Research
Key research interests
• Community-based participatory research (e.g. photovoice methods)
• Public involvement and engagement
• Complex Systems Approaches on policy development and evaluation
• Household Air Pollution
• Clean Household Energy
• Global health
• Ageing
• Age-friendly cities
• Social inclusion
• Health inequalities
• Social and Environmental Determinants of Health
Energy, Air Pollution and Health Research Theme Group
[https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/psychology-health-and-society/research/energy-air-pollution-health/members/]
I am part of the Energy, Air Pollution and Health Research Theme Group, located within the Department of Public Health and Policy and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Policy Research on Social Determinants of Health.
The NIHR CLEAN Air(Africa) group will conduct a 2.5-year programme of applied research to support sustained and equitable transition to clean household energy across the population in Kenya, Ghana and Cameroon and demonstrate the anticipated health impacts (through reductions in non-communicable disease, health inequalities and climate change). At the same time, CLEAN Air(Africa) will undertake education and training activities to develop the capacity of the health sector to recognise the burden of disease related to household air pollution (HAP), intervene early and promote population health.
Goal 1: to inform strategies to support more equitable uptake of clean fuel across the population by evaluating enabling/ inhibiting factors and testing interventions to address identified barriers and facilitate equitable adoption/ use of LPG (including consumer finance solutions).
Goal 2: to estimate the impacts of scaled LPG adoption, in line with governmental targets, on health and climate by using advanced statistical techniques, thereby providing evidence for national/international policymakers to advocate for widespread transition to clean fuel.
Goal 3: to develop capacity through health systems strengthening in the partner countries, equipping health practitioners to intervene early to ‘prescribe’ clean household energy solutions to their patients. With support from WHO and our focus country health sector and academic partners, we will develop curriculum materials for upskilling the health sector about the health impacts of HAP and prevention through clean household energy adoption.
Goal 4: to facilitate engagement between the general public and policymakers as research is undertaken alongside national policy implementation. Informed by experience in Cameroon, the Group will host public engagement events in all three countries, bringing communities, ministry representatives, private sector and civic society stakeholders together to encoureage critical dialogue on how best to achieve rapid transition to clean household energy to benefit population health and environments.
Background: Globally, more than 3 billion of people continue to rely on burning solid fuels and kerosene for their daily cooking and heating needs. This significant global health problem is causing up to 2.6 million premature deaths from household air pollution (HAP) each year, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). This issue also contributes to climate change and the irreversible destruction of the world's forests. Access to clean energy is particularly important for women and children, who are usually responsible for cooking and are exposed daily to household smoke.
Grants
2018
- Engage @ Liverpool. Methodological Innovation & Development Awards (Grant total: £600). Grant holders: K Jehan (CI) and Ronzi S (co-PI). Title of the project: Ways of seeing: Merging Methods for Methodological Innovation.
- ESRC Festival of Social Sciences (Grant total: £1000). Grant holder: S Ronzi (PI). The ESRC Festival of Social Sciences 'Why is cooking bad for your health in Africa?'
- NIHR Global Health Research Group on Clean Energy Access for the prevention of Non-communicable disease in Africa through clean Air: CLEAN-AIR(Africa) (Amount: £ 1,997,248.00) Grant holder: D Pope. (Named researcher: Ronzi S).
2017
- Early Career Researchers’ Fund, University of Liverpool (Amount: £2,000). Grant holders: Ronzi S (PI), Puzzolo E, Pope D.
- Public Engagement Grants Scheme, University of Liverpool (Amount: £2,000). Grant holders: Pope D (PI), Puzzolo E (CI), Ronzi S (CI).
2016
- Small Grants, Wellcome Trust (Amount: £4,890). Grant holder: The Society for Social Medicine Early Career Researchers’ Subcommittee (Ronzi S, CI). To support the running of the pre-conference workshop on ‘Funding Sources & Successful Grant Writing’ as a part of the Society for Social Medicine conference.
2014
- ESRC funding, North West Doctoral Training Centre (Grant total: £4,485) Corcoran S (PI), Courtney S, Darley-Nolan S, Thakar K, Ronzi S (CI), Marsh H, Winter E. To convene 3 symposiums on enhancing interdisciplinarity in Liverpool, Lancaster, and Manchester Universities.