Research
With our international focus, and wide reaching networks of collaboration, the Global Health Policy Unit is uniquely placed to be a leader in cutting-edge research and global debates.
Health Policy Processes
Health policy, at any level of governance, is shaped by the policy-making process through which it is created. GHPU research highlights the importance of public participation and stakeholder dialogue in health policy-making, the relevance of policy process tools (such as impact assessments, evaluations, and consultations) in shaping policy outputs, and how approaching policy processes from different disciplinary lenses can enhance our understanding of them.
Power and Governance
Global health is profoundly shaped by power asymmetry. GHPU research seeks to help in understanding and addressing the origins, manifestations and implications of political and commercial power for global health actors and institutions. This includes multidisciplinary critical scholarship focused on global health partnerships and governance, regulatory roles of NGOs, corporate political activity, governance frameworks and meta-regulation.
Health Systems
Improving healthcare systems with a view towards ensuring universal health coverage is a global priority that requires us to engage with power structures and inequalities, gain a deeper understanding of local contextual factors, and co-produce impactful research that supports more equitable policy actions. GHPU is at the forefront of research to better support policy action in pursuit of these objectives, with a focus on community and youth perspectives, innovation, vulnerable populations, multidisciplinary approaches, and post-disaster and conflict recovery.
Commercial Determinants of Health
The political and economic power of commercial actors shapes our physical and social environments, the evidence underpinning health policy problems and their solutions, and the nature of health policy discourse and debate. GHPU is engaged in research related to the commercial determinants of health across a range of levels, from local government to global governance, and the roles of commercial actors in shaping debates and policy. This work includes understanding and mapping commercial influence through corporate social responsibility initiatives, identifying and categorising interventions related to commercial determinants of health, and developing and assessing policy tools and frameworks with civil society organisations, governments and international agencies.
Equity and Health Inequalities
Research at GHPU seeks to learn from, amplify the voices of, and improve the experiences of communities facing multiple vulnerabilities, as well as policy-makers, and health and social care providers. The goal of this work is to foster greater equity in research and practice, and address health inequalities within and across countries.
Knowledges and Epistemologies of Health
Ideas of health, illness, and healthcare, as well as what counts as good health policy research, are multiple. Different communities of practice and experience present different knowledges and ways of knowing about health. GHPU research examines: different practitioners’ and users' knowledge of health and illness; public framings and contestations; how commercial actors construct notions of health, risk and disorder to further their interest; how the construction of global health can reproduce oppressive legacies or liberate communities; researcher epistemologies and methods, and their impact; and the value and importance of bringing multiple voices and experiences into health policy research.
Care in Formal and Informal Settings
Through a mix of perspectives from anthropology, economics, sociology, and sociology, our research examines the experiences and practices of care from healthcare providers, to patients, caregivers and the wider community. Engaging with the individual and collective experience of care, broadly conceptualised to include both health and social care, GHPU research examines perspectives of: carers of infants and young children; those living with infectious and chronic disease; persons living with complex brain disorders; communities and professions affected by disaster; migrant health professionals, and; people who have experienced physical trauma. Our research also addresses how the gendered and racialised burdens of care, the non-recognition of informal care, and the public financing of care affect care experiences.
COVID-19 Research in GHPU
GHPU staff were at the forefront of research into the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking to understand its impact upon diverse health systems, social groups and policies, and to advise governments and other actors involved in responding. You can find more details about these projects here.
