Research projects
Our current and previous projects, analysing determinants of health and wellbeing, have delivered quantifiable change on health equality in a local and national setting.
We have a range of infrastructure projects that explore the factors affecting health inequalities. These initiatives help us understand what works to improve health and reduce inequalities.
Our work explores how social policies, economic systems, and local environments shape health and wellbeing across communities. Our projects aim to generate evidence that informs fairer policies and practical solutions to reduce health inequalities in the UK and beyond.
3 Schools Prevention: Family Safeguarding - What are the effects of integrating Family Safeguarding with anti-poverty programmes for households at risk
NIHR
This initiative seeks to evaluate how the whole family approach of the Family Safeguarding Model (FSM) in Liverpool can be strengthened by combining it with local antipoverty interventions, examining if integrating these measures leads to better outcomes for children and families. By analysing linked health and social care data and gathering insights from practitioners and families, the research aims to clarify what works, for whom, and how best to deliver a “wraparound” support offer that addresses both safeguarding and poverty.
3 Schools Prevention: Informing policy and practice to prevent care entry through a better understanding of ‘neglect’ and its impacts
NIHR
This project seeks to deepen our understanding of how child neglect occurs, how it is interpreted in practice, and how it leads to children entering care, insights that will inform more effective prevention. By comparing health and educational outcomes of children who enter care due to neglect with those exposed to adversity but who do not enter care, the research aims to develop practical policy recommendations and freetoaccess tools for professionals working to protect vulnerable children.
ARC NWC - NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Northwest Coast
NIHR
ARC NWC is part of the NIHR and hosted by the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB in partnership with the University of Liverpool. NIHR ARCs are regional collaborations between organisations that undertake applied health and care research. The NIHR has awarded £135 million over five years to 15 ARCs across England. ARCs support applied health and care research that responds to the needs of local populations and health and care systems.
CHESS - Civic Health Equity: from Silos to Systems
UKRI
Evaluation of the health impact of multiple programmes of social and economic support for households across Liverpool City Region (LCR), including 6 local authority districts with a 1.6 million population.
DataSHIELD Five Safes RO Crates
UKRI
The DARE UK “FOCUS5” project is developing and validating new tools to enable federated analysis across multiple secure research environments, making it easier to analyse data across locations without compromising privacy.
By standardising workflows and integrating opensource methods like the DataSHIELD platform, the project aims to support scalable, secure research collaborations across the NHS and other datarich settings.
Evaluation of the Health Impacts of Universal Credit: a mixed methods study
NIHR
This study explores how changes to the benefits system, through Universal Credit, have influenced people’s mental health and wellbeing, and whether the effects differ across the UK.
Exploring the child health and social care impacts of the two-child limit and benefit cap
NIHR
This project aims to provide a robust evidence base for discussion of welfare reforms by studying the health and social care outcomes of children living in large households and where possible, to model the potential impact on children’s health and social care outcomes of policies that support larger families.
Exploring the Impact of Clinical Diagnosis on Health and Education Outcomes for Children Receiving SEN support for Autism: an analysis of ECHILD
ESCR
This project investigates how getting a formal clinical diagnosis of autism affects health and education outcomes for children receiving special educational needs support in England. By linking education, health and social care data and engaging with stakeholders, the research aims to uncover which children benefit most from diagnosis and how services can be organised more fairly and effectively.
From Data to Decisions: Embedding a Real-time Intervention Causal Evaluation (RICE) tool into the decision-making process and The Networked Data Lab
The Health Foundation (UK)
This project explores how to embed real-world policy or service changes into routine practice, and how to use linked data and causal methods to turn those actions into evidence for decision makers. By working at the interface of data, implementation and evaluation, it aims to build workable approaches for turning “from data to decisions” in health and care systems.
From data to decisions: embedding a Real-world Intervention Causal Evaluation (RICE) tool in the decision-making process
The Health Foundation (UK)
The Liverpool health and social care system is developing a person-centred model that matches effective service packages to population needs. To support this, a whole-population, person-level linked dataset that includes data flows for primary, secondary, community, mental health and adult social care, along with social prescribing data, has been built.
