17(2), e0264023
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264023, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59502
Alrouh, B., Hargreaves, ., Cusworth, L., Broadhurst, K., North, L., Griffiths, L., Doebler, S., Akbari, A., Farr, I., & Cowley, L. (2022). What do we know about ethnic diversity in the family justice system in England?
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60113
https://www.nuffieldfjo.org.uk/resource/what-do-we-know-about-ethnicity-in-the-family-justice-system-in-england#:~:text=The%20most%20striking%20ethnic%20diversity,other%20regions%2C%20the%20pattern%20varies.
Jones, H., Seaborne, M., Cowley, L., Odd, D., Paranjothy, S., Akbari, A., & Brophy, S. (2022). Population birth outcomes in 2020 and experiences of expectant mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A ‘born in Wales’ mixed methods study using routine data. PLOS ONE, 17(5), e0267176
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267176, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60271
Hargreaves, C., Cusworth, L., Alrouh, B., Broadhurst, K., Cowley, L., Abouelenin, M., Doebler, S., Akbari, A., Farr, I., & North, L. (2022). Uncovering private family law: What can the data tell us about children’s participation?
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60368
https://www.nuffieldfjo.org.uk/resource/uncovering-private-family-law-what-can-the-data-tell-us-about-childrens-participation#:~:text=The%20data%20analysed%20for%20this,important%20decisions%20about%20their%20future.
Marchant, E., Lowthian, E., Crick, T., Griffiths, L., Fry, R., Dadaczynski, K., Okan, O., James, M., Cowley, L., Torabi, F., Kennedy, J., Akbari, A., Lyons, R., & Brophy, S. (2022). Pre-COVID-19 pandemic health-related behaviours in children (2018–2020) and association with being tested for SARS-CoV-2 and testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 (2020–2021): a retrospective cohort study using survey data linked with routine health data in Wales, UK. BMJ Open, 12(9), e061344
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-061344, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60846
Farr, I., Jones, C., Cowley, L., Alrouh, B., Cusworth, L., Akbari, A., Doebler, S., Broadhurst, K., Odd, D., & Griffiths, L. (2022). Health service use of infants involved in family justice care and supervision proceedings in Wales: a longitudinal national data linkage study.. In International Journal of Population Data ScienceSwansea University.
https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v7i3.1989, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61243
Alrouh, B., Abouelenin, M., Broadhurst, K., Cowley, L., Doebler, S., Farr, I., Cusworth, L., North, L., Hargreaves, C., Akbari, A., Griffiths, L., & Ford, D. (2022). Mothers in recurrent care proceedings: New evidence for England and Wales
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa62056
https://www.birthcompanions.org.uk/resources/mothers-in-recurrent-care-proceedings-new-evidence-for-england-and-wales
Laajasalo, T., Cowley, L., Otterman, G., Lamela, D., Rodrigues, L., Jud, A., Kemp, A., Naughton, A., Hurt, L., Soldino, V., Ntinapogias, A., & Nurmatov, U. (2023). Current issues and challenges in the definition and operationalization of child maltreatment: A scoping review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 140, 106187
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106187, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63138
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106187
Lowthian, E., Abbasizanjani, H., Bedston, S., Akbari, A., Cowley, L., Fry, R., Owen, R., Hollinghurst, J., Rudan, I., Beggs, J., Marchant, E., Torabi, F., Lusignan, S., Crick, T., Moore, G., Sheikh, A., & Lyons, R. (2023). Trends in SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in school staff, students and their household members from 2020 to 2022 in Wales, UK: an electronic cohort study. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 116(12), 413-424.
https://doi.org/10.1177/01410768231181268, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63604
Cowley, L., Hodgson, K., Song, J., Whiffen, T., Tan, J., John, A., Bandyopadhyay, A., & Davies, A. (2023). Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of clinically extremely vulnerable children and children living with clinically extremely vulnerable people in Wales: a data linkage study. BMJ Open, 13(6), e067882
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067882, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63661
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067882
Johnson, R., Griffiths, L., Cowley, L., Broadhurst, K., & Bailey, R. (2023). Risk Factors Associated With Primary Care–Reported Domestic Violence for Women Involved in Family Law Care Proceedings: Data Linkage Observational Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25, e42375
https://doi.org/10.2196/42375, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64757
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/42375

