Academic Public Health Special Interest Group

The Academic Public Health Special Interest Group was established in 2022 to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and information about academic public health training and career development across the four nations of the UK. The priorities of this SIG are to support academic public health training, development and careers.

Specifically, the SIG aims to:

  • Provide opportunities for networking and peer support (inclusive of current registrars, registrars OOP, consultants, and other public health professionals).
  • Advocate for equal access to academic development opportunities during public health speciality training.
  • Bring together academic public health professionals (including trainees) into a focal point, accessible to all, which can act as a vessel for dissemination of opportunities/events and knowledge exchange.

The SIG works with the FPH, particularly the Academic Research Committee (ARC) to:

  • Support the work of the Academic Research Committee by broadening its reach and extending access to an audience that better reflects the diversity of the UK academic public health community.
  • Build capacity for public health research in the UK.
  • Bridge the gap between research and implementation in UK public health.
  • Promote collaboration and sharing of experience/knowledge between institutions and professionals, thus reducing inequalities in training and academic opportunities across the UK

The Academic Public Health Special Interest Group is chaired by Kate Glyn-Owen, Cat Pinho-Gomes and Seb Walsh. We hold regular online events – please see the FPH events page for details. Please contact cat.pinho-gomes@kcl.ac.uk if you would like to join our meetings, or to present your work. Please note that in order to join any SIG you are required to be a member of the Faculty of Public Health.

Please fill in this form if you would like to join the SIG or join our mailing list to hear about our events.

Past webinars

This webinar, hosted by FPH's Academic Public Health SIG, took place on 19 September 2023 and focused on the use of healthcare data for public health research. Clara Fennessy, Senior Programme Manager at Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), explained HDR UK’s role and how to use their Innovation Gateway Portal to find the data you need for your research. And Dr Puja Myles, Director of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), explained what CPRD can offer and provided some reflections from her journey from public health specialty training, through academia, and to her role leading CPRD.

Dr Anika Knuppel, Senior Editor at the Lancet Public Health, explains what happens 'behind the curtains' at the Lancet Public Health after they receive a submission, what makes a good submission and what to avoid, and which are current trends in the types of paper typically submitted and published by the journal. This webinar, hosted by FPH's Academic Public Health SIG, took place on 23 February 2023.

In this webinar, Dr Richard Pinder and Dr Ellie Hothersall reflected on their careers in public health education at undergraduate and postgraduate level. They discussed the challenges as well as the benefits associated with teaching public health in higher education institutions in comparison to traditional public health careers. Their perspectives and inspiring personal stories confirmed that it is possible to have a fulfilling career in academic public health without having an interest or engaging in research.

This webinar, with Professor Rona Campbell from the University of Bristol, covers:

  • An overview of the current NIHR Public Health Research programme and infrastructure
  • The history and development of the NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR)
  • How you can get involved
  • A case study example from Dr Joanna McLaughlin

Join the SIG to be notified of upcoming webinars and to access recordings of previous webinars.

 

Further resources

Public Health Research | NIHR

Population and public health sciences – UKRI

Jobs | Job Search | Job Vacancies on jobs.ac.uk

What is an academic career? | The University of Edinburgh

Academia and Higher Education | Oxford University Careers Service

 

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