Professor Stephen Walters

BSc, PGCE, MSc, PhD, CStat.

School of Medicine and Population Health

Professor of Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials

Stephen Walters
Profile picture of Stephen Walters
s.j.walters@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 0730

Full contact details

Professor Stephen Walters
School of Medicine and Population Health
Barber House
Sheffield
S10 2HQ
Profile

I graduated with a degree in Mathematics and Economics. This was followed by a PGCE and an MSc in Medical Statistics and Information Technology. My PhD involved using computer intensive statistical methods for estimating sample sizes and analysing quality of life outcomes. I joined the University of Sheffield in January 1995. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2003; Reader in 2008 and to a Personal Chair in 2009. I was the first Director of the Design, Trials and Statistics (DTS)  research group (which included the Sheffield Clinical Trials Research Unit (CTRU) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Design Service for Yorkshire and the Humber) from 2012-18.

I am a Chartered Statistician with over 30 years’ experience of health services research and technology assessment. The focus of my research has been in the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of randomised controlled trials of complex interventions; and the design, assessment, analysis and interpretation of patient reported outcomes in clinical trials. I work with clinicians from a variety of backgrounds to develop pragmatic clinical trial designs to capture the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a variety of health technologies. I have been co-investigator for more than 32 randomised controlled trials.

From 2018 to 2022 I was National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator. I have been a member of the NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Clinical Evaluation and Trials Board (2011-17); the East Midlands Regional Funding Committee for the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit Programme (2011-2012); NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research Committee (2020 to 2024). and the NIHR Pre-doctoral Fellowships Selection Committee (2019 to 2024). I have also been a member of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee (2008-2013).

I have co-authored over 400 publications (including 280 in refereed journals and 5 books, with over 26,000 copies sold). The majority of my peer-reviewed journal articles have been applied research, with the emphasis on the evaluation of new services. I have been a co-applicant, statistical advisor and collaborator on 77 funded Health Service Research projects with a total income value of £60.3 million.

Research interests
  • Design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of pragmatic randomised controlled trials of complex interventions.
  • Design, assessment, analysis and interpretation of studies with Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) outcome measures.
  • Health Services Research and Technology Assessment.
  • Cluster RCTs and clustering by health professional in individually randomised trials.
  • Study design and sample size determination.
Publications

Show: Featured publications All publications

Books

  • Walters S, Campbell M & Machin D (2021) Medical Statistics: A Textbook for the Health Sciences, 5th Edition. Wiley-Blackwell. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) How to Design, Analyse and Report Cluster Randomised Trials in Medicine and Health Related Research. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.. RIS download Bibtex download

Journal articles

All publications

Books

  • Walters S, Campbell M & Machin D (2021) Medical Statistics: A Textbook for the Health Sciences, 5th Edition. Wiley-Blackwell. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) How to Design, Analyse and Report Cluster Randomised Trials in Medicine and Health Related Research. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Walters SJ (2009) Quality of Life Outcomes in Clinical Trials and Health-Care Evaluation. Wiley-Blackwell. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Freeman JV, Walters SJ & Campbell MJ (2008) How to Display Data. Wiley-Blackwell. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ, Machin D & Walters SJ (2007) Medical Statistics: A Textbook for the Health Sciences. Wiley-Blackwell. RIS download Bibtex download

Journal articles

Book chapters

  • Walters S (2023) Area Under the Curve (AUC), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research (pp. 252-254). Springer International Publishing RIS download Bibtex download
  • Walters S (2014) Area Under the Curve (AUC), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research (pp. 219-221). Springer Netherlands RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) The protocol, HOW TO DESIGN, ANALYSE AND REPORT CLUSTER RANDOMISED TRIALS IN MEDICINE AND HEALTH RELATED RESEARCH (pp. 143-158). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) Simple analysis of cRCT outcomes using aggregate cluster-level summaries, HOW TO DESIGN, ANALYSE AND REPORT CLUSTER RANDOMISED TRIALS IN MEDICINE AND HEALTH RELATED RESEARCH (pp. 83-101). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) Sample size: How many subjects/clusters do I need for my cluster randomised controlled trial?, HOW TO DESIGN, ANALYSE AND REPORT CLUSTER RANDOMISED TRIALS IN MEDICINE AND HEALTH RELATED RESEARCH (pp. 50-82). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) Reporting of cRCTs, HOW TO DESIGN, ANALYSE AND REPORT CLUSTER RANDOMISED TRIALS IN MEDICINE AND HEALTH RELATED RESEARCH (pp. 159-177). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) Regression methods of analysis for continuous outcomes using individual person-level data, HOW TO DESIGN, ANALYSE AND REPORT CLUSTER RANDOMISED TRIALS IN MEDICINE AND HEALTH RELATED RESEARCH (pp. 102-125). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) Regression methods of analysis for binary, count and time-to-event outcomes for a cluster randomised controlled trial, HOW TO DESIGN, ANALYSE AND REPORT CLUSTER RANDOMISED TRIALS IN MEDICINE AND HEALTH RELATED RESEARCH (pp. 126-142). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) Practical issues, HOW TO DESIGN, ANALYSE AND REPORT CLUSTER RANDOMISED TRIALS IN MEDICINE AND HEALTH RELATED RESEARCH (pp. 178-194). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) How to Design, Analyse and Report Cluster Randomised Trials in Medicine and Health Related Research Preface, HOW TO DESIGN, ANALYSE AND REPORT CLUSTER RANDOMISED TRIALS IN MEDICINE AND HEALTH RELATED RESEARCH (pp. XIII-+). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) How to Design, Analyse and Report Cluster Randomised Trials in Medicine and Health Related Research Introduction, HOW TO DESIGN, ANALYSE AND REPORT CLUSTER RANDOMISED TRIALS IN MEDICINE AND HEALTH RELATED RESEARCH (pp. 1-26). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) Design issues, HOW TO DESIGN, ANALYSE AND REPORT CLUSTER RANDOMISED TRIALS IN MEDICINE AND HEALTH RELATED RESEARCH (pp. 27-49). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Campbell MJ & Walters SJ (2014) Computing software, HOW TO DESIGN, ANALYSE AND REPORT CLUSTER RANDOMISED TRIALS IN MEDICINE AND HEALTH RELATED RESEARCH (pp. 195-233). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Walters SJ & Freeman J (2010) Descriptive Analysis of Quantitative Data In Gerrish K & Lacey A (Ed.), The Research Process in Nursing (pp. 437-454). Wiley-Blackwell RIS download Bibtex download