GroundsWell: Community-engaged and Data-informed Systems Transformation of Urban Green and Blue Space for Population Health
MRC
GroundsWell is a collaborative partnership of researchers, policymakers, and community members working to enhance health and wellbeing through urban green and blue spaces. Our research integrates community engagement, data analysis, and policy development to understand how these spaces influence social, environmental, and health systems across cities.
Have the two-child limit to welfare policy and cuts to contraceptive services in Britain impacted abortion rates and household poverty?
ESRC
This project examines how the “two-child limit” on benefits and cuts to contraception funding affect abortion rates and poverty, and whether some groups (for example younger parents or ethnic minority women) are disproportionately impacted. We use large-scale data analysis, policy mapping and public workshops to generate evidence and share recommendations aimed at improving support for families affected by these policies.
Health impact, process and economic evaluation of selective licensing schemes for private rented housing in England
NIHR
This study evaluates how “Selective Licensing” schemes in the private rented housing sector across England affect tenants’ health, wellbeing and wider social outcomes. It combines largescale data analysis with interviews and economic assessment to determine whether and how these licensing policies produce meaningful public health benefits.
Healthy Urban Places North
MRC
HUP North explores how features of the urban environment, such as walkability, air quality, housing, parks, public transport, schools, health services, arts and cultural opportunities directly shape people’s health. Working closely with communities, decisionmakers and citybased research partners, the project aims to influence policy and practice so that our cities become healthier and happier places to live.
Intelligence for public health action to improve outcomes and address inequalities in children and young people’s health
NIHR
This research stream develops and applies public-health intelligence, combining data systems, analytic methods and stakeholder engagement, to improve health outcomes and reduce inequalities among children and young people. By working with local and national partners across the UK, it aims to generate actionable evidence that supports decision-making and promotes equitable policy and practice.
Liverpool City Health Determinants Research Collaboration
NIHR
This project aims to better understand how social, economic, and environmental factors influence health outcomes in Liverpool. By translating these insights into practical strategies and policies, it seeks to improve community health and reduce inequalities across the city.
MATRIARCH - MATeRnal, InfAnt, Reproductive & Child Health in CF
Cystic Fibrosis Trust (UK)
Exploring the impact of family size on child health outcomes and service use: A mixed methods analysis to inform welfare policy
Mitigating the impact of childhood adversity on health outcomes across the life course
NIHR
This research investigates how childhood adversity affects health outcomes across the life course and identifies opportunities for intervention to reduce this impact. By analysing longterm data and working with policymakers, the project aims to inform strategies that promote resilience and equity in health.
PROPEL - A multi-method PRoject to maximise efficient and equitable pathways tO suPport from a rEgional epiLepsy centre
Angelini Pharma UK-I Limited
This collaboration explores how the “hubandspoke” model of epilepsy care can be optimised to ensure more equitable access, using realworld data and stakeholder insight. The aim is to coproduce and implement solutions, such as a single point of access and outcome metrics dashboard, that strengthen pathways and improve the quality of care for people with epilepsy.
Public Health Policy Research Unit (PH-PRU)
NIHR
The NIHR Public Health Policy Research Unit (PHPRU) brings together six UK academic institutions to produce timely, policyrelevant research on the social and structural factors that shape physical and mental health, health behaviours and inequalities. Its research spans evaluating interventions, developing new theory and methods, and generating evidence to directly inform publichealth policy and reduce health inequalities.
Tackling child health inequality. An interventional epidemiology platform to inform policy
NIHR
This study uses data to evaluate the effects of interventions and policies to help reduce child health inequalities in the UK and to inform policy decisions internationally.
Telehealth to reduce compound pressures on the NHS and Social Care
NIHR
This study examines how telehealth services can help people living with longterm health conditions, by assessing both how well they work and what they cost. The aim is to provide evidence that supports betterinformed decisions for health and social care systems facing increasing pressure.
The Federated North Project
MRC
The Liverpool led collaboration will deploy and scale the opensource platform DataSHIELD, making it possible to analyse NHS and socialcare data across regions without compromising individual privacy.