School of Social and Political Science

Dr Eleanor Brooks

Senior Lecturer in European Health Policy

Headshot Eleanor Brooks
eleanor.brooks@ed.ac.uk
G.2
22 George Square
Edinburgh
UK
EH8 9LD

Research interests

European Union Studies Global health policy Governance & Democracy

EU public policy, Public administration and health, Regulatory reform, Political determinants of health, European integration and health, Public policy, Global health, Fiscal governance. 

Topics interested in supervising

Welcome enquiries about PhD projects covering any aspect of European Union health governance.

If you are interested in being supervised by Eleanor, please see the links below (opening in new windows) for more information:

Background

Eleanor is a senior lecturer in European health policy at the Global Health Policy Unit (GHPU), School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh. She holds a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship supporting the Better Regulation for Better Health project (2020-2025) and the Rethinking Red Tape project (2025-2028). Eleanor is co-director of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Research Network on Health Policy, Politics and Governance (Health-PPG) and a member of the steering committee of the Public Health Policy and Politics section at the European Public Health Association (EUPHA).  

Latest publications

Brooks (2025) European Union health policy: Markets, integration and modes of governance, Manchester University Press

Brooks (2025) Unpacking the ideas that shape the health policy process: A genealogy of the EU’s Better Regulation agenda, Journal of Critical Public Health

Brooks, Jarman and Greer (2025) EURO-DOGE by stealth? Concerning developments in the (de) funding of European health civil society, European Journal of Public Health

Brooks and Lauber (2025) Impact Assessment as Agenda‐Setting: Procedural Politicking and the Mobilization of Bias in the European Union's Audiovisual Media Services Directive, Regulation & Governance

Brooks and Lauber (2024) ‘Administering a chill pill? Better Regulation and the potential for regulatory chill in European Union health policy’ Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law 

Lauber and Brooks (2023) ‘A missed opportunity for public health: How impact assessment shaped EU rules on the marketing of unhealthy commodities to children’ Social Science and Medicine – Qualitative Research in Health 

Lauber and Brooks (2023) ‘Why meta-regulation matters for public health: the case of the EU Better Regulation agenda’ Globalization and Health 

Hawkins et al. (2023) ‘The law of diminishing returns? The challenge of using freedom of information legislation for health policy research’ Critical Policy Studies

Ralston, Godziewski and Brooks (2023) ‘Reconceptualising the commercial determinants of health: Bringing institutions in’ British Medical Journal – Global Health 

Brooks, Bocquillon and Maltby (2023) ‘Talkin’ bout a revolution? Institutional change in the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility: the case of climate policy’ Journal of Common Market Studies

Brooks et al. (2023) ‘EU health policy in the aftermath of COVID-19: neofunctionalism and crisis-driven integration’ Journal of European Public Policy

Current research projects

Better Regulation for Better Health

  • UKRI-funded fellow and PI of Better Regulation for Better Health project. Fellowship encompasses primary research, knowledge exchange and impact, methodological training, career development and team leadership.
  • Project explores the impact of the EU’s regulatory reform processes – the Better Regulation agenda – on health policy. 

Teaching

Eleanor is on research leave but contributes guest lectures on the following courses in 2025/26: Understanding Public Policy, Global Health Policy.

Works within