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.
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.
Professor David Fishwick
David is a clinical senior lecturer and honorary consultant respiratory physician at The University of Manchester. He has a research and clinical interest in occupational respiratory disease, and is also an Honorary Professor at The University of Sheffield
Dr Katie Fyall (Honorary Lecturer in Occupational Medicine)
Katie is a resident doctor in occupational medicine with a background in general practice, and I work as an honorary lecturer on the MSc Occupational Medicine course. She has been involved in the identification of sentinel cases in the THOR scheme since 2024.
Dr Sam Goodall (Honorary Lecturer in Occupational Medicine)
Dr Ruth Wiggans (Honorary Lecturer in Occupational Medicine)
Dr Ruth Wiggans is a consultant respiratory physician at Manchester Foundation Trust and honorary lecturer at the University of Manchester. Ruth has a clinical and academic interest in occupational and environmental lung diseases and completed her PhD in Sheffield on occupational asthma. She is a member of the Group of Occupational Respiratory Disease Specialists and is a member of the BTS Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease Advisory Group. Her research focuses on the epidemiology and causes of occupational and environmental lung disease and she currently works on the THOR surveillance scheme at the University of Manchester and leads on sentinel cases.
Helen Kreissl (Administrative Project Manager)
Helen is the administrative Project Manager for THOR and Senior Administrator for the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research . Her work in Thomas Ashton involves collaborating with experts across various disciplines to support the co-production of innovative research that address real-world safety and health challenges.
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 (Research Project Assistant)
George deals with the day-to-day administration of the OPRA/OPRA-GP scheme at THOR and assists the research team with various tasks, such as data analysis, questionnaire design and recruitment at conferences
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
