SPHR Cambridge

NIHR SPHR Collaboration

Established in April 2012, the NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR) is a partnership between nine leading academic centres with excellence in applied public health research in England.

SPHR aims to increase the evidence base for cost-effective public health practice by:

  • Conducting applied public health research to increase the volume and quality of useful evidence on cost-effective interventions.
  • Creating an environment where first class applied public health research, focussed on the needs of the public, can thrive.
  • Supporting local public health practitioners and policy makers to engage with research, and actively seek out high quality research evidence to inform their decisions.
  • Contributing to ongoing efforts to build research capacity in public health research.

SPHR work in Cambridge is led by a vastly experienced team of Principal Investigators:

Current Cambridge SPHR Projects

Life-course and ageing:

  • Maximising informal volunteering as a community resource to support the mental health and wellbeing of adults across the life course. More information.

Health inequalities: 

  • Unpacking levelling up and pandemic recovery – what are local authorities doing? More information.
  • Living with housing insecurity: exploring local authority strategies for reducing housing insecurity among families with children. Read the final report.
  • The role of socioeconomic position in adolescent physical activity. More information 

Public mental health:

  • Leveraging learning from COVID-19 adaptations to maximise the use of community digital assets and virtual spaces among marginalised populations. More information or read the blog here.
  • Modelling the effectiveness of school mental health interventions. More information.

Healthy places, healthy planet:

  • Understanding representations of ultra-processed foods in the UK media: a thematic content analysis. More information.
  • Effects and mechanisms of traffic restriction schemes outside schools in Great Britain. Read a blog, article and the final report.
  • Understanding the impact of mandatory calorie labelling in out-of-home food environments in England. More information.
  • Evaluating coastal rural communities’ active and sustainable travel (COAST). More information.

Children, young people and families:

  • Evaluating the impact of active school environments on children and young people’s health. More information.
  • The role of social relationships in families with mental health conditions. More information.
  • What influences government policymaking? The case of childhood obesity in England. More information.

Policy briefings