I studied Behavioural Ecology at degree (St. Andrews University) and PhD (University of Glasgow) level before changing my focus to human health and Social Epidemiology in 2010 when I joined the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (SPHSU), University of Glasgow on a Career Development Fellowship. In 2013 I moved to the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research & Policy (SCPHRP), University of Edinburgh, as the Research Fellow and Lead for the Working Age/Adult Life Working Group. In January 2016, I moved to become Lecturer in Public Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences & Sport, University of Stirling and then moved to a similar role in the division of Biological and Environmental Sciences in May 2021. I was appointed as a senior research fellow (MVLS Futures’ Fellow) in Health Inequalities in the School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, in August 2025.

I focus on better understanding how our social and economic environments ‘get under the skin’ to cause disease. In turn I aim for my work to help inform the development of policies and practices to tackle the resultant health inequalities created by our socioeconomic systems. Specific areas of interests include: 

• The Biology of Inequality: identifying the socioeconomic patterning of biomarkers of physiological wear-and-tear and disease risk (e.g. biological ageing, allostatic load and proteomics) and designing interventions to address these inequalities.
• Place-based Health Inequalities: examining inequalities in exposure to unhealthy places (e.g. exposure to advertisements for unhealthy commodities the outdoor environment; access to quality outdoor spaces)
• Alternative Economic Models: theorising how to redesign economic systems in service of positive health (and equity, ecology and social) outcomes.
• Health Activism: building solidarity through grassroots organising and social movements to tackle health inequalities.

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I am keen to supervise students for any research projects that include linking social and economic data (work, housing, education etc.) with health data, with the aim of helping us better understand and reduce health inequalities in society. My expertise is predominantly in quantitative methods and using biomarkers to assess physiological health, so this might include primary data collection and/or secondary data analysis of existing datasets. We already have a vast array of cohort and survey data available to analyse throughout the UK such as Understanding Society and the Scottish and English Health Surveys. However, depending on the research question I would also be happy to discuss alternative methods such as qualitative or mixed methods approaches. For example, some of my research and advocacy work looks at engagement and empowerment of community and activist groups in trying to improve health and reduce health inequalities and has utilised qualitative and participatory methods. As a PhD student, you would be based in the School of Health and Wellbeing. Please contact me if you'd like to discuss more. 

Current and completed student projects include:

• Inequalities in Allostatic Load through an Intersectional Lens (Ebenezer Essien, PhD, ongoing)

• Using remote sensing and machine learning to explore the spatial patterning of poverty and inequality (Shubham Pawar, PhD, ongoing)

• The potential of urban agroecology for health justice (Toby Pepperrell, PhD, ongoing)

• Land, food and health in a post-industrial city: community history, contamination and leveraging more equitable action in Glasgow’s urban planning agenda (Abi MacDonald, PhD, ongoing)

• Close social connections and variations in self-rated health (Laura Bryce, PhD, ongoing)

• An evaluation of the scale and spread of child neglect within Ayrshire & Arran and an exploration of factors which influence both professional and families understanding of the identification and management of child neglect (Frances Gunn, PhD, ongoing)

• Social Inequalities in Dog Bites and Strikes in Scotland (Jade Hooper, PhD, complete)

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• Allostatic load as a risk predictor for mortality (Gayle Beveridge, MPH, completed)

• Importance of context in socioeconomic patterning of allostatic load (Eleanor Watts, MPH, completed)

• Socioeconomic patterning of public transport food adverts (Kyle Lambe, MPH, completed)

• Using evaluability assessment to assess local community development health programmes (Melissa Belford, MPH, completed)

   

Editorial boards

• 2023: Longitudinal and Life Course Studies

Professional & learned societies

• 2020 - 2023: Honorary Treasurer, Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies

Supplementary

• External Examiner, Social Epidemiology MSc, UCL, 2023 - 2025.