Discover Resources by Tags: glasgow centre for population health

Number of items: 124.

GCPH 2013 Symposium: From Early Understanding to New Perspectives - A Tale of Two Cities
Justin Bradley . 07 Jan 2016 10:04

Session four in the Symposium looks at Glasgow and Gothenburg, both are similar size with similar histories. Talk covers two areas, the health impact of school food policy and sustainable public travel. Since 2005 GCPH has been helping the council evaluate the impact of healthy school meal programmes. In primary schools, pleasant eating places are very important to pupils. In Gothenburg they use a family based approach, where the teachers eat with the pupils and all are involved in serving. No food choice is given, but they can choose how much salad to eat! Their kitchens are well resourced. Packed lunches and snacks are a problem in both places. Secondary schools are a bigger challenge. Glasgow have a project to keep S1 pupils in school over lunchtime, this has big social benefits for families. The Scottish Centre for Social Research helped with this research. Is the food that pupils buy outside school healthy? They found that local shopkeepers targeted school pupils and of 45 savoury food items analysed, the nutrition content varied widely. Recommended that all primary pupils stay on site and junior secondary school pupils are encouraged to do so. Since 2005 they have been engaged in qualitative research on how people travel using sustainable public transport. They looked at ease, safety and time. Local Authorities are not following up on promoting walking and cycling, car use is going up especially among those who can afford it. Road injuries are up in poorer areas. However cycling is increasing in Glasgow. Gothenburg has a better and more integrated public transport system and actively encourages cycling. GCPH hope that the Commonwealth Games will drive improvements in our system. In closing she noted that it is beneficial to work in partnership with other bodies on common interests and mentioned the London Health Commission. She finished by pointing out that it is a good time for an issue, mentioning how the horse meat scandal has raised awareness of food labelling standards.

GCPH 2013 Symposium: From Early Understanding to New Perspectives - Connectedness: From Social Capital to Resilience
Justin Bradley . 08 Jan 2016 11:18

Session five in the Symposium. Pete is a qualitative specialist working a micro level, he gives an overview of the work he has done with the theme of connectedness and social capital. There have been many projects and partners. He gives definitions of the terms used in social capital. There is an unequal distribution of these types of links in Glasgow, people are turning inward during hard times. Does Glasgow have a form of social capital and bonding which is detrimental to health? It is too tribal, which makes it a challenge - a city of many cities. To change yourself and your health, you may have to change your social capital to get rid of harmful social networks. Gives the example of a former problem drinker. Services devised to help may not be effective due to a clash of networks. People's roles in the community may have greater social capital than those in the workplace, this can be due to fragmented employment history. Narratives can become stuck and can't develop further, such as the example of moving on from youthful binge drinking to parenthood, home ownership and so on. Social capital is an important element of resilience. We need to find places for multiple stories to flourish. Talks about the Christie Report and GCPH's work with small projects to develop recovery models. They are also trying to incorporate health economics into this work. They can use different forms of media to represent the data collected. We need to find a new story for Glasgow, one which can help us to resilience. A resilient community has a belief in its ability to adapt and thrive despite adversity.

GCPH 2013 Symposium: From Early Understanding to New Perspectives - From Calton to Iraq and Back
Justin Bradley . 23 Dec 2015 11:16

In the opening session of this Symposium, Bruce White from the Glasgow Centre for Population Health delivered a presentation on the outputs the Centre has achieved over the last nine years. ‘From Calton to Iraq and back’ detailed a number of resources including the comprehensive report ‘Let Glasgow Flourish’, the film ‘Miniature Glasgow’ and the web resource ‘Understanding Glasgow’. He spoke on how these resources had been developed, how they had been used, how they could be used and what could be learned from the information gathered as a very strong theme of inequality continually presented itself.

GCPH 2013 Symposium: From Early Understanding to New Perspectives - Inequalities: Learning from Partnership Approaches
Justin Bradley . 06 Jan 2016 14:59

Session six of the Symposium. Talks about projects on partnerships with communities done with regard to the Christie Commission. The first is the Healthy Wealthy Children Project, the second the Equally Well test site in Govanhill. Gives the background on GCPH's work in developing inequalities thinking and support partnerships. The Healthy Wealthy Children project spanned 15 months and looked at the impact on service users and models of development for community health partnerships. Partners were NHS midwives and health visitors. He describes the project. It linked issues to do with gender, lone parenthood and risk with action on inequalities and money advice services. It looked at changes in service delivery by midwives and health visitors. It led to increased access to benefits that customers were entitled to. Onward support was increased and there was a good reach to ethnic groups and lone parents. There was excellent engagement from midwives and health visitors. The Govanhill project concerned participatory budgeting and developed from work done in Brazil. It gave local people a democratic involvement in how public money was spent. GOCA was a main driver, it was facilitated by Oxfam UK and evaluated by GCPH. He explains how the money was spent. Lessons learned included that an independent facilitator was important, and that people felt empowered. The money was used wisely. Challenges included time pressures, community representation, perhaps more young people could have been involved. The Healthy Wealthy Children project is ongoing, GCPH has a light touch involvement. They are now looking at new work with the voluntary sector on the changing nature of work, in work poverty and the impact on health. The welfare reforms that are taking place in the UK are very significant with regard to public spending, work and other issues. How can the GCPH extend methods of doing things differently for the challenges ahead?

GCPH 2013 Symposium: From Early Understanding to New Perspectives - Integrating Health and Planning in Glasgow
Justin Bradley . 09 Dec 2015 13:11

The third session of the Symposium looks at integrating health into the spatial planning system. This grew from Glasgow's membership in the WHO healthy cities network. It is about planning for people - putting their needs at the centre of the system. Planners have to balance a variety of needs (such as regeneration). The aim is to create an environment where people can maximise their health. People should be allowed a say in the development of their local area. Asks if quality of place is an issue in Glasgow - yes it is. There is too much derelict and vacant land, much of which is contaminated. They need to raise awareness of the links between planning and health and build motivation to take this forward. They are also building an evidence base and trying to change the way people work - to cross professional boundaries. He gives an example, the Health Impact Assessment of the East End Local Development Strategy. The results of this fed in to all future development plans for the area. It had a workshopping approach which gave a variety of community groups an equal voice in the planning. The city council trained some of their employees in health impact assessment. They also promoted the idea of integrated infrastructure, for example combining drainage with recreational areas using canals. Glasgow is now a test site for the Equally well project. We need to find a way to move health from a competitor to economics to being a complementary part of the planning process. The Centre still has work to do and aims to build on the momentum already generated.

GCPH 2013 Symposium: From Early Understanding to New Perspectives - Professor Carol Tannahill: Director GCPH
Justin Bradley . 12 Jan 2016 10:26

In the eighth session of the Symposium, Professor Carol Tannahill, Director of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH) presents a brief review of the entire Seminar Series which started in 2004. She talks about different lectures within the Series and the unique perspective these provide especially in relation to health. In this session, Professor Tannahill draws out two sets of issues, the first relates to the context in which we are living and working, the second set relates to some direct implications for the Centre’s work. Developed in collaboration with the International Futures Forum, the Seminar Series was one of the first outputs delivered by the newly established GCPH. The first Seminar was delivered in December 2004 by A.C. Grayling, the latest in February 2013 by Professor James Curran which represented the 50th Lecture in the ninth Series. Between 2004 and 2013, presenters have included economists, geographers, historians, meteorologists, public health academics and other academics, youth workers, representatives from the creative industries, campaigners and others.

GCPH 2013 Symposium: From Early Understanding to New Perspectives - Professor Robert Macintosh: Professor of Strategy, University of Glasgow
Justin Bradley . 08 Jan 2016 10:52

In the ninth session of the Symposium, Professor Robert Macintosh provides an overview of the conversation to re-examine the strategy and future direction of the Centre. He shares his thoughts on how the Centre should move forward and talks about the position of GCPH moving from a process of understanding the problems to making a difference to those problems.

GCPH 2013 Symposium: From Early Understanding to New Perspectives - Seeking to Understand 'Excess' Mortality in Glasgow and West Central Scotland
Justin Bradley . 21 Jan 2016 11:05

In the second session of the Symposium, David Walsh of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health talks about excess mortality in Glasgow and West Central Scotland in respect of what was known when the GCPH started, what was assumed, what was done and what needs to be done. David discusses a number of reports produced externally and internally on the poor health in Scotland compared to elsewhere in Europe when looking at post industrialisation, deprivation and poverty. Important as these drivers are to explaining the poor health and high mortality rates in Scotland, other factors were indicated which led to the term ‘The Scottish Effect’. Further research then showed that mortality was still higher in Scotland than other areas of the UK. The Centre carried out two phases of work, the first quantified the level of de-industrialisation experienced in West Central Scotland and formed the basis for finding other regions across Europe which had undergone a similar process, then undertook a detailed analysis of mortality over a number of years across the different regions. The second phase focused on broader health determinants and was carried out alongside other important work on economical, historical and political factors which provided important context for the comparison of such trends. Results indicated a number of factors but also identified that similar areas in the UK had better health than West Central Scotland, work was then carried out focusing on Liverpool, Manchester and deprivation as a driver of poor health. However, results from this work were not as you may have expected as Glasgow still had the highest excess mortality rate. What we now know in respect of Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester is that although they have a similar deprivation profile, they have different mortality profiles with excess mortality across all sectors of the population in Glasgow, which is not explained by historical change in deprivation or the makeup of different populations. This forms the Centre’s continuing programme of research.

