Forthcoming events
18 November 2025, 2-3pm
ARMS (Advanced Research Methodologies in Health and Biomedical Sciences) - Autumn Seminar
Dr Annalivia Polselli, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) will be discussing Estimating Causal Effects with Longitudinal Data and Endogenous Treatments: A Double Machine Learning Approach Using Instrumental Variables.
Venue: Lakeview Room, Silberrad Centre, Colchester campus
to attend
19 November 2025, 1.30-3pm
Save the date - Medical humanities network Autumn seminar
Being held jointly with the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Literary Studies.
Professor Katharine Cockin, Department of Literature Film and Theatre Studies (LiFTS), will discuss her work on Mary Murdoch.
Further details will be circulated shortly.
Thursday 11 December, 2:15-4pm
IPHW Christmas Lecture
Professor James Kirkbride, Professor of Psychiatric & Social Epidemiology at University College London - Rediscovering Lost Horizons: Charting a course for social equity in mental health.
Venue: STEM event space 3.1 (Colchester campus)
to attend
Recent activities
ºÚÁÏÍø Mental Health Research Programme - launch event, 8th October 2025
On 8 October we marked the official launch of our new five year ºÚÁÏÍø mental health research programme, funded by the NIHR. The Mental Health Research Leaders Award will explore and address mental health among coastal and marginalised young people in Essex, Thurrock & Southend. This project is a major commitment to understanding and improving mental health outcomes in places where need is high but evidence is limited. We are especially focused on factors such as isolation, wellbeing, access to services, and the particular challenges faced by young people living in coastal communities.
We are excited to be getting started with this project and it was great to see so many partners and stakeholders at the launch event, thank you for coming!
New research partnerships with drug and alcohol charities
IPHW colleagues Professor Susan McPherson and Dr Katie Peterson are working with and to support their capacity to collect and report on data, funded by Innovate UK's Accelerated Knowledge Transfer (AKT) programme. This will allow the charities to provide much needed evidence on how best to support people affected by substance use.
NIHR ARC East of England
We are delighted that the NIHR ARC East of England, which the ºÚÁÏÍø is a member of, has for a 5 year programme of work starting in 2026.
Vice-Chancellor visits the IPHW
On the 7 October we welcomed the new ºÚÁÏÍø Vice-Chancellor, Professor Frances Bowen, to the IPHW offices. She met with all the IPHW researchers and the leadership team, along with the Centre for Coastal Communities (CfCC) and the Centre for Global Health and Intersectional Equity Research (CGHIER), to discuss the strategy and priorities for the Institute and hear about the outputs and impact of IPHW research to date.
Read our latest IPHW blog
Transforming weight-loss services: voices from Southend-on-Sea by Dr Sara Jalali-Farahani, IPHW Research Fellow.
Evaluation services
‘Coast to Calm’ with Home-Start Essex
Coast to Calm is a holistic wellbeing programme that combines the proven benefits of creativity and connection with nature to improve mental health, increase physical activity and promote healthier lifestyles.
are working with our IPHW colleague Dr John Day to support and enhance the impact of the project and conduct an independent evalution, using a range of evidence based methodologies, to measure the programme’s effectiveness in improving participants’ mental health and wellbeing in an outdoor setting.
This will enable Home-Start Essex to refine their approach and respond more effectively to the needs of the families and communities they support.
The Local Ecology of Food Support in East Suffolk, with East Suffolk Council
With Dr Konstantinos Roussos (School of Health and Social Care), this project will evaluate the ecosystem in which Food Support Provision (FSP) operates in East Suffolk, examining how multiple actors and service models contribute to meeting community needs and maintaining system resilience.
The study will examine how key actors influence the organisation, accessibility, and sustainability of FSPs, and provide recommendations on how these systems support or hinder food security at the local level.
Staff updates
Welcome Vicky!
Professor Vicky Bird has joined the IPHW, to lead the new mental health research programme funded by the NIHR Mental Health Leadership Award. Working with a team of postdoctoral researchers and PhD students, Vicky will help the team tackle loneliness and social isolation among young adults in coastal communities, and contribute to the growth of the IPHW’s mental health stakeholder group across Southend, Essex and Thurrock and the expansion of its Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) network. She will also lead a programme of applied mental health research which includes quantitative and qualitative components as well as developing applied solutions, implementation and evaluation.
Also welcome Leila!
Leila Mirza has joined the IPHW team. Leila has just started as a PhD student, working with Vicky, Susan and the team on the applied mental health research programme.
And farewell...
We are sad to say goodbye to Dr Tasos Papastylianou, who has completed his three years with the IPHW as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. However we will not be losing touch with Tasos completely, as he is returning to the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering to continue his lectureship. Congratulations to Tasos on completing his pathway to permanency!
NIHR Applied Mental Health
PhD Studentships
We are offering a further 2 PhD Studentships as part of our NIHR funded programme of applied mental health research addressing key mental health challenges in Greater Essex. Each PhD will be shaped by the student, their supervisors and in collaboration with our stakeholders who include representatives from local providers of health and social care support including voluntary and third sector providers. Project topics may be proposed which link in some way to the overall focus of the programme including loneliness, social isolation, young adult mental health, mental health inequalities and coastal communities. Supervisors will be allocated from among the project team (including staff from Essex, Kings and Cambridge) based on topic and method.
Closing date: 3 November
Publication highlights
- Jalali-Farahani, S., Parvin, P., Olazadeh, K., Azizi, F. and Amiri, P., 2025. . Discover Public Health, 22(1), p.303.
- Green, M. A., Zhang, W., Moseley, P., Scott, R., Butters, O., Wang, R., ... & Geary, R. S. (2025). . Cities & Health, 1-16.
- Bulsari, Smruti, Kiran Pandya, and Anil Gumber. 2025. . Routledge: Taylor & Francis. ISBN: 978-1-003-47396-1.
- Benjamin R. Butler, Behnam Gholami, Benedict Z.W. Low, Qichang Mei, David Hollinger, Zainab Altai, David W. Evans, Bernard X.W. Liew, , Clinical Biomechanics, Volume 130, 2025.
- Wicks, C., McPherson, S., Booker, C., Trotta, A., Kumari, M. and Murray, E., (2025). . Health & Place. 95, 103501-103501
- Peterson KA, Leddy A, Hornberger M (2025) . PLOS Digit Health 4(4): e0000682
- Fakunle AG, Bello T, Ogunwale AO, Morakinyo OM, Ayinde O, Kebu SM, Arinola OP, Adeoye M, Adebayo B, Bamtefa IM, Okekunle AP, Odili A, Miller MR, Mbakwem AC, Adeoye AM. . Global Heart. 2025; 20(1): 90
We are here to answer any questions you have about the IPHW. Please email institutepublichealthwellbeing@essex.ac.uk if you have any query.
