A new £9m research centre focused on tackling and reducing health inequalities in the UK has been announced today.
The ESRC Centre for Lifecourse Health Equity (Equalise) is led from University College London and supported by an outstanding multi-disciplinary team of researchers and associates at City St George’s, University of London, and the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde, Essex and Toulouse III Paul Sabatier in France. The Centre is also working in partnership with a team of experts in local and national government and a wide range of health equity focused advocacy and voluntary groups including the Health Foundation, Race Equality Foundation, Carers Trust, Eurocarers, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Disability Rights UK, Early Education and Childcare Coalition, National Literacy Trust, Women’s Budget Group, The Poverty Alliance, Skills and Education Group, and Voluntary Health Scotland.
Professor Yvonne Kelly, Director of the ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies (ICLS), and co-Director of the new Centre, said the idea for the new programme of work was forged from more than 15 years of highly impactful research at ICLS, that had already played a major role in identifying and addressing health inequalities. She added it was now time to find solutions to these clearly identified and well understood inequalities:
“Despite the UK leading the way in health inequalities research, the gaps between rich and poor have widened, gains in life expectancy have stalled and poor health restricts people’s ability to participate actively and equally in society. The ESRC Centre for Lifecourse Health Equity (Equalise) seeks to change that by moving away from identifying the issues to actively addressing them. This will be done by undertaking collaborative research with our partners that generates actionable insights to redress health inequalities.”
The Centre’s research will have 5 key themes:
- Reducing inequalities in learning and development opportunities
- Work and health over the lifecourse
- Care, health and wellbeing over the lifecourse
- Place-based inequalities
- Research and policy synthesis
The Centre is staffed by leading researchers in their field, among them Professor Sir Michael Marmot, a long-term champion and advocate of an evidence-led approach to health equity. He said:
“A cost-of-living crisis, a pandemic, and a decade of austerity have led to rising levels of ill-health and widening health inequalities. This new Centre is uniquely placed to coproduce a highly ambitious programme of research that can identify key points where interventions can work. It is time for health equity to become the social norm. This in turn will foster a society and an economy that are more robust to global threats and crises.”
Jabeer Butt, CEO of the Foundation explains:
‘We need more data’ is a common refrain when discussing progress on tackling racial inequity, but perhaps what we need is better use of the data we do have. With the approach and expertise involved in the newly announced ESRC Centre for Lifecourse Health Equity (Equalise), the Race Equality Foundation are excited to be involved in finding solutions that work in tackling inequity, including racial inequity.
The new Centre, which is funded by the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council, starts its five-year research programme with immediate effect.
Co-investigators and partners
University College London –Yvonne Kelly, Anne McMunn, Baowen Xue, Stephen Jivraj, Sir Michael Marmot, Peter Martin, Katie Harron, Jessica Allen
City St George’s, University of London – Rebecca Lacey
University of Strathclyde – Katherine Smith
University of Glasgow – Petra Meier, Corinna Elsenbroch
Paul Sabatier University – Michelle Kelly-Irving
University of Essex – Emily Murray
City of Bradford Metropolitan Council – Ellen Flint
Race Equality Foundation – Jabeer Butt
Carers Trust – Rohati Chapman
Women’s Budget Group – Mary-Ann Stephenson
Scottish Women’s Budget Group – Sara Cowan
Skills and Education Group Foundation – Joe McLoughlin
Disability Rights UK – Kamran Mallick
Early Education and Childcare Coalition – Sara Ronan
The Poverty Alliance – Laura Robertson
Voluntary Health Scotland – Tejesh Mistry
National Literacy Trust – Tracy Jackson OBE
Eurocarers – Stecy Yghemonos
Public Health Scotland – Deborah Shipton
The Health Foundation
Department for Education
Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Health Unit
Office for Health Improvements and Disparities
Scottish Government