GCPH 2013 Symposium: From Early Understanding to New Perspectives - Sir John Arbuthnott, GCPH External Advisory Group
Justin Bradley . 04 Dec 2015 13:54

GCPH 2013 Symposium: From Early Understanding to New Perspectives - The Centre's Work: a Policy Perspective
Justin Bradley . 21 Jan 2016 09:38

In the seventh session of the Symposium, Sir Harry Burns gives his personal perception on the GCPH and policy. He talks about the success of the Centre and how its unique set up has led to this success, how the Centre has influenced policy by providing scientifically robust data. Referring to the recent Report, ‘Psychological Social and Biological Determinants of ill Health’, he summarises how the growing body of evidence reinforces the impact of poor early life circumstances, low socioeconomic childhood status and accumulation of risk factors; the clear association between socioeconomic status and cognitive performance; the importance of the individual and their interaction with the world around them as a determinant of health outcomes. He talks about inequalities being the outcomes of a set of processes and the consequences of these outcomes, how the cultural drivers of wellbeing are ignored as they cannot be measured in the same way as, for example unemployment and hospitalisation rates. Compassion needs to be the main driver of wellbeing in society.

GCPH Lecture 3: An Exploration of Synergistic Thinking in Public Health, Integrated Health Care, Healthy Cities
Justin Bradley . 13 Jan 2016 15:41

Public health faces many challenges today and this will intensify in the future across many different areas - cost, technology, lifestyles, expectations and so on. In this lecture, Dr Joe Ravetz proposes that we need new ways of thinking to deal with these challenges. The work undertaken by the Centre for Urban and Regional Ecology, Manchester University, over the last ten years has involved developing new ways of thinking in relation to urban policy, environment and climate policy, technology and innovation policy, etc. It is these new ways of thinking which Dr Ravetz proposes could offer more to the public health debate, for example, if we broaden the debate we can see it’s not just about health it’s about well-being, if we look at well-being it’s about communities, how they are functioning, and it’s about the people in those communities. This lecture explores the first steps in this thinking process.

GCPH Lecture 4: A Short Talk on Regulation, Exploring New and Better Ways of Delivering Regulation
Justin Bradley . 26 Jan 2016 14:45

Over the past year there has been much rhetoric on regulation, particularly in the Westminster Parliament regarding the need for deregulation. Professor James Curran MBE and Chief Executive Officer of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) discusses regulation from the perspective of regulation being good for the individual as well as for business. In this lecture, Professor Curran talks about new and better ways of delivering regulation, ways that involve every single one of us and make us all healthier and happier.

GCPH Lecture 5: How the Effects of Traumatic Stress are Transmitted to the Next Generation
Justin Bradley . 06 Jan 2016 12:28

Professor Rachel Yahuda delivers a presentation on epigenetics and the effects of stress on the next generation. She opens the lecture with a series of pictures depicting people who have just experienced a catastrophic event in their life and showing the fear, shock, helplessness and grief felt immediately after a tragedy has occurred. Professor Yahuda talks about a programme set up in the early 1990’s to help treat holocaust survivors and how the children of survivors were contacting the programme and asking for help. This presented an opportunity for scientific enquiry to provide objective data to the question of what effect did the holocaust have on the children of holocaust survivors and did this, in any way translate to a global significance to survivors of other traumatic and stressful events. She discusses the initial survey the programme carried out, the findings and further studies undertaken, and presents these detailed findings.

GCPH Seminar 1, Series 2013-2014: Reflecting on Money, Love and Virtue
Justin Bradley . 21 Jan 2016 15:59

With a background in finance and banking, Maria Pereira reflects on Money, Love and Virtue - a book she is currently writing.

GCPH Seminar 6: Medical Humanities and the 'Fifth Wave' in Public Health - Parallel Tracks?
Justin Bradley . 18 Jan 2016 09:36

In the final lecture of the 2012/2013 series of lectures provided by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH), Professor Jane MacNaughton, Medical Humanities, University of Durham, discusses the links between Medical Humanities and the idea of the Fifth Wave in Public Health. Professor MacNaughton talks about the common origins of these two areas of thinking, the parallels and commonalities in Medical Humanities and new ideas in Public Health, and then identifies the challenges, the advantages of applying both areas in practice. She talks about the differences between the medical perspective of illness and that of the patient’s perspective - their experience, the effect illness has on their ability to do things, to relate to others, to live their life as they previously did and how Medical Humanities reintroduces the human scale record into the education of medical students and doctors through the use of literature, art and philosophy to exemplify how illness is experienced and lived.

GCPH Seminar Series 15, Lecture 1: Is Basic Income Good for Your Health?
Justin Bradley . 02 Oct 2018 12:28

How will a basic income affect the health of individuals, families and communities? Will reducing poverty have an impact on mental health? Will enhancing income security improve family wellbeing? How do communities change when their most marginalised members are guaranteed a basic income? In this seminar, Evelyn Forget will share the story of how she tracked down the data from a then little-known Canadian experiment called Mincome to evaluate the impact of a basic income guarantee to some individuals in a larger city and, more importantly, to all members of a small town. The original experiment was concerned with a key question: would people continue to work if they received a basic income? Evelyn combined the original design and experimental data with health administration data not available to the original researchers to examine broader questions of individual, family and community health and wellbeing. The findings have been used to shape a new Canadian experiment and fuel other investigations of basic income around the world. As we begin to pilot basic income here in Scotland, Prof Forget’s work provides important guidance on how we might assess the impact of an ambitious, complex and wide-ranging initiative. Evelyn L Forget is professor of economics and community health sciences at the University of Manitoba Canada, and author of ‘The Town with No Poverty’, a re-examination of the Mincome Basic Income experiment. Her most recent work examines the relationships between poverty, inequality, health and social outcomes. She is a member of the Ontario Basic Income evaluation team, and is widely called upon by governments, First Nations and international bodies for advice on basic income, social security and social experimentation.

GCPH Seminar Series 15, Lecture 2 16th January 2019: Health, climate change and sustainable development: engaging policy-makers, politicians, the public and private sectors.
Justin Bradley . 17 Jan 2019 12:08

Despite the strength of the evidence, and the clear health benefits for taking action; health professionals have been reluctant and inconsistent in framing climate change and unsustainable development as health issues. The science concerning the problems of pollution, loss of biodiversity, and dangerous climate change grows daily. However, this seems not to be matched by the science of how best to implement what actually works best in protecting all living systems at the same time as promoting health, wellbeing and social justice across time and space. David used specific case studies to illustrate both the problems and opportunities associated with the transformational change that is needed at all levels of society. He highlighted the more creative, diverse methods and business models being used – legally, economically, and behaviourally, both within health and care systems, and more broadly. These case studies are largely drawn from the first ten years’ experience of the NHS / Public Health England Sustainable Development Unit, and some from more global initiatives.

GCPH Seminar Series 15, Lecture 3, 5 March 2019: Why there is no such thing as financial exclusion.
Justin Bradley . 06 Mar 2019 14:04

In this lecture, Faisel Rahman OBE talked about his experience of building Fair Finance, how his clients have changed over the last 15 years, what he has learnt about financial products in poor communities, and why he thinks financial exclusion is probably the wrong term for this work. Faisel also touched on financial wellbeing and why a holistic approach is needed to be successful in this work. Faisel Rahman has worked in the field of financial exclusion for nearly 20 years. Initially with the Grameen and World Bank in Bangladesh, for the last 17 years he has focused his work in the UK and Europe. In 2000 he set up the first microcredit programme in London’s east end, and in 2005 launched Fair Finance, a social enterprise tackling financial exclusion in the UK. Faisel was the elected President of the European Microfinance Network (2010-2015), was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 2007, and was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2009. In 2014 he was awarded an OBE for services to Community Finance. In 2015 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of East London.

GCPH Seminar Series 15, Lecture 4, April 2019: From Silence to Speaking: on Silences, Health and the Importance of Being Heard.
Justin Bradley . 23 Apr 2019 10:01

The scale and impact of health inequalities in Scotland is well understood: the gaps in healthy life expectancy between our communities are unjust and avoidable. Much of the work on health inequalities has tended to focus on socioeconomic circumstances as a fundamental cause. However a wide range of social circumstances impact on health, including visible identities and the impact of prejudice and discrimination. In this seminar, Professor Laura Serrant explores the issue of health inequalities though the lens of race and inter-sectional identities. She draws on both her personal and professional experience as a Black practitioner to explore why the experiences of some groups and individuals are missing from health research, professional leadership and service development. She uses her considerable experience to explore the importance of breaking silences to develop our understanding and ask whether we need to reflect more on our own identities as part of our practice, as well as that of our communities. The everyday experiences of racism can impact on the health and wellbeing of those racialised. It is important that policy-makers, researchers, service-planners and employers acknowledge the need for a deeper understanding of what is required by organisations in order to serve diverse perspectives in our systems of healthcare.

GCPH Seminar Series 15, Lecture 5, May 2019: What do we need to do Differently to Tackle Obesity Equitably? - New Thinking for Next Steps.
Justin Bradley . 29 May 2019 07:41

Much progress has been made locally, nationally and globally in developing and delivering policies and interventions to prevent obesity. Yet the effectiveness of existing actions remains modest. Importantly, the latest data from Scotland and elsewhere indicates that inequality is rising, with the proportion of children at risk of being affected by overweight or obesity increasing in the most deprived areas while it declines in the least deprived places. This indicates new thinking is needed to tackle the challenge. But how does the thinking - and the doing - really need to change to tackle the problem? Based on 20 years of working in the field, Corinna will outline her thinking on what needs to be done differently to tackle obesity, equitably. She will explore the fundamentals of what this means for acting differently, through engaging with people affected by the problem, taking a more systems-based approach and aligning with economic goals. She will highlight not just what needs to be done, but how it needs to be done differently. Corinna will draw on both her research and practice and provide, as an example of the new thinking, the work of the London Child Obesity Taskforce. Corinna Hawkes is Professor of Food Policy and Director, Centre for Food Policy at City University of London. She is Vice Chair of the London Child Obesity Taskforce and a Distinguished Fellow at the George Institute for Global Health. She is Co-Investigator of the NIHR-funded Obesity Policy Research Unit and was a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Obesity. Between 2015-18 she was Co-Chair of the Global Nutrition Report. Her expertise lies in the development and design of public policies and actions throughout the food system to improve diets around the world.

