Postgraduate research students

The causal links between poor health and austerity measures that were enacted in response to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 are now well established. Life expectancy improvements in many high-income countries that introduced austerity measures, including the UK, have stalled, with evidence overwhelmingly pointing to austerity as the primary cause of this.

This is a huge concern in public health and social policy, particularly as the evidence shows that declining health in poorer communities is the key driver of the overall stalling. However, the Republic of Ireland, who also implemented a seemingly strict programme of austerity, hasn’t seen life expectancy trends falter in this same way - improvements have been slower, but haven't stalled. This raises an important question about the nature of austerity and its causal relationship with health.

This project seeks to understand how different forms of austerity, within different contexts, have divergent impacts upon population health trends. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, it analyses secondary, publicly available data and triangulates this with qualitative findings from identified key informants, to help shed light on this complex relationship. A firmer understanding of austerity’s economic, political and social dimensions can help ensure future political responses to crises are effective, equitable, and don’t jeopardise future population health.

• Professor Gerard McCartney
• Dr David Walsh

External supervisors

William Ball (Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen)

URPE @ the ASSAs - January 3 – 5, 2026 (Friday – Sunday)

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Social and Public Policy 2A