I research and publish across the whole range of topics in medical sociology and implementation science. I have a particular interest in understanding the dynamics of human relations and socio-technical transformations in healthcare systems. My work focuses on two key applied research questions.

(a) How do professionals and patients interact, and how are these interactions shaped by clinical knowledge, technique, and technology in practice?

(b) How are new knowledge, techniques, and technologies made workable and implemented in health care organizations?

These questions inform my research practice, which involves empirical work using qualitative methods (discourse and content analysis, and ethnographic techniques) and mixed methods studies that link qualitative work to the development of structured research instruments. I regard explanation as a centrally important part of the sociologist's craft, and my empirical research has been closely linked to the development of rigorous theoretical models that are amenable to both qualitative and quantitative investigation.

An important part of my work over the past two decades has been the development of middle-range theoretical models that identify , characterise and explain the mechanisms that motivate and shape implementation processes (Normalisation Process Theory). Building on this, I have developed theoretical models of the ways that socio-technical transformations and policy restructuring in healthcare systems affect patients and caregivers (Burden of Treatment Theory). I have collaborated widely with colleagues in the UK and internationally to develop this work.