GCPH Seminar Series 1: Changing Ideas - Changing Health
Justin Bradley . 07 Oct 2015 13:27

Central to this lecture was the premise that there is a strong connection between science and culture: how people think about the world is closely related to how they value and think about other things as well. Glouberman focused on changing perceptions of order and disorder, the environment and identity through the ages. The implications of the interaction between these three ideas and our view of health were explored.

GCPH Seminar Series 1: Happiness
Justin Bradley . 07 Oct 2015 13:40

Prof Layard believes that the happiness of society does not necessarily equate to its income. Most people want more income, yet, as societies become richer, they do not become happier. Evidence from a range of sources shows that, on average, people have grown no happier in the last fifty years, even as average incomes have more than doubled. In fact, many countries have more depression, more alcoholism and more crime than fifty years ago. This paradox is true of Britain, the United States, continental Europe and Japan. In this lecture Prof Layard discussed both explanations of and remedies for this phenomenon including serious efforts by civic authorities to promote more pro-social cultures among children and young people.

GCPH Seminar Series 1: How Stress Gets Under Your Skin - Psychobiological Studies of Social Status, Stress and Health
Justin Bradley . 07 Oct 2015 14:07

This lecture explored the relationships between psychology, biology, physiology and socio-economic status. Prof Steptoe shared many interesting insights concerning health and health inequality, developed by the emerging field of psychobiology.

GCPH Seminar Series 1: Imagine the Perfect Polis - Creating Health in the City
Justin Bradley . 06 Oct 2015 14:41

The opening lecture of the seminar series, given by Prof Anthony Grayling, looked at the history of the city and what it can teach us about the search for the good life. Central to this was consideration of what a 'community setting' should best be like to ensure that individual flourishing and wellbeing happens.

GCPH Seminar Series 1: Minding the Future
Justin Bradley . 07 Oct 2015 14:02

Ours is an age of complexity, uncertainty and rapid change. Our response to these conditions has also made ours an age of anxiety, the effects of which are to be found everywhere - deteriorating mental health, increasing crime, a global environment under strain, the persistence and deepening of unequal patterns of distribution in income, wealth and well-being. In this lecture Maureen O'Hara presented a fresh look at these challenges and suggested that, if we can come to understand them in a different light, they offer the hope of transformation.

GCPH Seminar Series 2013-14: Does Austerity Harm Health?
Justin Bradley . 25 Jan 2016 14:37

Dr Aaron Reeves, post-doctoral researcher at Oxford University delivers this lecture on the impact recession and austerity have on health. His work looks at the relationship between politics, economics, society and specifically how these three things impact health. He talks about the evidence which shows recessions harm health but that austerity exacerbates the impact of the recession; suicide, HIV and Aids rates increase in some countries, mental health general deteriorates and people struggle to access health care they desperately need. He talks about austerity making this worse as it hurts the most vulnerable by removing the support and protection from the economic shock of the recession. In this lecture, Dr. Reeves puts forward the case that austerity does harm health but that is a choice we make and we can change how our governments respond to the recession and recessions in the future.

GCPH Seminar Series 2013-14: Healthy Cognitive Ageing
Justin Bradley . 25 Jan 2016 12:42

Professor Ian Deary, Director of The Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology at Edinburgh University, presents this lecture on healthy cognitive ageing and principally, the research carried out on the Lothian birth cohorts of 1921 and 1936. He talks about the Scottish Mental Surveys of 1932 and 1947, the Murray House Test No.12 and how Scotland is unique in having twice measured the IQ of the entire nation. Professor Deary's lecture looks at four different areas that might be helpful in learning how we best can optimally cognitively age. These areas are lifestyle factors, biomedical factors, brain imaging and genetics.

GCPH Seminar Series 2013-14: Nourishing the City - The Rise of the Urban Food Question: introduction video
Justin Bradley . 25 Jan 2016 16:16

Kevin Morgan, Professor of Governance at Cardiff University delivers this lecture on Urban Food Policy. He looks at the rise of the city as a new player in the food policy debate taking the experiences of London, New York, Toronto and distils some of the lessons learned for cities in UK. He talks about the role of cities in the food system and argues that this is one of the most important topics in the debate on sustainability. He discuses how food has moved from the margins to mainstream of our political agendas, gives a 'cooks tour' of what cities are doing in the global north and south, returns to the UK to discuss the rise of the food movement and talks about new forms of food governance which are still below the radar of mainstream politics. His talk takes in developments in Malmo, Sweden, which aims to reinvent a sustainable, cost effective and affordable school meal system, the joint venture undertaken with Bristol, setting up the first Food Policy Council in the UK, the Brighton model which has a turnover of £1million p/a and a permanent paid staff. He ends his talk on the recent launch of the Sustainable Cities Network which helps cities learn good practice as part of peer-to-peer learning, raises the profile as cities as proper actors in food policy debates, and strengthens the voice of cities in these debates in the UK.

GCPH Seminar Series 2013-14: The Power of Cultural Disruption - Full Video
Justin Bradley . 25 Jan 2016 15:24

In Lecture 5 of this series, Helen Marriage, co-founder of Artichoke, discusses her experiences of getting art forms into the larger community rather than limiting art to a small percentage of the population. Artichoke is a creative company that works with artists to invade public spaces and put on extraordinary events that live on in people's memories. She discusses how through art, whole communities can be engaged and bridges built in disenfranchised local communities. She talks about her experiences at Canary Wharf and Salisbury, about putting the work of local artists in front of the population and using art to disrupt people’s expectations, learning to understand other people’s point of view and getting endorsement for projects from someone the community trust. She talks about various events Artichoke has produced, shows a video of the Elephant Story delivered in London, discusses the problems, challenges and assumptions made about inserting an event into the everyday life of a city, about not getting dissuaded but remembering that these are our streets, our public services, the responsibility that comes with producing these events. She presents other events and talks about the lasting effect these experiences have on people, communities, the happiness, joy and pride people have, the legacy and cultural changes that result due to spectacular, provocative and ephemeral events and argues that cuts to arts and culture funding are not the easy option they may be perceived as.

GCPH Seminar Series 2013-14: Who are the Real Insane?
Justin Bradley . 25 Jan 2016 09:47

Dr Mannie Sher, a Director from the Tavistock Institution of Human Relations in London, presents this lecture on 'Who are the real insane? Our perceptions of disordered thinking and behaviour as defences against imagination'. The Tavistock Institute is concerned with a broad range of issues through activities involving research, organisational and change consultancy primarily in the Public Sector. With a background as a pyschoanalyst, Dr Sher brings these perspectives to bear on the work he does with large complex organisations which he discuses in this lecture, looking at examples where mental health issues are central to the organisations concerned.

GCPH Seminar Series 2013: Food Summit Film
Justin Bradley . 08 Jan 2016 15:22

Five schools from Glasgow were invited to The Lighthouse, Glasgow, to share the views of young people on issues to do with food. The young people took part in The Glasgow Game, based on The Understanding Glasgow website which identifies twelve dimensions of life in Glasgow. These aspects are then used to initiate discussion around the key trends, concerns and differences that could be made to Glasgow.

GCPH Seminar Series 2014-2015: Land Reform as an Engine of Economic Progress
Justin Bradley . 27 Jan 2016 08:51

GCPH Seminar Series 2014-2015: Lecture 2 - Nature, Nurture and Society
Justin Bradley . 26 Jan 2016 11:31

In Lecture 2 of the 2014-2015 Seminar Series, Byron Vincent, writer and performer, delivers a talk on Nature, Nurture and Society. He first talks about his experience of growing up on sink estates and how environment often shapes behaviour and discuses what can be done about that. In the second part he talks about his diagnoses of Bipolar disorder and Post Traumatic Stress disorder, his experience within the mental health system and changes that could be made for the better.

GCPH Seminar Series 2014-2015: Lecture 3 - Economies of Dignity
Justin Bradley . 26 Jan 2016 15:46

In Lecture 3 of the 2014-2015 Seminar Series, Marilyn Waring, Professor of Public Policy AUT University, Auckland New Zealand, delivers a presentation on the Economics of Dignity. The dignity discussed concerns those people who are care givers and in particular, children and the question of children's agency. Professor Waring relates this to the new provisions in Scotland for carers and young carers and poses questions about their dignity.

GCPH Seminar Series 2014-2015: Lecture 6: Experience Shapes the Brain Across the Lifecourse; Epigenetics, Biological Embedding and Cumulative Change.
Justin Bradley . 16 Mar 2016 12:26

In Lecture 6, the final lecture of Seminar Series 2014-2015, Professor Bruce S. McEwen delivers a talk on how experience shapes the brain across the lifecourse; epigenetics, biological embedding and cumulative change. Professor McEwen is a neuroscientist at The Rockefeller University, New York. He studies the brain and in this lecture, discusses how the social environment affects the brain and through the brain, affects the rest of the body, health and disease through the lifecourse. He also introduces the concept of epigenetics which concerns how environmental factors regulate expression of genes and effect brain and body function.

GCPH Seminar Series 2014-2015: Re-imaging Justice for Women
Justin Bradley . 24 Mar 2016 16:24

The fifth lecture of the 2014-2015 Seminar Series is delivered by Linda de Caesteker, Director of Public Health, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Linda talks about justice for women and in particular, the Commission for Women Offenders that she was part of. One of the recommendations of the Commission was to establish Community Justice Centres, along with Linda, colleagues from Tomorrow's Women, the Community Justice Centre in Glasgow, discuss their experiences of working in and also using the Centre.

