Anastasia Ushakova

My most recent research focus is on routinely collected health data (e.g. NHS data) and methods and techniques that can be used to bring insights from these rich yet complex datasets. I collaborate with local mental health NHS trust and researchers in Lancaster Medical School. Some of my other current work ( applied and methodological) is in close collaboration with Prof Kate Cain (Psychology) and collaborators from the LASeR (Literacy Acceleration through Scalable Research) consortium. With researchers in Lancaster, Sussex, Pittsburgh and Stanford we are working to map and understand the dynamics of change in young readers as they progress through a digital multi component reading supplement, Amplify.

My methodological works builds on the expertise that I developed in first methods research post also in Lancaster (Statistics) under supervision of Dr Rebecca Killick. Some of our work includes a novel approach to modelling periodic time series data using changepoint analysis. My other ( applied and methodological) focus is in longitudinal applications with a time component (i.e. waves) and I have been fortunate to collaborate with psychologists Aja Murray (Edinburgh) and Lydia Speyer (Cambridge) where we work on analysis of large population surveys to study dynamics in children and adolescents mental health.

I am always open for opportunities to collaborations with researchers and practitioners who are using challenging and exciting datasets to answer pressing research questions! I also welcome interest from prospective PhD students who may want to do a project with me – just get in touch to discuss!

Research Interests:

• Casual Inference and Graphical Models in Social and Health Sciences
• Time Series Methods
• Big Data, Large Observational Datasets, Routinely Collected NHS Data
• Modelling Heterogeneous Patterns of Behavior
• Missing Data and Attrition in Longitudinal Studies
• Innovations/challenges in the Teaching of Statistics in Social and Applied Sciences

Education

• MPhil/PhD UCL (2015 — 2018)
• Master of Science (MSc) UCL (2014 — 2015)
• BSc (Hons) With Study Abroad City University London (2011 — 2014)
• Toulouse School of Economics (2012 — 2013)

Publications

• Speyer, L., Ushakova, A., Hall, A., Luciano, M., Auyeung, B., Murray, A. L., 2021, Analyzing Dynamic Change in Children’s Socio-Emotional Development using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in a large UK Longitudinal Study. Forthcoming in Journal of Abnormal Psychology

• Speyer, L., Hall, A., Ushakova, A., Murray, A. L., Luciano, M., Auyeung, B., 2021, Longitudinal Effects of Breastfeeding on Parent- and Teacher-Reported Child Behaviour. Archives of Disease in Childhood

• Speyer, L., Hall, A., Ushakova, A., C., 2020, Links between Perinatal Risk Factors and Maternal Psychological Distress: Network Analysis. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica (AOGS)

• Ushakova, A. and Mikhaylov,S.J., 2020, Big Data to the Rescue? Challenges in Analysing Granular Household Electricity Consumption in the United Kingdom. Energy Research and Social Science, Vol 64

• Ushakova, A. and Murcio, R., 2018, . Interpreting Smart Meter Data of UK Domestic Energy Consumers. In Longley P., Cheshire J., Singleton A, Consumer Data Research (pp. 120-137), London: UCL Press.

• Ushakova, A. and Mikhaylov,S.J., 2018, Predicting Energy Customer Vulnerability from Consumption Behavior, Working Paper, Consumer Data Research Centre