School of Social and Political Science

Dr Eleanor Brooks (GHPU, Social Policy) awarded funding for UACES Research Network – EU Health Governance – for period 2021-2024



The network will launch in April 2021, and aims to facilitate a broad and encompassing approach to the question ‘How should health be governed in the EU?’

The University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) has awarded 2021-2024 Research Network funding for an EU Health Governance network – EUHealthGov – led by an interdisciplinary team of Dr Eleanor Brooks (Global Health Policy Unit, Edinburgh), Dr Charlotte Godziewski (Department of Sociology, Aston) and Dr Mary Guy (Lancaster Law School). Launching formally in April 2021, the network aims to facilitate a broad and encompassing approach to the question ‘How should health be governed in the EU?’, with the goal of informing the growing public debate on the scope of EU health governance, as well as elevating this within the field of EU studies and beyond.

It does so in the context of significant political changes within the EU health governance space. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted both the value and the limits of a collective European approach to health, raising questions about common regulation of risk, the tension between sovereignty and solidarity, and the sustainability of health inequalities within and between EU member states. In addition to proposals for a European Health Union and strengthening of the EU’s health agencies and capacities, current debates involve policies outside of the immediate health sphere, such as the competition and state aid regime and the fiscal governance framework. EUHealthGov seeks to bring together expertise from across policy sectors, disciplines and backgrounds, to examine and inform these discussions.

EUHealthGov’s activities will focus on both research and teaching, and include a network conference and teaching workshop planned for May 2022. Information about EUHealthGov events and publications, as well as the mailing list where you can join the network, will be published shortly; in the meantime please follow the network on Twitter @EUHealthGov.