GCPH Seminar Series 2014-2015: What Have we Learned from 10yrs of GCPH Seminars and What Does it Mean for Scotland’s Health?
Justin Bradley . 26 Jan 2016 09:24

In the first lecture of this Seminar Series 2014-2015, Phil Hanlon, Professor of Public Health at Glasgow University, delivers a review of the first 10 years of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH). GCPH was established 10 years ago to create fresh thinking in the confrontation of Glasgow's intractable public health problems. The Seminar Series has been one of the chief ways in which this fresh thinking has been developed and shared. He discusses what has been learned and the implications of what has been learned for the health of Glasgow. He suggests a large number of themes that matter, for example, history, determinants of health, economy, inner life, transformational change and resilience, ecology. He discusses how these themes have given a fresh perspective on what needs to happen in Glasgow.

GCPH Seminar Series 2015-2016, Lecture 3: Poverty in the UK is costly, risky and wasteful, but not inevitable.
Justin Bradley . 21 Jan 2016 12:19

Julia Unwin CBE, Chief Executive of The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, delivers the third lecture in this Seminar Series. Julia discuses the great opportunity Scotland now has to do something positive about poverty and in particular, how people, communities, governments, businesses and housing providers can contribute towards a poverty-free Scotland.

GCPH Seminar Series 2015-2016, Lecture 4: Mobilising Dissent: Social Activism in a Global Age
Justin Bradley . 25 Feb 2016 15:32

Geoffrey Pleyers, FNRS Researcher & Associate Professor of Sociology, Universite de Louvain, Belgium delivers the fourth lecture in this Seminar Series. He addressed the following question: If we are discontent with the present order of things, particularly the overarching structures and mindset of neoliberal globalisation, how can we become effective agents of change when decisions that matter are as likely to be taken in Washington, New York, Beijing or Brussels as they are in London, Edinburgh or Govan?

GCPH Seminar Series 2015-2016, Lecture 6: How ACEs and the 'Theory of Everything' can help build healthy communities
Justin Bradley . 22 Apr 2016 12:44

Jane Ellen Stevens, founder and publisher of the ACEs Connection Network, which focuses on research about adverse childhood experiences and how people are implementing trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on that research, delivers the sixth and final lecture of this Seminar Series. We are entering an age that might be the modern equivalent of the Renaissance, a new understanding about ourselves, why we behave the way we do, and how we can solve our most intractable problems, such as poverty, chronic disease, mental illness, and violence. Some people call this new understanding the “theory of everything”, a “unified science” of human development. This understanding will have a profound impact on our lives, and already is, in astounding ways. The five parts of this “theory of everything” are the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study) and subsequent ACE surveys and studies (epidemiology); how toxic stress from ACEs affects the brain (neurobiology) and the body (biomedical consequences of toxic stress); how ACEs are passed from one generation to the next (epigenetic consequences of toxic stress); and resilience research, which takes advantage of the brain being plastic and the body wanting to heal. Based on this research, people, organizations and communities are putting into place trauma-informed and resilience-building practices that are already showing remarkable results, as long as those practices integrate an understanding of ACEs.

GCPH Seminar Series 2016-2017, Lecture 1: Mobilising healthy communities
Justin Bradley . 11 Nov 2016 10:57

In this seminar, Ian shared some insights from the work of Bromley by Bow Health Partnership in East London including social prescribing, methods of co-production and work on integrating across a bio-medical approach and a community approach. He talked about a process of organisational change that they have embarked on which seeks to re-situate them as enablers of wellbeing rather than providers of health products.

GCPH Seminar Series 2016-2017, Lecture 2: Re-imagining the NHS: Lessons from General Practice at the Deep End
Justin Bradley . 12 Dec 2016 11:19

Looks at the challenges facing today's NHS.

GCPH Seminar Series 2016-2017, Lecture 3: City neighbourhoods made by everyone for everyone.
Justin Bradley . 18 Jan 2017 09:12

Tessy Britton, Founder of Participatory City, London delivers the third lecture in this Seminar Series. Tessy describes the work of Participatory City and shares the research and analysis which has led to the development of a large scale Demonstration Neighbourhood in London. Participatory City is creating new structures designed to scale up practical participation, building collaborative activity into the fabric of everyday life and changing how we work together to achieve a more equal society. We all believe that people doing more things together will make our own and each other’s lives better. However, participation in neighbourhood projects is low. Wide spread participation in neighbourhoods is difficult to achieve and remains small and fragmented. While we stay attached to the notion of top down and bottom up we won’t be able to change the situation. Unless we redesign how participation works and invest in it properly we won’t be able to fully realise its potential as a key building block for building sustainable cities of the future. Realising the vision we have of vibrant places, made by everyone, for everyone, will require fundamentally changing the structures through which we work together.

GCPH Seminar Series 2016-2017, Lecture 5: Inequality and Scotland - measures of despair and signs of hope.
Justin Bradley . 28 Mar 2017 08:33

The talk describes recent trends in inequality and health in affluent countries and suggests that the UK and USA have become very unusual compared with global trends - with Scotland suffering as a result. There are signs of hope that people in these two, no longer very united, states are now beginning to realise that the growth of inequalities has caused, and is still causing, widespread harm. Signs of hope from elsewhere in the world where inequalities in many other places are much lower and/or falling are also explored.

GCPH Seminar Series 2016-2017, Lecture 6: 'Can do' - Flourishing in the 21st Century.
Justin Bradley . 26 Apr 2017 10:44

Drawing on recent research on learning-through-doing, and on projects that bridge craft and health, this lecture explores what craft contributes to wellbeing and flourishing lives.

GCPH Seminar Series 2017-2018, Lecture 1: The journey from prison to parliament.
Justin Bradley . 26 Oct 2017 10:19

The majority of people in Scotland’s prisons come from marginalised communities of profound deprivation and poverty. Their lives are generally shorter, their levels of addiction higher and their mental health wellbeing poorer than the wider population. This raises questions as to whether incarceration is a civilised and just response to structural disadvantage. Can the experience of prison be reimagined to set people on positive trajectories? And if so, how can the range of other services tasked with transforming lives understand the place of ‘dark experiences’? This talk will explore and share some of the progress that has been made in changes to Scottish policy, practice and legislation by sharing the lived dark experience of punishment with those who can bring about purposeful and systemic change. It will consider ways the involvement of people who do not see themselves as having a role to play in justice could bring about a reduction in offending and re-offending in Scotland. It will explore the role of prison as a step on a road to change, thereby reducing the number of victims and levels of harm.

GCPH Seminar Series 2017-2018, Lecture 2: Museums and Public Health in Glasgow - the Lessons of History.
Justin Bradley . 07 Dec 2017 10:43

Mark is the former Head of Glasgow Museums and Associate Professor, College of Arts, University of Glasgow. Museums all over the world are developing projects and programmes aiming to improve the health and wellbeing of their visitors, from dementia-friendly tours to art therapy, and from exhibitions promoting healthy living, to projects for people with mental health issues. Can museums make a difference to health and wellbeing? Even if they can, do museums have the capacity to make a real difference at a population level? This talk explored historical and recent evidence to formulate some conclusions about the potential of museums to improve health and wellbeing. Using Glasgow as an example, this talk explored the connected histories of public health and public museums, as products of the Victorian era. Leading politicians of the time made an explicit link between cultural provision, and museums in particular, with public health. But were they right to do so? The second theme of this talk was recent epidemiological evidence that cultural attendance – simply visiting a museum or art gallery – has an influence on people’s health to such an extent that regular attenders live longer than infrequent visitors. Today we face different disease challenges than those that faced the Victorians. The emergent disease conditions of the 21st century are poor mental health, loneliness, suicide, substance abuse and obesity. Against such a backdrop, what is the contemporary role of museums as part of a shared public sector contribution to human flourishing? And if museums do really make a difference to health and wellbeing, how can we maximise that contribution?

GCPH Seminar Series 2017-2018, Lecture 3: 21st Century Children - the State of Play.
Justin Bradley . 22 Feb 2018 08:59

Sue is the Chair of Upstart Scotland. Over the last few decades, evidence has been steadily growing on the importance of play in child development. Simultaneously, opportunities for children to engage in active, creative, outdoor play have declined and, in many cases, have disappeared from young children’s lives. Since we now know that this sort of ‘real play’ (especially in early childhood) is extremely important for children’s long-term physical and mental health, it is becoming a matter of urgency to find ways of reinstating it into children’s lives. In this seminar, Sue Palmer argues that the most effective way to reinstate play at the heart of early childhood is to introduce a Nordic-style kindergarten stage for 3-7 year-olds, with particular emphasis on outdoor play. As well as the undoubted health benefits of such a culture change, the evidence suggests it would also bring educational benefits, including a narrowing of the current ‘attainment gap’ between rich and poor.

GCPH Seminar Series 2: Civic Humanism and Conversation About the Good Life
Justin Bradley . 08 Oct 2015 12:51

In aiming to promote conversation within a community about how life practices can be changed for the better health and flourishing of its individual members, a crucial question is how that conversation is initiated, and by whom. A rich source of ideas is provided by looking at examples of thinking about "promoting the good life" in the Western tradition, especially in Renaissance humanism and the eighteenth century debate about the role of the arts. This lecture will focus on these debates and their contemporary relevance.

GCPH Seminar Series 2: The Global Health Challenge - Why We Need Good Governance for Health
Justin Bradley . 08 Oct 2015 08:25

From a starting point that emphasised the changing nature of the world and the globalisation of everyday life, this lecture demonstrated the many ways in which globalisation impacts on health, and health impacts on globalisation. Dr Kickbusch explored the implications of 'good global governance for health', and the possibility of achieving a global healthy treaty.

GCPH Seminar Series 2: The Transformation of Scotland: 1980-2005
Justin Bradley . 08 Oct 2015 08:23

In this lecture, Prof Devine argued that over the past twenty five years Scotland has undergone a remarkable series of changes in economy, society and culture. While they are similar in scope and scale to those of the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, they have largely been unnoticed or ignored. Prof Devine asked the questions 'how did we arrive here?' and 'how does this view sit with the more usual view of Scotland as a downtrodden underperforming underdog?'.

GCPH Seminar Series 2: Urban Vision and Public Health - Designing and Building Wholesome Places
Justin Bradley . 08 Oct 2015 08:32

This lecture examined the effects of urban design on health, placing it in the larger context of planning and public health, and proposed solutions that combine public health and urban planning strategies relevant for the 21st century. Dr Frumkin spoke of public health lying at the heart of urban planning in the early 20th century, but since then, the growth of cities has occurred in relatively unplanned ways. Urban sprawl - the expansion of cities into rural areas, heavy reliance on automobiles, low-density, low-mix land use patterns - represents one extreme, especially in North America and Australia, but increasingly in Europe as well. At the other extreme we have high density, overcrowded, creaking infrastructure. Frumkin described how urban planning and design may affect health in a variety of ways: threatening air quality, impeding physical activity, increasing injury risks, and eroding social capital are but a few examples.

GCPH Seminar Series 2: Where's the Evidence - The Contribution of Lay Knowledge to Reducing Health Inequalities
Justin Bradley . 08 Oct 2015 08:06

This lecture presented the case for lay knowledge and theories to be taken more seriously. Professor Popay argued that lay knowledge is sophisticated, helps to answer questions about meaning and experience, and should be treated as an equal but different voice in informing decision-making about policy and practice.

GCPH Seminar Series 3: Belonging to One Another - Principles and Practices for Engaging the Other
Justin Bradley . 09 Oct 2015 13:57

In a city which prides itself on friendliness and yet has inequalities in health which persist despite our best attempts to tackle them, questions about our relationships to others are of key significance.This issue of otherness is ancient and contemporary, local as well as global, and of significance both in everyday life and periods of cultural crisis. In this lecture, Aftab Omer will consider how to develop core principles and practices that are responsive to the challenges of otherness both within the city and beyond. The diversity we see in the human race is often treated as a problem rather than an asset. For example, we see this in various forms of social oppression such as inequality, racism and cultural trauma. Omer argues that responding effectively to the fragmentation that characterises this global cultural crisis, calls for leadership that practices a profound engagement with all that is other. Such a perspective will raise important insights and questions about how people, organisations and cultures relate to each other, with important consequences for the pursuit of wellbeing.

GCPH Seminar Series 3: Creative Communities - Design, Technology and Wellbeing
Justin Bradley . 09 Oct 2015 10:27

In this lecture Professor McAra-McWilliam explored the application of creativity and imagination in addressing complex challenges in a world that is perceived to be increasingly uncertain and undergoing rapid change. Using her own work on the Creative Imagination, she argued that design processes can generate alternative directions and visions, based on the values which we want to support in our societies. These can therefore work as antidotes and alternatives within the discourse of globalisation and individualisation. This lecture used case studies from McAra-McWilliam's work with Hewlett Packard, Philips and the European Union Connected Community research programme which she pioneered. These examples explored how design can foster social and technological innovation with properties which enhance wellbeing.

GCPH Seminar Series 3: Of Molecules and Mind -Stress, the Individual and the Social Environment
Justin Bradley . 09 Oct 2015 10:30

Stress is a condition of the mind that differs among individuals and reflects not only major life events but also the conflicts and pressures of daily life that elevate physiological systems so as to cause a chronic stress burden. This burden reflects not only the impact of life experiences but also of genetic load and early life experiences that set life-long patterns of behaviours and physiological reactivity. While hormones associated with the chronic stress burden protect the body in the short-run and promote adaptation, in the long run they promote changes in the body that impair function, for the immune system and the brain. In this lecture, Professor McEwen will discuss how social ordering in human society is associated with gradients of disease, and describe the relationship between mortality, morbidity and socioeconomic status. Though these relationships are complex, Professor McEwen will argue that they are likely to reflect, not only differences in lifestyle, but also the cumulative burden of coping with limited resources and negative life events and the resulting chronic impact on physiological systems of adaptation.

GCPH Seminar Series 3: Social Change from the Inside Out
Justin Bradley . 09 Oct 2015 07:35

Jerry Sternin argued that traditional expert-driven models for individual, social and organisational change often don't work. The Positive Deviance approach builds on successful but "deviant" (different) practices and strategies that are identified from within the community or institution. Positive Deviance is based on the belief that in every community, organisation, business or group, there are individuals or entities whose uncommon, but demonstrably successful behaviours or strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their neighbours or colleagues who have access to exactly the same resources. How does this happen? What can we learn from it? Could it work in Glasgow?

GCPH Seminar Series 3: The Crisis of Confidence in Public Health Policy and Practice - the Search for a New Paradigm
Justin Bradley . 09 Oct 2015 10:35

Public health is facing a cruel paradox. On the one hand, concern about the public's health has never been higher and issues like obesity, alcohol misuse, growing inequalities in health, and environmental degradation compete for attention on the policy agenda. On the other hand, there is widespread dismay over the means available to address these complex public health challenges. Either they seem inadequate for the task or they are poorly implemented. Whether it is the workforce charged with health improvement and its fitness for purpose, the slender finances available for public health causes, the weak incentive structure to bring about the shift from sickness to health, or the ethical tension between the nanny state and the individual in making lifestyle choices, those engaged in improving the public's health have arguably never worked in such a fraught and confused environment. In this seminar Prof Hunter will explore whether we need a new approach to health leadership and governance in order to provide public health policy with a new sense of purpose and the means to succeed. Does the political will exist to undertake the necessary action? Or is the "culture of contentment" too entrenched to bring about the necessary paradigm shift?

GCPH Seminar Series 3: Towards Ethical Economics - An Initial Exploration
Justin Bradley . 09 Oct 2015 10:56

It seems we are in trouble. Two recent reports, the Stern Report on the economic impact of climate change for the UK Treasury and that of International Panel on Climate Change‚ suggest that human activity has serious environmental consequences, such as global warming. The almost insatiable demands on natural resources by giant emerging economies like China and India are new as is that in East Europe. Yet more than two billion people still live in abject poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Their basic needs and demands must be fulfilled. Can all of this be sustained in the context of inexorable GDP growth being the exclusive measure of material fulfilment and happiness? How can we find an ethical economic response when demands are increasing, resources are declining and damage to the fabric of the ecosphere on which we all depend upon for life is becoming obvious? One way forward is suggested by the traditional Indian thought of humans being a part of nature and therefore helping to sustain it. A starting point may to be distinguish between demands and needs. While demands can be infinite and never satisfied, needs are finite and can be met within the sustainable paradigm. The important task of defining these needs raises questions of ethics. How can we address environmental, social and economic questions simultaneously? The challenge is to try and develop a set of ethical values or even a way of thinking that is broadly acceptable, practical and yet encourages us to continue our search for answers to the unknown in the universe both within and without. The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) is one of India's leading economic policy think tanks and Rajiv Kumar, a graduate of Oxford and Lucknow Universities has recently been advising the President of India on Globalisation, based on scenarios for Indian development which he developed with others for the World Economic Forum. In this lecture he will combine his extensive economic experience with his interest in human flourishing to explore these issues and their implications for wellbeing.

GCPH Seminar Series 4: Learning to Live with an Angry Planet - Human Relations with the Earth in the Past and Future
Justin Bradley . 09 Oct 2015 14:54

Humanity has now become as powerful a geological agent in shaping the operation of the planet as the oceans, ice sheets and rivers, to the extent that many believe we have entered a new geological era. What is happening to the planet? How confident are we that we understand the changes, and how should we respond to them if the science is uncertain? These matters have important economic, social and philosophical implications, and present unique political problems (the recent flooding is a small-scale example). How should we respond?

GCPH Seminar Series 4: Positive and Negative Stress Alter Brain Structure
Justin Bradley . 19 Oct 2015 09:05

Individual differences in response to stressful experiences are a hallmark of the human condition. The same experiences that some people find aversive are considered neutral or rewarding by others. Paradoxically, experiences that are rewarding can also be defined as stressful because they activate stress hormone systems, such as the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. Despite this activation, however, the brain is often buffered against the negative effects of high stress hormones when the experience is perceived as rewarding or "positive". The adult brain is structurally plastic, undergoing changes in the birth of new neurons, a process called neurogenesis, and remodelling of dendrites. Positive and negative stress can modulate brain structure and these changes are believed to participate in cognitive function (the processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning) and mood regulation. In this lecture, Professor Gould will discuss the influence of stress hormones on plasticity in the adult brain under aversive and rewarding conditions. Negative stress inhibits adult neurogenesis and results in atrophy of some types of neurons as a result of elevated levels of stress hormones. While positive stress results in even greater increases in such levels, these experiences are associated with brain growth. Professor Gould will argue that the effects of stress on the brain are complex and can be mediated by the social context, which may buffer the brain from negative consequences.

GCPH Seminar Series 4: Seeing Like a State - Why Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
Justin Bradley . 09 Oct 2015 15:06

Looking back over the twentieth century we can see many examples of utopian schemes which have inadvertently brought disruption to millions; from compulsory ‘extended family’ villages in Tanzania, collectivisation in Russia, Le Corbusier’s urban planning, the Great Leap Forward in China and agricultural ‘modernization’ in the tropics. Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? Drawing upon his highly original book of the same title, and his long-term work in South East Asia (Burma in particular), Professor Scott helps us to understand how potentially harmful “state-spaces” are constructed. He shows how large-scale authoritarian schemes fail through the violence which they impose upon complex interdependencies which cannot be fully understood. He suggests that design for successful social organisation - like cities - depends on the recognition that local, practical, knowledge is as important as formal, abstract, knowledge in addressing the challenges which we now face.

GCPH Seminar Series 4: Why Selfish Capitalism Causes Increased Mental Illness
Justin Bradley . 19 Oct 2015 09:16

By placing too high a value on the material aspects of life, English speaking nations put themselves at twice the risk of mental disorder over their mainland European counterparts. This overemphasis on materialism has its roots in the ideologies and policies of the Thatcher administration in the UK and the Reagan administration in the USA. Through placing an over-emphasis on materialism, these perspectives led to people spending less time on meeting fundamental human needs, resulting in increased mental disorder. A greater focus on other aspects of life is needed to restore the balance.

GCPH Seminar Series 5: From Theory to Policy - the Implications of Recent Research Findings on Health Inequality
Justin Bradley . 19 Oct 2015 11:34

In this lecture Dr Burns reflects that recent trends show relative improvements in some Scottish health indices compared to other countries. However, health inequality remains an obstinate challenge in Scotland, with the greatest difficulties found largely in the Clydeside conurbation. The policy implications of this and the findings of recent research on the effects of stress on brain structure are considered.

GCPH Seminar Series 5: Nested Relationships: Beauty, Aesthetics, Art and Happiness
Justin Bradley . 19 Oct 2015 09:56

On Monday 27 April, at the CCA Glasgow, Shakti Maira provided his presentation on Nested Relationships - Beauty, Aesthetics, Art and Happiness.

GCPH Seminar Series 5: Should Government Try to Make us Happy?
Justin Bradley . 19 Oct 2015 09:34

The determinants of 'happiness' and its distribution both domestically and internationally suggest that a more appropriate target for policy is 'unhappiness', which responds to several forms of public action. But setting happiness as an objective does suggest some policy priorities. These include non-material forms of recognition, taxation of positional goods and support of culture and the arts. Individuals have an intrinsic short-term myopic bias, which is exacerbated by the flow of novelty in affluent societies. They find it difficult to commit. Government has a role in supporting personal and social commitment for the long term, for example in co-ordinating responses to challenges such as climate change and energy depletion.

GCPH Seminar Series 5: Taking Care of Yourself Together
Justin Bradley . 19 Oct 2015 10:27

Recent demographic trends suggest that demands on healthcare will increase to such an extent that no matter how efficient healthcare professionals are, they will never be able to provide enough care in light of the ageing population and increasing prevalence of chronic ill-health. This gap between the need for care and the size of the workforce could be bridged by the development of Information Technology (IT). While there are many developments in Scotland (and elsewhere), little work has been undertaken at a national level to develop integrated IT systems for this purpose. Careful and appropriate development will be necessary if such an IT infrastructure is to contribute fully to the future of care, but there is no business case for this and no sense of political urgency to develop such an infrastructure despite the understanding that to reach an effective level in ten years we need to start now.

GCPH Seminar Series 5: Talking Cities - The Micropolitics of Urban Space
Justin Bradley . 19 Oct 2015 10:50

Talking Cities - The Micropolitics of Urban Space From Kevin Macleod to Prince Charles, it seems everyone is talking cities. What makes an eco-town or city? What is sustainable design? Architecture and happiness? Perhaps more importantly, what does inclusiveness, equality and diversity mean in the built environment? Place-making, the new term on the block, is generally agreed to be central to social inclusion, cultural well-being and identity. But what makes a good space? People experience their environment in different ways depending upon their social, cultural and economic circumstances. Policies can enable good spaces but they can also be exclusive. If all citizens are to be comfortable in and identify with the spaces and places they inhabit, then the full diversity of this experience has to be considered. It means adopting a human-centred design approach. In this lecture Stuart MacDonald will look at the effect of an inhospitable built environment - the impact of bad design - as a way of looking at inclusion. Because the impact of the designed environment upon us huge, he will suggest that everyone should be talking cities as a fundamental part of democracy.

GCPH Seminar Series 5: We've Got the Future in our Hands: Are We Up to it?
Justin Bradley . 19 Oct 2015 11:30

We’ve got the future in our hands: Are we up to it? There is mounting evidence that the demands of everyday life in these complex and uncertain times is presenting humanity with both a threat to survival and also an opportunity for evolutionary transformation. Is humanity being pushed beyond our limits to cope or are we instead on the cusp of a breakthrough in consciousness on a global scale? Is the rising tide of mental anguish - anxiety, depression, suicide, addiction and violence - a sign that we are being overtaken by our powerful times? Or is the newly enlivened participatory impulse that swept a young African American man into the White House an indication that we are growing up and developing expanded psychological capacities, new forms of thinking and social innovation. In this lecture psychologist Maureen O'Hara will take a fresh look at the challenges of the globalising 21st century. She will suggest that if we understand what is happening from an evolutionary perspective, we may be able to learn our way into a more humane future.

GCPH Seminar Series 6: Code of the Street - How We Should Re-Interpret Morality
Justin Bradley . 20 Oct 2015 12:30

At the fifth lecture of this Seminar Series, David Gustave, an Educational Motivator from the children's charity 'Kid's Company' delivered a seminar based on both personal biography and professional experience. He spoke about the needs of young people in the UK today, and how their needs can often be wrongly judged. He spoke about how young people seek the same types of fulfilment that many of us do - something that Kid's Company helps them to understand and work towards.

GCPH Seminar Series 6: Impact of Weather on Human Health - Current and Future Issues
Justin Bradley . 20 Oct 2015 12:26

The fourth lecture of the sixth Seminar Series was delivered by Wayne Elliot, Head of Health forecasting at the Met Office. The presentation given by Wayne was called 'Impact of weather on human health - current and future issues' and was delivered at the Lighthouse, Glasgow. Those who attended this event heard about the work of the Met Office in relation to people's health and the initiatives they run to support the work of the health service and others involved in health protection and improvement. The work of the Met Office in relation to their work on climate change was also discussed, this included elements such as: what aspects of the British weather are important, what areas of illness/wellbeing are chiefly affected, how the health programme operates as a business - the opportunities and challenges this brings and future impacts of the climate on health - what we know and what we don't know.

GCPH Seminar Series 6: Nature and Nurture? The Intergenerational Transmission of Risk for Chronic Illness
Justin Bradley . 19 Oct 2015 11:49

GCPH Seminar Series 6: Power and Love - A Theory and Practice of Social Change
Justin Bradley . 20 Oct 2015 12:34

Adam Kahane delivered the last seminar from this series. His lecture was based on his assertion that the two methods most frequently employed to solved our toughest social problems - relying on violence and aggression, or submitting to endless negotiation and compromise - are fundamentally flawed and that the seemingly contradictory drives behind these two approaches - power, the desire to achieve one's purpose, and love, the urge to unite with others are actually complimentary.

GCPH Seminar Series 6: Prosperity without Growth
Justin Bradley . 20 Oct 2015 12:13

This lecture took place at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Economic growth is supposed to deliver rising prosperity: higher incomes increasing wellbeing and leading to prosperity for all. But this conventional formula is failing. Growth has delivered its benefits, at best unequally. Moreover, the ecological and social consequences of unfettered growth are devastating. Climate change threatens long-term wellbeing. Resource scarcities undermine the basis for future prosperity. Persistent inequalities still divide the world and a growing ‘social recession’ haunts the market economies. Development remains essential for poorer countries. But are ever-increasing incomes for the ‘already rich’ still a legitimate goal for advanced nations? Or should we be aiming for prosperity without growth? In this seminar, Tim Jackson, an advisor to the UK Government and author of Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet (Earthscan, 2009), will argue that society faces a profound dilemma: economic growth is unsustainable; but ‘de-growth’ - or economic contraction - is unstable. He will show that the prevailing ‘escape route’ from this dilemma - to try and ‘decouple’ economic activity from its impact - is not working. How can we proceed in a world where global resource consumption is still rising yet meeting climate change targets will require reductions in carbon intensity two orders of magnitude higher than anything achieved historically? In the light of these challenges, Professor Jackson engages in a critical re-examination of the economic structure and social logic of consumerism. He will set out a new vision of a shared prosperity: the capability to flourish as human beings - within the ecological limits of a finite planet.

GCPH Seminar Series 7: Is Resilience Enough?
Justin Bradley . 14 Jan 2016 10:30

The fourth seminar in Series 7 took place on Tuesday 8 March 2011 at the Lighthouse, Glasgow. It has become all too evident in recent months that the world, as well as local society, is being subjected to an increasing pace of shocks. These range from natural events, such as earthquakes, eruptions, super-storms and large scale flooding, to societal shocks including financial crises, budget cuts and unrest with outworn regimes and politics. At the local level we see escalating fuel and food prices, weather stress and degrading public health. These challenges are having the effect of switching the agenda from sustainability towards resilience. The question emergency planners ask is "how can we plan for anything without having to plan for everything?" The essential nature of resilience is to prepare capacity to be able to bounce back from shocks, surprises and contingencies. The task is to get things returned to normal as quickly as possible. But supposing we are entering a future where normal as we know it no longer exists? There may be structural changes taking place in people and planet that are too far gone from the normal that we have become comfortable with. This talk introduced the idea that we need to begin thinking about what it would mean to bounce beyond, to respond to crises as opportunities to change the way we configure life. In the increasing frequency of what Homer-Dixon calls synchronous failure, where our rigid structures are really broken down, we may be able to initiate positive changes that are impossible as 'gentle change' as the current system fights to keep the status quo. This leads us to a new concept called transformative resilience.

GCPH Seminar Series 7: Mapping the Mind Under Pressure - Can Brain Imaging Research Tell us Anything New About Stress and Physical Health?
Justin Bradley . 15 Jan 2016 16:29

Seminar Series 7 concluded on Tuesday 10th May 2011 at St Andrew's in the Square, Glasgow. Everyone faces stressful experiences. They are facts of life. Not everyone handles stressful experiences in quite the same way, however. And not all stressful experiences are the same. Some are brief. Others are chronic. Some are psychological. Others are physical. Some make us grow and give us an opportunity to flourish. Others make us flounder and undermine our wellbeing. The different ways in which stress can affect people either positively or negatively ultimately depends on the brain. This is because the brain is the central organ that filters our experiences as being positive or negative - and it ultimately determines how we handle these experiences throughout life. The purpose of this lecture was to provide a general overview of what we know and what we don’t know about how the human brain processes and responds to stressful experiences, both in the short-term and over the long-term. A particular emphasis was placed on the strengths and weaknesses of brain imaging studies to address open questions about the bodily pathways linking stressful experiences to health, particularly physical health. To this end, the speaker’s work on the neurobiology of stress and cardiovascular disease risk was used for illustrative purposes. The lecture concluded by considering how future studies on this complicated topic can deepen our understanding of how stressful experiences can become embodied by the brain to influence health throughout life.

GCPH Seminar Series 7: Silent Transformation of Well-Being
Justin Bradley . 15 Jan 2016 15:53

The fifth seminar in Series 7 took place on Wednesday 13th April 2011 at the Trades Hall of Glasgow. Public policy debates in industrialized societies tend to evolve around two instrumental subsystems: the economy and the welfare state. The ultimate goal of these subsystems - the well-being of citizens - receives very little attention. It seems as if policy makers assume that they understand it so well that it needs no special reflection. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The determinants of well-being have changed considerably in recent decades as societies have become wealthier, cultural norms and regulations have become more liberal, and the influence of the markets in everyday life has grown. Instead of scarcity and deprivation, the majority of people in affluent societies suffer from the "problem of choice" – an inability to make good choices for their own and others' well-being. Increasing concerns surrounding work-life balance, mental health, obesity, personal finances and children's development, as well as the rapidly growing markets for life management and well-being magazines, TV programmes and personal consulting services, suggest that this problem is real and has major societal impacts. This underlines the need to develop a better and more holistic understanding of everyday wellbeing that could serve as a basis for better individual decisions and public policy making. Improving knowledge about wellbeing is also crucial for innovating products and services to improve it. The more you know about the determinants of wellbeing in everyday life, the better products and services you can develop. Hence, wellbeing and competitiveness are not contradictory, rather they are consistent with each other.

GCPH Seminar Series 7: The City as a Complex Adaptive System - Lessons from the ATLAS Experiment at the LHC
Justin Bradley . 20 Oct 2015 12:44

The first seminar in this Series took place on Thursday 18 November 2010 at the Lighthouse. The ATLAS Collaboration will conduct experiments at the very edge of science, using one of four detectors located on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The Collaboration consists of over 3000 scientists working in over 174 research institutes and universities located in 38 countries around the globe. In such a complex and spatially extended network (what we would today call a complex adaptive system) how do the knowledge flows allow the creation of one of the most sophisticated technological objects ever built? Drawing on a conceptual framework, the Information-Space or I-Space, Max Boisot described and tried to make sense of the ATLAS collaboration’s culture. He explored the lessons that the management of globally distributed ‘big science’ projects such as the ATLAS collaboration hold for other complex adaptive systems such as cities.

GCPH Seminar Series 7: The True, the Good and the Beautiful
Justin Bradley . 15 Jan 2016 13:56

It was Plato who first observed that human beings naturally integrate the true, the good and the beautiful. We still observe this in our own lives when we are allowed to do so. Yet, the true (as manifested in the ideologies of scientism and economism) has been elevated in our work and professional lives to a position where 'evidence' and 'cost effectiveness' trumps all other considerations. The result is that we feel brutalised and not 'fully human'.

GCPH Seminar Series 7: Transforming Finance - Recognising the Global Financial System as a Commons
Justin Bradley . 15 Jan 2016 15:03

The first Seminar Series event of 2011 took place on Wednesday 19th January at the Teacher Building, Glasgow. Hazel Henderson spoke live from Florida via webcast. At the seminar Hazel discussed the implications of recognising global finance as a commons for re-structuring our current global casinos. She explored how to restore the purpose of finance as serving the real economies of the world, as well as the principles that should guide finance in the service of people and planet and outline the limits of markets and money itself. She examined how best to defend the global commons: atmosphere, oceans, biodiversity, etc. from inappropriate market penetration and protect human rights, especially those of indigenous peoples in non-market societies and their traditional cultures and lands. Her seminar also raised possible implications of socially responsible investing at the local level.

GCPH Seminar Series 8, Seminar 2: Giving a Voice to Afghan Civil Society - The DelPHE Project
Justin Bradley . 06 Jan 2016 10:57

Since 2010 the University of Strathclyde, the University of Herat and the NGO PeaceWaves International Network have been collaborating on two projects funded by the British Council. The first, under the scheme called DelPHE and started in September 2010, is a three year collaborative research project titled Afghan Civil Society's opinion and suggestions regarding women's empowerment and children's education in their country. 15 young Afghan researchers have been trained on quantitative and qualitative research methods. Parallel to that, a questionnaire and some focus groups have been developed and are due to be run by the young researchers across the six Afghan Provinces. The aim of this project is to give a voice to Afghan Civil Society regarding two main emergencies in their country (that are also points raised by the Millennium Development Goals, 2009): women's empowerment and children's education. In this lecture members of the team will present an overview of their work, together with findings so far and the implications of these for a country living with the consequences of a long period of war and devastation.

GCPH Seminar Series 8, Seminar 2: Giving a Voice to Afghan Civil Society - The INSPIRE Project
Justin Bradley . 07 Jan 2016 11:44

Since 2010 the University of Strathclyde, the University of Herat and the NGO PeaceWaves International Network have been collaborating on two projects funded by the British Council. One of these collaborative projects is under the scheme called INSPIRE International Strategic Partnership and started in January 2011. The focus of this project is to run (across three years) two training courses for Afghan practitioners in Person Centred/Experiential Skills plus a final advanced input. The course is experientially co-constructed between tutors and participants on a daily basis, in respect of the local cultural and traditional values and has the long term aim to be training for trainers that can be applied and replicated autonomously at the University of Herat and several other Afghan organisations. In this lecture members of the team will present an overview of their work, together with findings so far and the implications of these for a country living with the consequences of a long period of war and devastation. Includes contributions by KAVEH, Ali; ABBASISHAHPASANDZADA, Fereshta; WAHIDY, Ahmad Hamid.

GCPH Seminar Series 8: Developmental Programming - How Your Parents' Environment Before You Were Born Impacts on Your and Your Children's Risk of Disease
Justin Bradley . 19 Jan 2016 11:12

We all blame our genes for many of our features, behaviours and illnesses. Recent studies suggest that the environment before birth is also a major influence on the risk of ill-health across the lifespan and perhaps into a further generation. This process, called ‘developmental programming’, has been studied intensively in recent years and is beginning to reveal a process called epigenetics which underpins growth, behaviour and health risks. In this seminar, Prof Seckl will discuss these issues and how for example, stress during pregnancy or how well a child’s grandfather ate, impacts on their life.

GCPH Seminar Series 8: Self Organisation and Civil Engagement: Co-operation, Culture and Politics for a More Sustainable Society - Learning from Vorarlberg, Austria
Justin Bradley . 20 Jan 2016 09:00

Vorarlberg in Austria has 20 years of experience in experimenting with different ways and methods of promoting a more sustainable society. Out of this experience has emerged the idea of a 'learning institution' embedded in a tight-knit network of co-operating institutions. In this lecture Manfred Helrigl outlined a 'philosophy of self-organization' and illustrated its impact through practical examples. Manfred suggested that we need to rethink familiar leadership strategies and revitalise democracy, because the existing system is not capable of handling wicked problems. He also outlined how they are approaching this challenge in Vorarlberg, what a new culture of co-operation could look like and its implications for society, government and administration at local and regional level.

GCPH Seminar Series 8: The Precariat - The New Dangerous Class
Justin Bradley . 19 Jan 2016 08:53

A growing number of people, including millions from Britain, have been entering a global precariat, part of an emerging class structure shaped by globalisation. In this lecture, drawing on his new book, The Precariat: A New Dangerous Class, Professor Standing examined the labour market dynamics that underpin the growth of the precariat and set out the nucleus of a new 'politics of paradise' that is beginning to take shape outside the political mainstream.

GCPH Seminar Series 8: Thinking and Acting Differently - An Asset Model for Public Health
Justin Bradley . 19 Jan 2016 13:32

Very few people argue with the need to address the social determinants of health and much effort has already been made at national and international level to reduce persistent health inequities between and within countries. However, global health inequities continue to widen, as the effectiveness and quality of programmes vary considerably, sometimes resulting in the reverse of expected outcomes. Local political issues and cultural conflicts clearly play a part in these situations. However, the asset model proposed in ‘Health Assets in a Global Context’ suggests that it is the disproportionate emphasis between deficit and asset based approaches that prevent effective and sustained action. The former focuses on assessing health needs, sometimes ignoring the potential strengths of individuals and communities; the latter assesses multiple levels of health-promoting aspects in populations, and promotes joint solutions between communities and outside agencies. The Asset Model sets out a challenge for policy makers, researchers and practitioners to think and act differently to support positive joint solutions for health. It brings together a range of existing ideas to provide a framework for establishing the evidence base required to demonstrate the benefits to be gained from investing in asset based approaches. Antony Morgan is an epidemiologist and the Associate Director, Centre for Public Health Excellence for NICE. He is currently responsible for producing public health guidance across a range of public health topic areas, including inequalities, community engagement, social and emotional wellbeing of children, sexual health, alcohol misuse, quitting smoking during pregnancy, domestic violence and Hepatitis B and C.

