Research

Prioritising research into action

Professor Jennie Popay is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Public Health at Lancaster University, where she is co-director of the Centre for Health Inequalities Research. 

She is currently also co-lead of the Health Inequalities Research Programme in the NIHR funded School for Public Health Research, which aims to produce high quality evidence to support a step change in action on the social inequalities which become health inequalities.

Professor Popay’s career has consistently delivered impactful outcomes in the field. 

Findings from her research into community action aimed at increasing social and health equity have contributed to UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Evidence guidance on community engagement and to policy action in Spain and other countries. 

Her team have also used their research findings to produce two online resources: FOR Equity which aims to support researchers to strengthen the equity focus of their research; and the Public Involvement Impact Assessment Framework to support researchers to evaluate the involvement of the public in their research.

As Chair of our Healthcare Inequalities Advisory Board, Professor Popay will lead the expert review of all applications submitted to the Healthcare Inequalities Initiative funding call. 

Dementia Healthcare Inequalties Initiative funding call

People living with dementia and their carers face numerous inequalities, with 110 different dimensions of healthcare inequalities being identified in a recent report funded by Alzheimer’s Society. 

We know that these inequalities are experienced by people affected by dementia throughout their entire dementia journey, from diagnosis through to end of life.

Research is hope. We know that something needs to be done to tackle healthcare inequalities and to give people living with dementia a fairer deal. That is why Alzheimer’s Society has launched the Dementia Healthcare Inequalities Initiative, 

This is an investment of £2million to fund an ambitious, large scale research study to implement and evaluate an existing intervention that tackles one or more healthcare inequalities. 

The chosen project will start to bridge the inequalities people face during dementia diagnosis and/or post diagnostic support. 

Expressions of Interest for applications to the Healthcare Inequalities close on 23 September 2024.

Could you tell us more about your career so far in Health Inequalities research? 

‘Over a career spanning more than five decades, I have worked as a teacher, policy maker and researcher in the UK, East Africa and New Zealand and collaborated with colleagues around the world. 

My research has focused on understanding the pathways by which social inequalities become health inequalities as well as developing and evaluating community centred action which can change these pathways.

I am passionate about contributing directly to action to improve social and health equity and helping to ensure that the lived experience of injustice informs these actions. 

To this end I am a member of the Expert Advisory Group for WHO EURO’s Health Equity Status Report initiative and have previously co-ordinated the Global Social Exclusion Knowledge Network supporting the Marmot Commission on Social Determinants of Health. 

I have also held a number of public appointments including serving on the Welsh Bevan Commission advising the Minister for Health, the English Commission of Patient and Public Involvement in Health and as the inaugural chair of the national charity The People’s Health Trust.’

Do you have any advice for anyone applying to the Healthcare Inequalities Initiative? 

‘Alzheimer’s Society wants to fund research that will generate high quality evidence on more effective and equitable action to support people living with dementia and their carers. 

Whilst research on prevention is important the focus of this initiative is on action along the pathway from diagnosis and post diagnosis support that can be generalised across the UK Health & Social Care system. 

I am hoping to see proposals that focus on core dimensions of inequalities and integrate an equity lens throughout the research process, from establishing research questions to planning knowledge mobilisation.  

Whilst relatively sparse in the field of dementia, there is a vast body of evidence demonstrating that the fundamental drivers of health and health care inequalities are social and structural not behavioural. 

But lifestyle drift is a powerful phenomenon in health research, policy and practice.  All too often grand statements about the primary causes of inequalities are followed by plans aimed at changing lifestyles.  

It is important that we avoid this drift and prioritise research into actions that seek to change the ways in which living and working conditions shape access to and experience of dementia related care and support. 

It’s for these reasons that I am so excited to be Chairing Alzheimer’s Society’s Health Inequalities Advisory Board and supporting the Healthcare Inequalities Initiative, which will fund the implementation and evaluation of a targeted intervention designed to remove some of the fundamental causes of inequalities experienced in dementia healthcare.