About THOR
The Health and Occupation Research (THOR) network monitors the incidence of work-related ill-health in the UK and Ireland.
THOR is the only UK-wide surveillance system collecting medically diagnosed case reports of work-related ill-health, with more than 100,000 reports collected since 1989. Our four surveillance schemes collect medically certified data on work-related ill-health from medical professionals to estimate the incidence of work-related ill-health and monitor trends over time.
We are run by the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) at The University of Manchester. The COEH engages in research and education concerning the relationship between the environment and human health, with special reference to occupational and other environmental factors.
THOR is partly funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Who we are
The THOR team comprises academic and professional services colleagues from The University of Manchester. Our researchers have many years of experience within occupational health.
Professor Martie van Tongeren (Principal Investigator)
Martie is a Professor of Occupational and Environmental Health at The University of Manchester.
He has 30 years of experience in research in occupational and environmental exposure assessment and epidemiology. Martie is the THOR project lead.
Zipporah Iheozor-Ejiofor (Research Fellow & Project Manager)
Dr Melanie Carder (Senior Lecturer in Occupational Medicine)
Mel is a senior lecturer and is the programme director for the MSc Occupational Medicine course at Manchester.
She has been involved with THOR since 2002 and previously managed the project.
Dr Ioannis Basinas (Research Associate)
Ioannis is an epidemiologist, biostatistician and exposure scientist with over 15 years’ experience.
His research primarily focuses on the assessment of the human exposure and the related health effects of dangerous substances.
Dr Sarah Daniels (Research Assistant)
Sarah is a research assistant at the COEH.
As well as contributing to THOR, her current research projects include investigating the role of delivery workers in preventing COVID-19 transmission and a rapid evidence review of workplace respiratory health surveillance.
Laura Byrne (Research Administrator)
Laura looks after the SWORD and EPIDERM schemes at THOR.
She deals with the day-to-day administration of both schemes and assists the research team with various tasks, such as data requests and report writing.
George McHale (Project Assistant)
Dermot Nuttall (Web Developer)
Dermot maintains and develops the website and database systems for THOR.
Our collaborations
THOR has collaborated with several European networks and institutes for monitoring occupational diseases.
These include the following:
RNV3P, France
The National Network for the Monitoring and Prevention of Occupational Diseases (RNV3P) is a network of occupational health professionals grouping together the 30 occupational disease consultation centres in mainland France and a number of occupational health services associated with the network.
The network uses consultation data (patient demographics data, diseases, exposures, job sectors and professions) to investigate possible links between occupational exposure and pathology.
Coronel Institute for Work and Health, Netherlands
The Coronel Institute is the largest university department in the field of occupational health in the Netherlands.
Its research includes the prevention, etiology, assessment and treatment/supervision of work-related diseases.
MODERNET
Monitoring trends in Occupational Diseases and tracing New and Emerging Risks in a NETwork (MODERNET) is a collaboration of academic centres investigating occupational disease and work-related ill health incidence across Europe.
The network holds regular meetings and COVINARs (online webinars on COVID-19) for collaboration and sharing knowledge about the network’s topics.
If you would like to discuss a potential collaboration with THOR, please contact us.
Contact Us
Find Us
Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health
The University of Manchester
Block C, 4th Floor, Ellen Wilkinson Building
Devas Street
Manchester
M13 9PL
UK
