Iliana joined the ARC East of England in October 2023 as a Senior Programme Support Officer, covering Nicole Jones, who is on maternity leave. Prior to this, Iliana led a programme of Patient and Public Involvement in mental health and dementia research at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT). Iliana has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Counselling Studies. She has over 20 years of experience working in a healthcare research environment and has been involved in the development and delivery of a number of mental health research projects. She has a particular interest in participatory research methodologies that put people’s lived experiences at the centre of the research and link knowledge to action. Her interest in research led her to apply for an ARC (then CLAHRC) Fellowship, which she was awarded in 2018. The focus of her project was to explore ways in which patients and carers are involved in identifying research topics and priorities, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches.