Dr Rebecca Hunter

Assistant Professor

School: Communities and Education

I came to research from healthcare practice, and that background shapes everything about how I work. I trained and practised as a physiotherapist before moving into research, which means I've always been drawn to questions that matter in the real world rather than just on the page. I'm a Vice Chancellor's Research Fellow at Northumbria University, where my work is grounded in theory-led evaluation: the idea that understanding why something works matters as much as whether it does. My current projects include a mixed-methods evaluation of a digital self-management app for low back pain, and developing the initial programme theory for a forthcoming realist evaluation of a national programme tackling workplace cultures around chronic pain. I'm also committed to knowledge translation: finding ways to communicate research findings that don't require a methodology textbook to decode.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My research is rooted in realist methodology — spanning both evaluation and synthesis — and applied to real-world questions in health and healthcare. I'm as interested in developing these methods as I am in applying them — curious about how they can be refined and advanced to stay fit for purpose in the complex, messy reality of health research and practice. Much of my current work focuses on digital health and musculoskeletal conditions, including workplace cultures around chronic pain. Across all of it, I care about making findings genuinely useful to clinicians, commissioners, policymakers, and the people most affected by the issues I study. I lead the NoRTH realist research discussion group and am a member of the IDEAS National Evaluation Team.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Developing a Neighbourhood Health Theory of Change: Large scale system transformation for integration of care in England, Scott, J., Bate, A., Sen, A., Wildman, J., Williams, J., Hibberd, V., Hunter, R., Dalkin, S. 15 Apr 2026, International Conference on Integrated Care
Mobile App–Supported Self-Management for Chronic Low Back Pain: Realist Evaluation, Hunter, R., Gorely, T., Beattie, M. 17 Feb 2026, In: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Searching smarter, not harder: leveraging AI to enhance literature searches for theory-driven reviews—A methodological case study: leveraging AI to enhance literature searches for theory-driven reviews—A methodological case study, Hunter, R., Booth, A., Wood, L. 10 Apr 2026, In: BMC Medical Research Methodology
A protocol to develop a Quality Assessment Tool for Realist Synthesis (QUATRES), Mukumbang, F., Gilmore, B., Hunter, R., Dada, S., Dalkin, S., Booth, A. 10 Sep 2025, In: PLoS One
Characterising patients undergoing surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis associated neurogenic claudication in the UK: what does the British Spinal Registry tell us?, Wood, L., Hunter, R., Williamson, E., Salem, K., Sahota, O., Phillips, B., Hendrick, P., Lamb, S. 1 Jul 2025, In: European Spine Journal
Prehabilitation for lumbar spinal stenosis: understanding mechanisms and contexts for enhanced engagement—a realist review, Hunter, R., Booth, A., Lamb, S., Williamson, E., Hendrick, P., Sahota, O., Phillips, B., Fitch, J., Wood, L. Oct 2025, In: Age and Ageing
Realist Economic Evaluation: A graphic summary, Hibberd, V., Mountain, S., Ogden, M., Rook, V., Bate, A., Dalkin, S., Fletcher, A., Hunter, R. 9 Oct 2025
Applying and reporting relevance, richness, and rigour in realist evidence appraisals: Advancing key concepts in realist reviews, Dada, S., Dalkin, S., Gilmore, B., Hunter, R., Mukumbang, F. 1 May 2023, In: Research Synthesis Methods
Mobile apps to self-manage chronic low back pain: A realist synthesis exploring what works, for whom and in what circumstances, Hunter, R., Beattie, M., O'Malley, C., Gorely, T. 15 Dec 2023, In: PEC Innovation
Realist review, Hunter, R., Gorely, T., Beattie, M., Harris, K. 31 Dec 2022, In: International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology