Dr Christopher Wagstaff BA, RMN (Dip), MSc, PGCertEd, PhD

• 2011 - 2016 University of Birmingham, Doctor of Philosophy

• 2009 - 2011 University of Birmingham:  PG Cert Ed

• 2001 - 2003 University of Birmingham:  Msc Health Science

• 1992 - 1995 Birmingham & Solihull College of Nursing & Midwifery:  RMN/ DIP/ NMC PIN#: 92C0606E

• 1987 - 1990 University of Birmingham: Philosophy BA 2:2

Chris worked for the NHS as a mental health nurse for 14 years before joining the University of Birmingham, he worked his way from nursing assistant to clinical team leader.

For 16 years Chris was the Field of Practice Lead for Mental Health. As the primary academic internally and externally for the field, the role entailed providing consistent leadership and direction to ensure the programme was designed and delivered to meet the needs of students and practice and included writing the mental health component for the 2007 NMC curriculum rewrite which subsequently largely remained unchanged in the 2013 rewrite due to its robustness.  An important part of the role was also that the students on the field had a good experience during their time on the course. 

Since 2005 Chris has undertaken different roles in the department, including BNurs admission tutor, Fitness to Practice lead, widening participation lead, first-year lead, as well as mental health field lead and MSc programme director.

From 2006 – 2020 Chris was responsible for the development and organization of the Collaborative Learning Initiative (CLI). The design principles and delivery of the initiative were cited as an example of good practice and informed the NICE Good Practice guidelines for Service User Involvement in teaching. Over the years about 780 students attended the initiative.

For three years from 2015 Chris was a joint developer on the ‘Dementia: Managing challenging behaviours’ for the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). At the time it had the most ‘click-through’ traffic of any MOOC in the history of University of Birmingham.  

From it’s inception until June 2025 Chris was the Programme director for the MSc in Nursing, designing and modifying the admissions process, launching the new course during COVID in September 2020 and leading a major curriculum re-write in 2022.

As regards research, Chris’ PhD was an interpretative study focused on disengagement from mental health services. Presently, much of Chris’ research collaboration is with Prof Sandra Pillon at the University of São Paulo (USP).

• BNurs
• MNurs
• MSc Graduate Entry Nursing 

By the end of 2025, Chris will have seven PhD students, and two MRes students. 
He is, however, always interested in potential new PhD projects that fit his research interests.

Chris’ research interests are usually around mental illness, violence and substance use.  His research is often qualitative or mixed methods.

 Current projects:

Primary and Original Studies Suicide prevention and postvention in the context of school: knowledge, practices, epidemiology and educational-care technologies. Funded by CNPQ

Evaluating substance use and depression in the Quilombola communities. Funded by CNPQ.

• 2021 Contributed to the Consultation on Triple Zero City Strategy Birmingham 2020-2030- identified and evidenced alcohol prevalence in the Punjabi Sikh Community that  required address.
• 2017 onwards active member of Mental Health Nurse Academics UK (MHNAUK).
• 2015 - 18:  Joint developer/ Contributor on the Dementia: Managing challenging behaviours MOOC. Available on Futurelearn.
• 2013: Shortlisted for Nursing Times Nurse Lecturer of the year.
• 2012:  Invited to submit to NICE Good Practice guidelines - {cited: 13-2-17}.
• 2011 - Present  Fitness to Practice coordinator for nursing.
• 2007-Present:  Over 20 national and international conferences.
• 2006-2010: Development of a Self Harm training website (ILaSH).
• 2006- 2007: Development of an On-Line Assessment workbook.
• 2005-2007:  mental health lead in the rewriting of the Bnurs curriculum.
• 2004/2005: involved in writing the NICE guidelines for the Treatment of Bi-Polar affective disorder.