Public Health and Prevention Economics Research

The Public Health and Prevention Economics Research Group (PHERG) is part of the Centre for Health Economics and Medicines Evaluation (CHEME) within the School of Medical and Health Sciences and part of the multidisciplinary Bangor Institute for Health and Medical Research (BIHMR) group. Our research adopts a life-course model applying methods of health economics evaluation to trials and other study designs in the evaluation of public health and psychosocial interventions at both programme and system level. Our research has application within the NHS, within third sector organisations, and within Government. Much of our research is funded by NIHR, HTA, charities, and Welsh Government.

COVID-19 related research and policy support activities

PHERG staff, together with staff at the North Wales Centre for Primary Care Research, as part of BIHMR and Health and Care Economics Cymru (HCEC), are providing rapid review support to theWales COVID-19 Evidence Centre.

Meet our core staff working with Professor Edwards  

• Professor Rhiannon Tudor Edwards is Professor of Health Economics and the founding Director of health economics research at Bangor University and Co-Director of CHEME, and Co-Director of Health and Care Economics Cymru (HCEC)
• Bethany Anthony is Research Officer in Health Economics with an interest in primary care.
• Dr Ned Hartfiel is Research Officer in Health Economics and Co-Lead for the CHEME Social Value Hub.
• Dr Victory Ezeofor is Mathematical/Statistical Modeller in Health Economics.
• Dr Catherine Lawrence – Reader Support and Specialist Mentor (students).
• Ann Lawton is CHEME Administrator and Administrator for Health and Care Economics Cymru (HCEC).
• Dr Llinos Haf Spencer is Research Officer in Health Economics with an interest in PPIE and use of Welsh language in research.
• Dr Lorna Tuersley is Research Officer in Health Technology Assessment with an interest in wheelchair service provision.
• Eira Winrow is Research Officer in Health Economics with an interest in social return on investment (SROI) evaluations.
• Dr Holly Whiteley is Research Officer in Health Economics with an interest in the economics in well-being, health and environmental sustainability.
• Abraham Makanjuola is Research Officer in Health Economics with an interest in social prescribing, social return on investment and evidence-based policy.

Meet our associate members of the Public Health and Prevention Economics Research network working across Bangor University and BCUHB 

• Dr Nathan Bray – Senior Lecturer in Prevention Science, Applied Learning for Preventative Health Academy (ALPHAcademy) - Intensive Learning Academy (ILA), Bangor University.
• Lucy Bryning – Research & Development Innovation Officer in Health & Wellbeing (Health Sciences), Bangor University.
• Joanne Goss, Audiology Department, BCUHB
• Dr Carys Jones – Lecturer in Prevention Science, Applied Learning for Preventative Health Academy (ALPHAcademy) - Intensive Learning Academy (ILA), Bangor University.
• Dr Mary Lynch – Senior Lecturer in Healthcare Sciences, School of Health Sciences; Wales School for Social Prescribing Research (WSSPR), Bangor University.
• Rebecca Masters, Public Health Wales
• Eira Winrow - Lecturer in Health Economics, School of Health Sciences, Bangor University.
• Dr Jo Charles is Research Fellow in Health Economics with an interest in public health and schools-based interventions.

Alumni

• Dr Gethin Griffiths, Director of Outcomes Research, GSK
• Dr Natalia Ivashikina, Senior Lecturer in Global Health Economics, Brighton and Sussex Medical School
• Huw Lloyd-Williams – Research Officer, CHEME, Bangor University
• Alan Ó Céilleachair, Researcher, University College Cork, Ireland
• Dr Laura Ternent, Senior Lecturer, Newcastle University
• Dr Laura Timmis, Research Officer, CHEME, Bangor University
• Alex Torbuck – PhD candidate, University of Rochester, New York
• Dr. Sayed Ramin Ziwary – The World Bank Young Professional Program
• Dr Jo Charles is Research Fellow in Health Economics with an interest in public health and schools-based interventions.

PGR students

• Lucy Bryning, Bangor University
• Sharon Hadley, Oxford Mindfulness Centre
• Huw Lloyd-Williams, Bangor University
• Eira Winrow, Bangor University
• Seow Tien Yeo

Postgraduate research opportunities/scholarship

• Two funded PhD studentships in public health economics at PHERG in conjunction with Hywel Dda University Health Board:
• Capturing wider value creation in the local economy by the Hywel Dda University Health Board
• The economics of rural healthcare provision: Hywel Dda University Health Board
• MRes Health Economics

