Dundee is joining forces with St Andrews, harnessing expertise in both Universities to address the many elusive social factors underpinning one of the nation's most pressing areas of concern - public health.
The Universities of Dundee and St Andrews are combining their complementary strengths across a wide range of disciplines in the bold venture to create the social dimensions of health institute (SDHI) whose aims include influencing public health policy and the improvement of the nation's health.
The venture is the latest - and the most ambitious so far - to come out of the promoting partnership initiative agreed between the two universities launched with a grant from the Scottish higher education funding council in 2000.
The partners are now seeking a world class director with the vision, energy and research reputation to pilot the SDHI on a course which will make the most of the expertise and synergies it brings together. In addition to conducting novel research, the SDHI will provide a range of postgraduate courses, act as a major new focus for interdisciplinary work and work with practitioners and policy makers to solve strategically important problems.
Through the SDHI over 50 researchers across the social sciences, medical research and practice will work together to tackle issues of widespread public and political concern.
Among the many research figures involved are the following members of the interim management board:
Professor Paul Boyle - professor of human geography at St Andrews and director of the Scottish Longitudinal Study
Professor Sheila Hunt - dean of the school of nursing and midwifery at Dundee
Professor Peter Davey - professor of pharmacoeconomics and head of the health informatics centre at Dundee
Dr Alexandra Greene - medical anthropologist at St Andrews
Dr Brian Williams - behavioural science, epidemiology and public health at Dundee
Professor Frank Sullivan - head of Tayside centre for general practice at Dundee
Dr Suzanne Zeedyk - developmental psychologist at Dundee
Professor Huw Davies - professor of health care policy and management at St Andrews and director of research utilisation unit
Dr Arlene Astell - cognitive neuropsychologist at St Andrews
Chairman of the interim board, St Andrews secretary David Corner says: "By seizing a new niche in research and education, this institute exemplifies the potential of the partnership. The combination of the range of disciplines involved together with their critical mass make the SDHI a unique venture that is likely to be highly influential."
Professor Peter Davey, professor of pharmacoeconomics and director of the health informatics centre: "The formation of the SDHI comes at an especially appropriate time. Health is at the top of the Scottish Executive's agenda and is increasingly viewed as involving many factors - social, economic and psychological as well as physical. Scotland is the sick country of Europe, yet we have some of the best medical research. The SDHI will also be well positioned to benefit from Tayside's pioneering medical records system. This links information in a way which allows health researchers access to greater depth and scope of anonymised data than anywhere else in the UK. Findings from problems we tackle in Scotland also have a global significance."
Professor Sheila Hunt, dean of the school of nursing and midwifery: "There is a gulf between what we as a nation know and how we live. This institute aims to bridge that gap. It is particularly exciting to see such a venture recognise the value of the health practitioners' perspective and involve nurses, midwives and other colleagues at the research and postgraduate level."
The director of the institute will be based, along with a number of research fellows, at the University of Dundee's city centre campus in Airlie Place but the SDHI will also have nodes of activity in St Andrews. The universities have already committed significant investment to the venture.
In addition to providing a focus for collaborative research, the SDHI will organise seminars and conferences to stimulate discussion and disseminate results. Postgraduate students and researchers from medicine, social work, geography, law, psychology, management, social anthropology, nursing/midwifery and biology will come together to help Scotland become a healthier nation.