Professor Frances Bunn was a nurse by background and joined the Centre for Research in Public Health and Community Care (CRIPACC) in the School of Health and Social Work in 2002 as a researcher specialising in Evidence-Based Practice. She was a Cochrane editor, undertaking a variety of extensively cited systematic reviews on a range of health and care related topics. Her PhD was based on this work. She was Professor of Health and Complex Conditions and was a key academic colleague at the University for just short of 20 years, until her retirement due to ill health in 2021. Professor Bunn led a series of externally funded projects that focused on supporting older people and those living with dementia to navigate the health care system.
 
Professor Bunn created a legacy in terms of influence from her research on policy and practice relating to dementia care, shared decision making and living with dementia alongside other conditions, such as diabetes. Just prior to being diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2020, she took a strategic lead in building capacity for social care research and, with other colleagues, secured a prestigious National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) grant to work with Hertfordshire and Norfolk County Councils to build research capacity among social care practice teams.
 
Professor Bunn’s contributions have been significant; her leadership roles included being appointed Assistant Director of CRIPACC and the University’s Health and Wellbeing Research Theme Champion as well as co-chair of the Herts and West Essex Health, Wellbeing and Social Care Research Strategy Group.
 
Professor Bunn died in June 2022.