Teaching

• Medical students at Bangor.
• Rhiannon offers student selected component (SSC; 2nd to 4th year) a ‘Public health and prevention economics research across the life-course’ experience project. The aim of the project is to introduce medical students to principles of public health, the importance of preventative health care, and health economics. This project takes a life-course perspective on public spending on health and social care. Eighty percent of non-communicable disease is preventable. Doctors of the future will need to focus on primary, secondary and tertiary prevention to promote health, well-being and well-becoming through the life-course. Students will gain experience in critical appraisal of published economic evaluation studies in this area to support evidence-based medicine and policy. Students will have an opportunity to join the Public Health and Prevention Economics Research network at CHEME:https://cheme.bangor.ac.uk/public-health.php.en

• Rhiannon offers bespoke lectures on public health economics and related topics:
• At Bangor University, NHS 4003 Introduction to Health Economics, taught through the School of Health Sciences Public Health and Health Promotion programme. She teaches on the Bangor University Health Services Research Summer School. Opportunities for teaching public health economics for medical students are under discussion.
• At the University of Liverpool, Masters of Public Health course.

Methodology of public health economics

• Handbooks in Health Economic Evaluation, Applied Health Economics for Public Health Practice and Research, edited by Rhiannon Tudor Edwards and Emma McIntosh, published by Oxford University Press

Health economics of well-being and well-becoming

• Upcoming: Oxford University Press (OUP) book - Health economics of well-being and well-becoming: post-pandemic opportunities for research and policy
• Social Return on Investment of Joio Dance Programme, via the Social Value Hub – current project
• New therapeutic coaching approach for improving emotional wellbeing (EMD coaching), in collaboration with Cardiff University, funder: The Accelerate Programme – current project (via the CHEME Social Value Hub)

Research projects and collaborations through the life-course

Early years and childhood

• Speak Out Stay Safe (SOSS) programme, in collaboration with the University of Central Lancashire, funded by NSPCC – current project
• Transforming Young Lives across Wales report, commissioned by Public Health Wales – completed project

Adolescents and young people

• A multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of KiVa to reduce bullying in primary schools, led by Bangor University, funded by NIHR - current project
• CHoosing Active Role Models to INspire Girls (CHARMING) – a cluster feasibility study of a schools-based community linked programme to increase physical activity in 9-11 year-old girls, in collaboration with Cardiff university, funded by Health and Care Research Wales, Welsh Government – current project

Working age

• Evaluating the health impact and cost-effectiveness of Ways-to-Wellbeing, a whole system approach to mitigate poverty over the life course, in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, funded by NIHR – current project
• Shared Roadmap for System Change, in collaboration with the University of Central Lancashire, funded by Women’s Aid and Safer Lives – current project
  Wellness in Work report, commissioned by Public Health Wales - completed project
• PROPSER, Feasibility study and pilot trial of an evidence-based low intensity psychosocial intervention delivered by lay therapists for asylum seekers and refugees (PROSPER), in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, funded by NIHR – completed project

Older age – living well for longer

• Trio Shared Lives (short breaks for people with dementia), led by Bangor University, funded by Health and Care Research Wales, Welsh Government - current project
• Promoting Activity, Independence and Stability in Early Dementia (PrAISED) research programme, in collaboration with the University of Nottingham, funded by NIHR - current project
• A randomised controlled trial and feasibility study of the effects of an e-health intervention ‘iSupport’ for reducing distress of dementia carers, especially in the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, led by Bangor University, funded by NIHR – current project
• The impact of peer support networks for those living with rare dementias, in collaboration with University College London, funded by ESRC and NIHR – current project
• Living Well for Longer report, commissioned by Public Health Wales

Where and how we die well

• Ziwary, S. R., Samad, D., Johnson, C. D., & Edwards, R. T. (2017). Impact of place of residence on place of death in Wales: an observational study. BMC Palliative Care, 16(1), 1-6.

Evaluation of medical devices and technologies

• Clinical Development of an Ultrasensitive OCT Device to Improve the Management of Eye Disease, in collaboration with the University of Liverpool – funded by HTA, current project
• PPH Butterfly: clinical testing and commercial development, lead institution University of Liverpool, in collaboration with Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the University of Liverpool – funded by NIHR, completed
• Novel treatment for peripheral arterial disease (FlowOx), in collaboration with OTIVIO AS – funded by Horizon 2020, completed

Economic evaluation of sight loss and sight preserving surgery

• Access to counselling during sight loss survey, led by Bangor University – funded by North Wales Society for the Blind, current
• Adjunctive Steroid Combination in Ocular Trauma (ASCOT), in collaboration with Moorfield’s Eye Hospital and King’s College London, funded by NIHR, current
• WASh multicentre randomised controlled trial: water-assisted sigmoidoscopy in English NHS bowel scope screening, in collaboration with University Hospital of North Tees, funded by NIHR - completed
• Routine use of Patient Concerns Inventory for head and neck cancer patients, in collaboration with Aintree Hospital, funded by NIHR, completed

Archived Projects