Programme Leader – Professor James Woodcock
Programme news
Read news and blogs about this programme’s research.
Objectives
This programme serves the following Unit Objectives as a main focus:
- To inform, develop and evaluate population-based approaches to improving health
- To develop new methods, resources and tools for epidemiological and public health research
- To investigate approaches to improving global health, particularly in low and middle income countries
It serves the following Unit Objectives as an element of the programme:
- To build capacity for conducting, understanding and using local, national, and international epidemiology and public health research
- To contribute to the translation of research evidence into policy and practice
Research
Modelling is the simulation of a partial representation of a system. It can help us answer questions that no single empirical study can answer.
Modelling enables us to estimate longer term and population wide health benefits, harms, and trade-offs of interventions, integrate evidence from different domains, test the potential for behaviour change through hypothetical ‘what if’ scenarios, and address issues of cost and cost-effectiveness. Modelling can also be used to investigate how health related practices might change in complex systems.
Modelling studies can be cheaper and quicker than real world studies and do not require the intervention to actually be implemented. They can therefore support getting the best value from intervention studies and natural experiments.
In public health modelling at the MRC Epidemiology Unit we combine evidence from many different primary studies plus insights from experts and other stakeholders. Simulation of models containing uncertainty can be used to indicate where the gaps in our knowledge are most critical for decision making.
Work with us
If you are interested in doing a summer project, short term collaboration, or longer term a PhD ora post-doctoral position with the group please get in touch.
We are particularly interested in applicants with the following skills/ to collaborate on the following topics:
- Health impact modelling
- Traffic injury simulation and analysis
- GIS and developing measures of the built environment
- Travel behaviours and data in lower and middle income countries
- Travel demand modelling
Senior team members
Researchers and PhD students
Current visitors
Former members
- Dr Leandro Garcia
- Dr Philipp Giabbanelli
- Daniel Gil
- Dr Irena Itova
- Dr Rob Johnson
- Dr SM Labib
- Dr Yuchen Li
- Annie Schiff
- Dr Anna Schroeder
- Dr Rohit Sharma
- Dr Marko Tainio
Former visitors
- Dr Sohail Ahmad
- Alexandra Bretones
- Dr Thiago Hérick de Sá
- Dr Kimihiro Hino
- Lei Li
- Luca Martial
- Elizabeth Oduala
- Dr Arno Steinacher
- Hong Tan
Group Studies, Models, Tools, and Projects
Includes:
- HD4 Healthy Design for Cities
- DARe
- UBD Policy
- GLASST (Global and Local health impact ASSessment of Transport)
- JIBE (Joining Impact models of transport to spatial measure of the Built Environment)
- Integrated Transport and Health Impact Modelling Tool (ITHIM)
- Propensity to Cycle Tool and project
- Impacts of Cycling Tool
- Full list here