Our current projects

England’s public health policy aims to combine overall improvements in population health with greater improvements among disadvantaged groups and communities. The most deprived areas of England have the lowest healthy life expectancy. Risk behaviours - physical inactivity, poor diet, smoking and alcohol misuse – are major contributors. There is a growing evidence base about the effectiveness of programmes to improve health behaviours in disadvantaged groups. In order to answer questions about what works to reduce inequalities this evidence needs to be brought together. After carrying out a scooping review this project aims to identify, ‘map’, and synthesise evidence on to reduce risk behaviours in disadvantaged groups and among people living in deprived areas. Read more

The ‘Standardised Packaging and Tobacco Products Regulations’ and ‘Tobacco Products and Related Regulations’ have transformed the appearance of cigarette packaging in the UK. Following a 12 month transition period, from May 2017 all. The Department of Health commissioned, through the PHRC, a systematic review of research on standardised packaging to accompany the UK Government’s consultation in 2012. In 2019 the University of Sterling conducted a systematic review exploring how consumers, the tobacco companies and retailers responded to standardised packaging in the UK. The aim of this project is to provide an update and synthesise of findings from research exploring consumer, tobacco industry or retailer response to standardised packaging of tobacco products that has been conducted since February 2019. Read more

Across England, there is a manifesto commitment to end Rough Sleeping 2024, with a strategic focus on health. To protect those sleeping rough during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was the launch and implementation of the ‘Everyone In’ programme—the first national attempt at a coordinated offer of access to universal accommodation. This rollout presents a unique chance to learn from these new ways of working and innovative approaches. Although there are ongoing efforts to evaluate the impact of ‘Everyone In’, there is presently a gap in our understanding of the health impacts. Thus, this project provides an opportunity to understand the potential for improving integrated, multi-agency care and access to support for people experiencing rough sleeping, and lessons learned to inform future policy. Read more

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities and migrant workers often experience worse health than the general population, with existing inequalities exacerbated further by the Covid-19 pandemic. Understanding health experiences within these communities and co-designing solutions is vital to improve health equity and health services. Read more

This project aims to develop a better understanding of the drivers of inequalities in child welfare outcomes, and the subsequent consequences for health and education. It will deliver new evidence on pathways to inequalities in “Children in Need” (CiN), and will identify policy entry points, allowing the development of better policies to tackle inequalities in social care. Read more

This project will develop theory concerning how agency is exerted and the different actors required for population interventions to achieve their effects. It will design a new tool to categorise population interventions based on the degree of agency required of all relevant actors, and apply it to systematically reviewed studies of population interventions for diet and physical activity. Read more

This project aims to provide evidence on people’s perceptions of the health risks of climate change and their priorities for action and, thereby, to help to inform national policies and local action plans to reduce climate-change related risks to health. Read more