All Research

Journal Articles

Farr, I., Cowley, L., Broadhurst, K., Odd, D., Jones, C., Bailey, G., Alrouh, B., Abouelenin, M., Cusworth, L., Doebler, S., Ford, D., & Griffiths, L. (2024). Health service use of infants involved in family justice care and supervision proceedings in Wales: a data linkage study. International Journal of Population Data Science, 9(1)
https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v9i1.2362, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66059
Lowthian, E., Abbasizanjani, H., Bedston, S., Akbari, A., Cowley, L., Fry, R., Owen, R., Hollinghurst, J., Rudan, I., Beggs, J., Marchant, E., Torabi, F., Lusignan, S., Crick, T., Moore, G., Sheikh, A., & Lyons, R. (2023). Trends in SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in school staff, students and their household members from 2020 to 2022 in Wales, UK: an electronic cohort study. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 116(12), 413-424.
https://doi.org/10.1177/01410768231181268, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63604
Cowley, L., Hodgson, K., Song, J., Whiffen, T., Tan, J., John, A., Bandyopadhyay, A., & Davies, A. (2023). Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of clinically extremely vulnerable children and children living with clinically extremely vulnerable people in Wales: a data linkage study. BMJ Open, 13(6), e067882
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067882, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63661
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067882
Laajasalo, T., Cowley, L., Otterman, G., Lamela, D., Rodrigues, L., Jud, A., Kemp, A., Naughton, A., Hurt, L., Soldino, V., Ntinapogias, A., & Nurmatov, U. (2023). Current issues and challenges in the definition and operationalization of child maltreatment: A scoping review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 140, 106187
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106187, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63138
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106187
Johnson, R., Griffiths, L., Cowley, L., Broadhurst, K., & Bailey, R. (2023). Risk Factors Associated With Primary Care–Reported Domestic Violence for Women Involved in Family Law Care Proceedings: Data Linkage Observational Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25, e42375
https://doi.org/10.2196/42375, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64757
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/42375
Marchant, E., Lowthian, E., Crick, T., Griffiths, L., Fry, R., Dadaczynski, K., Okan, O., James, M., Cowley, L., Torabi, F., Kennedy, J., Akbari, A., Lyons, R., & Brophy, S. (2022). Pre-COVID-19 pandemic health-related behaviours in children (2018–2020) and association with being tested for SARS-CoV-2 and testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 (2020–2021): a retrospective cohort study using survey data linked with routine health data in Wales, UK. BMJ Open, 12(9), e061344
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-061344, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60846
Jones, H., Seaborne, M., Cowley, L., Odd, D., Paranjothy, S., Akbari, A., & Brophy, S. (2022). Population birth outcomes in 2020 and experiences of expectant mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A ‘born in Wales’ mixed methods study using routine data. PLOS ONE, 17(5), e0267176
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267176, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60271
Marchant, E., Griffiths, L., Crick, T., Fry, R., Hollinghurst, J., James, M., Cowley, L., Abbasizanjani, H., Torabi, F., Thompson, D., Kennedy, J., Akbari, A., Gravenor, M., Lyons, R., & Brophy, S. (2022). COVID-19 mitigation measures in primary schools and association with infection and school staff wellbeing: An observational survey linked with routine data in Wales, UK. PLOS ONE, 17(2), e0264023
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264023, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59502

Conference Contributions

Farr, I., Jones, C., Cowley, L., Alrouh, B., Cusworth, L., Akbari, A., Doebler, S., Broadhurst, K., Odd, D., & Griffiths, L. (2022). Health service use of infants involved in family justice care and supervision proceedings in Wales: a longitudinal national data linkage study.. In International Journal of Population Data ScienceSwansea University.
https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v7i3.1989, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61243

Other Research Outputs

Alrouh, B., Abouelenin, M., Broadhurst, K., Cowley, L., Doebler, S., Farr, I., Cusworth, L., North, L., Hargreaves, C., Akbari, A., Griffiths, L., & Ford, D. (2022). Mothers in recurrent care proceedings: New evidence for England and Wales
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa62056
https://www.birthcompanions.org.uk/resources/mothers-in-recurrent-care-proceedings-new-evidence-for-england-and-wales
Hargreaves, C., Cusworth, L., Alrouh, B., Broadhurst, K., Cowley, L., Abouelenin, M., Doebler, S., Akbari, A., Farr, I., & North, L. (2022). Uncovering private family law: What can the data tell us about children’s participation?
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60368
https://www.nuffieldfjo.org.uk/resource/uncovering-private-family-law-what-can-the-data-tell-us-about-childrens-participation#:~:text=The%20data%20analysed%20for%20this,important%20decisions%20about%20their%20future.
Alrouh, B., Hargreaves, ., Cusworth, L., Broadhurst, K., North, L., Griffiths, L., Doebler, S., Akbari, A., Farr, I., & Cowley, L. (2022). What do we know about ethnic diversity in the family justice system in England?
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60113
https://www.nuffieldfjo.org.uk/resource/what-do-we-know-about-ethnicity-in-the-family-justice-system-in-england#:~:text=The%20most%20striking%20ethnic%20diversity,other%20regions%2C%20the%20pattern%20varies.

