About Durham health & social theory

  • We are located in the Dept of Sociology, Durham University.

  • However, we are also linked with a variety of other Departments throughout Durham University and, more widely, Northern England, the UK, and various universities and organisations throughout the rest of the world.  In short, while resolutely sociological, our approach is interdisciplinary and global.

  • In terms of teaching and research, we are focused on regional, national and global trends such as climate change adaptation and environmental degradation; national and local health trends and service delivery systems; neighbourhood and community-based health promotion programmes; health professions; and the study of individual health behaviours.

  • Our research combines inter-disciplinary knowledge and expertise around ageing (biology, technology, physical activity, and formal and informal networks of care and support); professions and work (pharmacy, public health, sport and physical activity, social work, social care and governance, policy networks and capacity building); health behaviours (young mothers and breast feeding, nutrition, physical activity and weight loss); the complexities of health (nexus issues, complex health sytems, public health) and community and place (health promotion, health inequalities, place, well-being and community pharmacy).

  • Core concepts include citizenship, the social contract and voice; measurement, self-rated health and evidence; social complexity and identity, equity, and equality.

  • FOR MORE ON OUR WORK, CLICK ON OUR TEAM PROFILES OR RESEARCH THEMES

 

MEET OUR TEAM

See the research we are doing at Durham and at other Universities and Organisations in the UK and elsewhere

Brian Castellani

Professor

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • complexities of place and health

  • communities and global civil society

  • computational modeling and mixed-methods

  • complexity theory and policy evaluation

  • big data and digital sociology

Assistant Professor

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Professional learning in healthcare

  • Lay health experiences and behaviours

  • Health and well-being in schools and communities

  • Biographical and narrative methods

Laura Mazzoli Smith

Andrew Fletcher

PDRA

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Arts and health

  • Public health

  • Realist methods

  • Social theories

  • Wellbeing

Hester Hockin-Boyers

Doctoral Candidate

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Embodiment

  • Gender

  • Physical Activity and Sport

  • Feminist Theory

  • Body Image

Kimberly Jamie

Assistant Professor

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • lay health beliefs/behaviours

  • medicines

  • health technologies

  • family health

  • professional practice

Professor

Carolyn Summerbell

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • public health and the prevention of obesity,

  • which includes elements of nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviour.

Emily Oliver

Associate Professor

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Motivation Engagement

  • Physical Activity and Mental Health

  • Adapting challenging environments

  • Inclusion and exclusion of marginalised groups

Christopher Lawless

Associate Professor

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Forensic science

  • Science and Technology Studies

  • Sociology of risk and resilience

  • Security and safety of critical infrastructures

Tiago Moreira

Professor

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Aging, Technology and Society

  • Knowledge and the organisation of health care

  • Piority setting in health care

  • Social Studies of Medicine

Jonathan Wistow

​

     Assistant Professor

 

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Health inequalities

  • Qualitative comparative analysis

  • Climate change and adaptation and resilience

  • Governance systems

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Case based methods

  • Complexity theory

  • Postindustrial social structures

  • Privatization of welfare systems

  • Quantitative methods

  • Urban systems

David Byrne

Emeritus Professor

Evgenia Stepanova

Teaching Fellow

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • children's and young people's development

  • understanding well-being

  • research with care leavers

Cynthia Meersohn

YORK UNIVERSITY

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Ageing transitions

  • Quality of life and well-being

  • The lifecourse in situated contexts

  • Trauma and resilience in later life

  • Innovative research methods

Naomi Griffin

PDRA

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Inequalities (particularly CYP)

  • Social determinants of health

  • Intersectional analysis

  • Social justice and activism

Benjamin Rigby

Doctoral Candidate

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Physical activity and population health

  • Complexity in public decision making

  • Evidence-informed policymaking

  • Implementation

Keming Yang

Associate Professor

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Economic sociology and entrepreneurship

  • Sociology of mental wellbeing

  • China

  • Statistical methods in social research

  • Social gerontology

Jonathan Warren

Vice-Principal

St Cuthbert's Society

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Deindustrialisation

  • North East of England

  • Social Determinants of health

  • QCA, visual and participatory methods

Karel Musilek

Doctoral Student

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • new discourses of work,

  • entrepreneurship,

  • forms of work related subjectivity

  • new organisational forms of work-life integration. 

Adam Hejnowicz

YORK UNIVERSITY

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Complex social-ecological systems

  • Sustainability, and development

  • Infrastructure, land-use and urbanisation

  • Manufacturing impacts on environmental and social health

  • Environmental policy and governance

Mihirini Sirisena

PDRA

RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Perceptions of wellbeing

  • Personhood

  • Emotions and theories of affect

  • Dynamics of hope

CONTACT US

 

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