Mr Andy Pennington MPlan; AFHEA

Personal Statement

Andy is a public health researcher who specialises in evidence synthesis and mobilisation. He has extensive experience of conducting systematic reviews, scoping reviews, critical reviews of theory, reviews of reviews and meta reviews, and methodological development for reviews of complex social determinants of health/health inequalities gained over 19 years at the University of Liverpool. He is a cross institute research fellow based in the Department of Public Health, Policy and systems - a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Policy Research on the Social Determinants of Health Equity, and the Department of Psychological Sciences. He conducts research and project manages programmes with the Liverpool and Lancaster Universities Collaboration for Public Health Research (LiLaC), the National Institute for Health Research School for Public Health Research (SPHR), and the ESRC What Works Centre for Wellbeing Community Wellbeing and Communities of Place evidence programmes. He is a Built Environment Expert with the Design Council CABE. He also teaches classes on evidenced-based decision-making through prospective Health Impact Assessment on the Master of Public Health programme. He originally trained as a town and country planner before developing a wide-range of research interests that include health inequalities, community wellbeing, urban health, and individual and community empowerment. Andy has spent his research career understanding the social and environmental determinants of health and wellbeing/inequalities. He has developed evidence and guidance that has informed debate and practice within the UK Parliament and the European Commission. During the COVID-19 global pandemic he is coordinating and conducting research on COVID-19 critical care outcomes, age-adjusted associations between comorbidity and severe outcomes of COVID-19, and inequalities in COVID-19 mortality related to ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation.