A new £9m research centre focused on tackling and reducing health inequalities in the UK has been announced, with Skills and Education Group as a key partner.

The ESRC Centre for Lifecourse Health Equity (Equalise) is led from University College London and supported by an outstanding multi-disciplinary team of researchers and associates at City St George’s, University of London, and the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde, Essex and Toulouse III Paul Sabatier in France.

Skills and Education Group is one of a team of partner organisations that includes the Health Foundation, Race Equality Foundation, Carers Trust, Eurocarers, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Disability Rights UK, Early Education and Childcare Coalition, National Literacy Trust, Women’s Budget Group, The Poverty Alliance, and Voluntary Health Scotland.

Professor Yvonne Kelly, Director  of the ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies (ICLS), and co-Director of the new Centre, said the idea for the new programme of work was forged from more than 15 years of highly impactful research at ICLS, that had already played a major role in identifying and addressing health inequalities. She added it was now time to find solutions to these clearly identified and well understood inequalities:

Despite the UK leading the way in health inequalities research, the gaps between rich and poor have widened, gains in life expectancy have stalled and poor health restricts people’s ability to participate actively and equally in society. The ESRC Centre for Lifecourse Health Equity (Equalise) seeks to change that by moving away from identifying the issues to actively addressing them. This will be done by undertaking collaborative research with our partners that generates actionable insights to redress health inequalities.

— Professor Yvonne Kelly, Director of the ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies (ICLS)

From our Foundation’s work supporting the most in need learners in the FE and Skills sector, we know the positive difference that gains in vocational education can make to an individual’s life, whether that is in health, earning potential, or in their ability to support and inspire future generations. We are thrilled to partner with the ESRC Centre/UCL to explore this impact in more detail and share our passion and experiences with a wider audience.

— Joe McLoughlin, Foundation and External Affairs Manager at Skills and Education Group

 

The Centre’s research will have 5 key themes:

  • Reducing inequalities in learning and development opportunities

  • Work and health over the lifecourse

  • Care, health and wellbeing over the lifecourse

  • Place-based inequalities

  • Research and policy synthesis

 

The Centre is staffed by leading researchers in their field, among them Professor Sir Michael Marmot, a long-term champion and advocate of an evidence-led approach to health equity. He said:

A cost-of-living crisis, a pandemic, and a decade of austerity have led to rising levels of ill-health and widening health inequalities. This new Centre is uniquely placed to coproduce a highly ambitious programme of research that can identify key points where interventions can work. It is time for health equity to become the social norm. This in turn will foster a society and an economy that are more robust to global threats and crises.

— Professor Sir Michael Marmot

 

The new Centre, which is funded by the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council, starts its five-year research programme with immediate effect.

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