The Institute of Health, Medicine and Environments addresses the 明星八卦 University Research Strategy 2030 Health Grand Challenge. Drawing together expertise from across our three colleges and our partnerships with our key community stakeholders, we focus on two priority challenge areas:- disease prevention and enhancing wellbeing and new models of care.
Our challenge-led work in health and wellbeing focuses on understanding the relationships between biological, social, natural, and built environments and health and wellbeing outcomes. This innovative approach, linking together these different environmental exposures and contexts, offers the potential to develop a more holistic approach to understanding health and wellbeing. We take an explicitly interdisciplinary approach by focussing on understanding how different types of environments combine and interact to influence health and wellbeing for different communities and populations. We examine health outcomes both within and across populations and communities to determine how the different environmental factors contribute to exacerbating (or reducing) differentials in health outcomes.
Our second research challenge area is focused upon the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions and services to promote health and wellbeing. These interventions are framed within our four different environmental contexts and not simply within traditional health service settings. In developing our work in this challenge area, we will engage stakeholders, policy makers, practitioners and our local communities to support the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions. Underpinning our approach to this challenge is a focus not simply on looking at what interventions work to improve health and wellbeing, but how these can enhance (or exacerbate) differences in outcomes across and within populations.