Supervision

Adverse Childhood Experiences – What Works to Break the Cycle? (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Lucy Griffiths

Other supervisor: Prof Sinead Brophy

Taught Modules

PM-146 Digital Health

This module introduces students to some of the foundational principles, theories and case studies relating to digital health systems and applications within a population health context. It builds upon and develops the students' knowledge of the growing role of digital technologies in Health Systems, and Health and Social Care service provision. The focus of this module will be on the application of technologies for digital health, for example what are the facilitators and barriers to successful digital health initiatives, and why do some digital health projects fail? This module will not include the development of data science or coding skills, but will develop knowledge, understanding and critical thinking concerning digital technologies and healthcare applications, thus there is an emphasis on sociological perspectives.
PM-374 Child Health

This module aims to provide a critical overview of the epidemiology of common causes of morbidity and mortality in school-aged children and adolescents. It will cover individual conditions, links between physical and mental health, determinants of health with a focus on socio-economic inequalities, public health universal services to improve health. Further, it will cover links to educational outcomes.

Key Grants and Projects

Principal Investigator on PREDicting risk of entry and re-entry Into CAre and risk of placeMENT instability from early life experiences amongst children in Wales: An ecological, multi-domain approach (PREDICAMENT) 2023 - 2026

Health and Care Research Wales Social Care Fellowship, with Dr Lucy Griffiths, Rowena Bailey (mentors), £298,071
Principal Investigator for a Research Workshop on Understanding key issues and priorities for research into care-experienced children and their families in Wales using linked administrative data, The Learned Society of Wales 2023 - 2023

, £1,000
Core Team member and Working Group co-lead on COST Action 19106 – Multi-Sectoral Responses to Child Abuse and Neglect in Europe: Incidence and Trends (Euro-CAN), European Cooperation in Science and Technology 2020 - 2024

, Various
Principal Investigator for Developing a clinical prediction tool to assist with the diagnosis of abusive head trauma, Health and Care Research Wales PhD Studentship 2014 - 2018

, £65,974

Career History

Research Officer and Data Scientist, Swansea University Medical School

February 2022 - Present
Senior Public Health Research Officer, Public Health Wales

November 2020 - January 2022
Senior Research Assistant, University of South Wales

July 2020 - October 2020
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cardiff University

January 2019 - June 2020
PhD Student, Cardiff University

October 2014 - December 2018
Research Assistant, Cardiff University

2011 - October 2014

Other Roles

Steering group member, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Research Institute, Swansea

2023 - Present
Editorial board member, Child Protection and Practice

2023 - Present
Editorial board member, BMC Pediatrics

2022 - Present

Public Engagements

Laura plans to engage with multiple public engagement groups throughout her fellowship, including the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) consumer panel and the CASCADE Voices and parental advisory groups.

Invited Presentations, Lectures and Conferences

MQ and DATAMIND Data Science meeting

October 2023

London, UK
Health and Care Research Wales Conference

October 2023

Swansea, UK
European Scientific Association on Residential and Family Care for Children and Adolescents

September 2023

Brighton, UK
Joint Social Work and Education Conference

June 2023

Glasgow, UK
Nordic Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect

May 2023

Reykjavik, Iceland
International Population Data Linkage Network Conference

September 2022

Edinburgh, UK
International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Conference

June 2022

Tallinn, Estonia
Lancet Public Health Science Conference

November 2021

Virtual
International Conference on Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma

September 2018

Orlando, Florida
Annual International Conference on Pediatric Abusive Head Trauma

June 2017

Asheville, North Carolina
Data Science in Medicine and Informatics Workshop

June 2017

Bristol, UK
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Conference

May 2017

Birmingham, UK
European Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect

May 2016

Amsterdam

Dr Laura Cowley

Email address

Welsh language proficiency

Twitter Account

LinkedIn Account

Research Links

About

Areas Of Expertise

Career Highlights

Research Highlights

All Research

Adverse Childhood Experiences – What Works to Break the Cycle? (current)

PM-146 Digital Health

PM-374 Child Health

Principal Investigator on PREDicting risk of entry and re-entry Into CAre and risk of placeMENT instability from early life experiences amongst children in Wales: An ecological, multi-domain approach (PREDICAMENT) 2023 - 2026

Principal Investigator for a Research Workshop on Understanding key issues and priorities for research into care-experienced children and their families in Wales using linked administrative data, The Learned Society of Wales 2023 - 2023

Principal Investigator for Developing a clinical prediction tool to assist with the diagnosis of abusive head trauma, Health and Care Research Wales PhD Studentship 2014 - 2018

Research Officer and Data Scientist, Swansea University Medical School

Senior Public Health Research Officer, Public Health Wales

Senior Research Assistant, University of South Wales

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cardiff University

PhD Student, Cardiff University

Research Assistant, Cardiff University

Steering group member, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Research Institute, Swansea

Editorial board member, Child Protection and Practice

Editorial board member, BMC Pediatrics

MQ and DATAMIND Data Science meeting

Health and Care Research Wales Conference

European Scientific Association on Residential and Family Care for Children and Adolescents

Joint Social Work and Education Conference

Nordic Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect

International Population Data Linkage Network Conference

International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Conference

Lancet Public Health Science Conference

International Conference on Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma

Annual International Conference on Pediatric Abusive Head Trauma

Data Science in Medicine and Informatics Workshop

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Conference

European Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect