SPS part of major UKRI-funded research project to improve population health in the UK
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Dr Nason Maani from the School of Social and Political Science (SPS) will serve as deputy director of a major research project funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), aiming to understand how the commercial sector affects population health and find effective interventions.
The project will determine how commercial actors influence public health at the local level and what can be done to harness positive impacts and address the negative impacts. It brings together researchers, NGOs, public health professionals, local people and local government for the first time to do this.
Dr Maani, a lecturer in Inequalities and Global Health Policy at SPS, will act as co-investigator and deputy director for the project team, the Population Health Improvement UK: Commercial Determinants of Health & Equity research team (also known as the “Health Hub”). The Health Hub will identify, implement and evaluate the population-level interventions most likely to improve health, wellbeing, and equity at scale. The team comprises researchers from the Universities of Bath, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Sheffield and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, along with partner organisations including the Association of Directors of Public Health, the Centre for Thriving Places and an NGO consortium made up of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) and the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA). The workstream based at the Global Health Policy Unit in SPS will seek to identify interventions to help address the commercial drivers of health inequalities at the local authority level.
Professor Jeff Collin, also from SPS, will act as a co-investigator in a research team based at the University of Cambridge, which will focus on understanding facilitators and barriers to action.
This research project is one of four funded as part of the £35M Population Health Improvement UK scheme by UKRI. This new national research network will bring together expertise and insight from across research, public health and community organisations. Its aim is to find innovative and inclusive ways to improve the health of people, places and communities and reduce health inequalities through the development and evaluation of long-lasting and environmentally sustainable interventions.