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RESEARCH
STUDYING HEALTH
Improving men’s health and tackling childhood obesity are high on the
agenda at Leeds Metropolitan University’s newly-launched Health and
Wellbeing Institute. Julie Cramer speaks to Institute director Richard Hogston
Why did Leeds Metropolitan University
decide to launch the Health and
Wellbeing Institute
One of our key strengths is that our
research is rooted in finding solutions
that will have a real impact on communities
and businesses. Creating
the Health and Wellbeing Institute has
brought together a range of related
disciplines and made it easier for us
all to work together and to generate
and apply our research to even higher
levels of excellence.
We formally launched the Institute
in November 2011, with the backing
of Professor Mike Kelly, director at
the National Institute for health and
Clinical Excellence (NICE) and Dame
Carol Black, the first national director
for Health and Work. Both of those
endorsements were very positive in
what we’re trying to achieve.
What are your target research areas
The Institute has six distinct yet
related research themes: healthy communities;
health promotion; men’s
health; men, gender and wellbeing;
nutrition and childhood obesity; and
pain science and management. Each
theme is led by a professor.
What is the Institute’s focus
Leeds Metropolitan University’s
research foundations and strengths
are rooted in the practical implications
of research – ie ‘the doing’ – and the
impact that research has on communities,
which will be nurtured through our
work here at the Institute.
We’ve always ensured our research
focus is outward-facing into the community,
as opposed to us being a
group of unknown academics who are
never seen outside the university.
What kind of projects do you
undertake
One local project involved a health
campaign with Leeds Rhinos rugby
club and the Department of Health at
Headingley Stadium. Health MOTs and
obesity checks were offered to thousands
of fans on match days during
the rugby season. This is a key way our
research into health – and particularly
men’s health in this instance – can
make a difference in the community.
We’ve also been involved with a
similar project for several years promoting
men’s health at Premier League
football clubs (see p56), and have published
some findings related to that.
Other projects we’re involved in
include research in collaboration with
Natural England on the health benefits
of befriending schemes for the
elderly. We also have a long history of
research in the areas of prison health,
nutrition and childhood obesity.
We are much more focused on community-based
work rather than on
laboratory work and clinical trials.
How many projects is the Institute
involved in at any one time
We would normally have around 20
research projects going on at a time,
both at a local and a national level.
We recently secured a big bid to look
at the effects and cost effectiveness
of peer-based interventions to foster
and improve offender health in UK
prisons, for example.
A major study, The State of Men’s
Health in Europe, was completed last
summer, bringing together the official
epidemiological data from across
Europe. It was led by Leeds Met’s
Professor Alan White and funded by
the European Union and it attracted a
significant amount of coverage.
But we don’t just look at national
projects – closer to home we’re work-
The Institute reaches out to men through sports clubs
Professor Alan White
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