Conference proceedings

Posters

  • Morgan J, Holmes G, Martin C, Ward S, Walters S, Cheung KL, Audisio R, Reed M & Wyld L (2020) Variation in the rates of surgical treatment of older women with operable breast cancer between UK breast units: Analysis of the Bridging the Age Gap Study. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Morgan J, Holmes G, Martin C, Ward S, Walters S, Cheung KL, Audisio R, Reed M & Wyld L (2020) Quality of life outcomes following breast surgery in older women with operable breast cancer: Analysis of the Bridging the Age Gap study. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Biggs K, Hind D, Gossage-Worrall R, Sprange K, White D, Wright J, Chatters R, Berry K, Papaioannou D, Bradburn M , Walters SJ et al (2019) Challenges in the design, planning and implementation of trials evaluating group interventions. 5th International Clinical Trials Methodology Conference (ICTMC 2019). View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Candlish J, Teare D, Cohen J, Dimairo M, Flight L, Mandefield L & Walters S (2017) Methods to analyse partially nested randomised controlled trials. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Walters S, Lee E, Flight L, Mandefield L, Dimario M & Allison A (2015) Analysis and reporting of individually randomised controlled trials with clustering in one arm only: how should we do it?. RIS download Bibtex download

Preprints

Research group

PhD Students

  • Norah Alghamdi
  • Siqi Wu
  • Cath O’ Connor
  • Raveen Jayasuriya
  • Zicong Wang
  • Ellen Lee
Grants
  • PUMA: Person-centred Use of Music in residents living with dementia and Associated changes in behaviour in care homes. Co-applicant. NIHR HTA Programme. (2025-2028). £1,704,177.
  • StratCare Trial 2: Evaluating the clinical and cost-effectiveness of AI-driven stratified care for depression.  Co-applicant. NIHR HTA Programme. (2023-2027). £1,563,070.
  • FIRST: Prospective randomised controlled trial comparing three splints for finger flexor tendon repairs. Co-applicant. NIHR HTA Programme. (2022-2025). £1,151,006.
  • MEErKAT: MEsenteric Excision and Kono-s Anastomosis Trial. Co-applicant. NIHR EME Programme. (2021-2027). £1,942,870.
  • SPACES: Supporting Physical and Activity through Co-production in people with Severe Mental Illness. Co-applicant. NIHR PGfAR Programme. (2021-2027). £2,560,160.
  • BASIS: Bracing Adolescent Idiopathic ScoliosIS Study night-time versus full-time bracing in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Co-applicant. NIHR HTA Programme. (2021-2031). £2,777,027.
  • STAR-MS: Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation versus Alemtuzumab in Relapsing Remitting MS. Co-applicant. NIHR EME Programme. (2019-2027) £2,647,973.
Teaching interests

I have developed several courses on teaching medical statistics to medical and health science students, clinicians and allied health professionals. I have also co-authored four textbooks: 'Medical Statistics: A Textbook for the Health Sciences 5th edition' 'Medical Statistics: A Textbook for the Health Sciences 4th edition; 'How to Display Data' and 'How to Design, Analyse and Report Cluster Randomised Trials in Medicine and Health Related Research'.

I co-ordinate and teach on SMP491 'An Introduction to Statistics and Critical Appraisal' module on the Master of Public Health programme and contribute to the distance learning version (SMP4147).

Professional activities and memberships
  • Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) and Chartered Statistician (C.Stat)
  • Independent statistician member on several data and safety monitoring committees
  • Member of the NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research Committee (2020 - 2024)
  • Member of the NIHR Pre-doctoral Fellowships Selection Committee (2019 - 2024)