GCPH Seminar Series 8: Thinking in Systems - Looking for the Causes of Population Health
Justin Bradley . 20 Jan 2016 10:21

Identifying biologic and behavioural causes of disease has been one of the central concerns of epidemiology for the past half century. This has led to the development of increasingly sophisticated conceptual and analytic approaches focused on the isolation of single causes of disease states. However, the growing recognition that (a) factors at multiple levels, including biologic, behavioural, and group levels may influence health and disease, and (b) that the interrelation among these factors often includes dynamic feedback and changes over time challenges this dominant epidemiologic paradigm. Using examples we will discuss how this deterministic paradigm has led us down a narrow path that challenges our capacity to meaningfully understand the complex causes of health states. Once we begin ‘thinking in systems’ we inevitably arrive at a broader public health conceptualization of the causes of health states. This has important implications both for the science as well as for a public health policy approach that aims to improve the health of populations.

GCPH Seminar Series 9: Hip Hop Shakespeare - Akala
Justin Bradley . 20 Jan 2016 13:01

Founded by MOBO award-winner Akala in 2009, The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company is a musical theatre production social enterprise which offers young people a different view of the arts and ultimately of themselves. Working in a variety of settings including schools, prisons and community venues, engaging in music and literature, the Hip Hop Shakespeare company strives to inspire and enable young people to better meet their potential, express themselves and highlight their creative talent. Central to their approach is an exploration of the social, linguistic and cultural parallels between the works of Shakespeare and modern day hip-hop artists. In this illustrated lecture, Akala introduced us to the work of the hip-hop Shakespeare approach.

GCPH Seminar Series 9: Human Healing in the Age of Science - the Art of the Healing Shift
Justin Bradley . 20 Jan 2016 17:00

What of healing? In this lecture Dr David Reilly described his exploration of what might emerge from our efforts to improve health and wellbeing when we shift our focus from external interventions towards life's innate drive to restore equilibrium and wholeness. His approach was born of necessity over twenty years ago when he was working with patients who were not responding to conventional techniques. Since then he has been learning how to help people access their own potential and expanding his knowledge of the automatic maps, that impact upon self-care, change and human flourishing. Some years in, the learning was experimentally scaled from one-to-one to the group-based WEL programme. This was put into service as an action research developmental-demonstration model in the NHS Centre for Integrative Care in Glasgow. More recently the programme has been developed in partnership with the Scottish Government and extended into a primary care setting and staff welfare programmes. Can the subjective inner life be rehabilitated from its battered and neglected place in evidence based medicine? Might the principles of wellness enhancement be scaled up to larger health care systems and population health? Dr Reilly outlined promising preliminary results from this latest development of the programme and considered the potential to foster wellbeing and flourishing in everyday life. The ideas behind the programme have formed an integral and important part of the Cultural Influence on Wellbeing Project led by Phil Hanlon who chaired the session.

GCPH Seminar Series: Glasgow's Healthier Future Forum 1
Justin Bradley . 09 Oct 2015 14:50

The first meeting of Glasgow's Healthier Future Forum took place on 15 June 2005 in St Andrew's in the Square, Glasgow. The Forum was a half-day, round table event consisting of short inputs influenced by ideas emerging from the Centre's first year of work. Presentations were interspersed with discussion amongst the 160 participants, focusing on the usefulness of the ideas to practice. Includes contributions from: Carol Tannahill, Sir John Arbuthnott, Phil Hanlon, Harry Burns, Andrew Lyon, Jim McCormick and Valerie Millar.

GCPH Seminar Series: What Then is to be Done
Justin Bradley . 14 Jan 2016 09:24

GCPH Seminar: Health Benefits of Cycle Commuting in Glasgow
Justin Bradley . 04 Dec 2015 16:01

On the 21st May 2013, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health held a seminar to consider the findings of a new study on the health economic benefits of cycle commuting in Glasgow. The study looked at the benefits for Glasgow residents cycling into Glasgow City Centre on a daily basis and found that in 2012 the annual benefit was around £4 million. This is likely to be an underestimate as the analysis does not take account of reduced illness and other health benefits conferred by cycling.

GCPH Thriving Communities: 3 Hills Community Garden (Glasgow)
Justin Bradley . 22 Jan 2016 15:47

5 of 7 films on the theme of 'Taking forward the Thriving Places Approach - Learning from Elsewhere'. Lara Calder delivers a presentation on the 3 Hills Community Garden project, Glasgow, one of eight national pathfinder projects which were part of the larger Healthy Weight Communities project. She talks about the aims of the project, engaging children and families to eat healthier and become more active, consultation with local people which identified the need for a community garden. She also discuses the reasons why Priesthill and Hazelwood areas were chosen, issues around setting up the project, problems with securing suitable land. Once land had been secured, she talks about the initiatives implemented to enable local people to take small steps to change behaviour, increase physical activity, and eat more healthily. Talks about the steering group, cross partnership working, individuals who helped in the community. Discusses how the project does take an asset based approach - values existing resources, peoples skills and time, local knowledge of area, recycling of materials and the building of people's confidence, enhanced relationships and supportive community networks. Closes the presentation with a number of quotes provided by users of the garden.

GCPH Thriving Communities: Alcohol Forum (Derry)
Justin Bradley . 22 Jan 2016 12:24

2 of 7 films on the theme of 'Taking forward the Thriving Places Approach - Learning from Elsewhere'. Eamon O'Kane presents Derry Healthy Cities and the civic approach to alcohol harm reduction. He provides background starting in 2005 when Derry Healthy Cities was established, as the city, country was coming out of conflict (The Troubles), case studies, the negative media image which portrayed Derry/Londonderry as a dangerous, violent place in relation to alcohol misuse when the statistics showed it to be the second safest place in Northern Ireland. He discuses other factors, international perception of a peoples who like to drink, positives and negatives, culturally a long time love affair, in terms of economy a positive factor, changing trends of how people drink. He talks about the issues faced when setting up Derry Healthy Cities, how they needed to find a way to get people take ownership of alcohol and surrounding issues, the leadership issues, hidden issues coming out of the conflict, the initial meetings with stakeholders. The key actions needed, specifically to raise awareness of the need to create change, the first action plan 'The 4 stages of going out', the initiatives implemented to keep communities engaged and manage carnival events. The results of this continued conversation with all levels in the community began to show in the drop in crime statistics because people, young people were engaged and involved in improving their community. The media also portrayed a more positive image of Derry. Moving forward to six years after they started, he talks about the 'One City, One Plan, One Voice' strategy, a multi-agency plan with five key pillars and eleven themes, the notion of Derry as 'a key leader in community mobilisation' (Prof. Harold Holden) - getting people to work together, realising the reality that alcohol is everyone's responsibility, educating partners on what they need to do, handing control of the design to the community. It's about building social capital and letting people feel ownership in a process where currently they feel disempowered.

GCPH Thriving Communities: Child Friendly Cities (Belfast)
Justin Bradley . 22 Jan 2016 16:25

6 of 7 films on the theme of 'Taking forward the Thriving Places Approach - Learning from Elsewhere'. Laura McDonald presents Child Friendly Cities and discusses two projects from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Gives background on Belfast Healthy Cities, part of World Health Organisation European Healthy Cities Network. Talks about engaging children to provide input into the development of the built environment, the benefits of child friendly environments from health, social and economic perspectives. Presents The Schools Project (West Belfast), gives the aims, work undertaken, and talks about how the evidence from events was presented to the Department of Social Development (DSD), part of the Northern Ireland Executive, which was then used in the Streets Ahead Project. Presents Kids Space Project, a collaborative approach to shared family play-enabling families to take ownership of areas in the City Centre. Discusses the main themes - Active Space, Free Space and Creative Space. Talks about how events were also used as consultative opportunities, appointing a Community Artist to help gather information which was fed back to the DSD. Discusses future opportunities, working with teenagers, engaging with areas of North Belfast to utilise unused space there, continuing to provide information to the DSD to inform regeneration initiatives and the work currently underway to gather information and develop a Child Friendly City Strategy for Belfast.

GCPH Thriving Communities: GCPH Connected City
Justin Bradley . 22 Jan 2016 13:36

Bruce Whyte, Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH), opens this collaborative session and introduces the Understanding Glasgow Website. He asks participants to review the website and give feedback on the positives and negatives of this tool. Graham Leicester, Glasgow Futures Forum, then instructs participants on using this tool to play 'The Glasgow Game' in order to suggest ways to improve and make Glasgow a Connected City. The participants are split into small groups to discus a variety of elements, such as mind set, economic participation, community safety, social capital, population, education, transport, poverty, cultural vitality. Thereafter, each group gives feedback to the larger group, the content from this will be published in a report by the GCPH.

GCPH Thriving Communities: Marvin Malloy and Gill Jones (Stoke on Trent)
Justin Bradley . 25 Jan 2016 09:02

7 of 7 films on the theme of 'Taking forward the Thriving Places Approach - Learning from Elsewhere'. Marvin Molloy and Gill Jones present 'My Community Matters', Stoke on Trent, an asset based community development approach to health improvement. Talks about the how the project came about in 2009, engaging the local community and the activities undertaken, challenges faced, successes, the people involved, the importance of implementing sustainability throughout the project, partnership working, outcomes. Discusses moving forward in partnership with connecting communities and developing neighbourhood partnerships.

GCPH Thriving Communities: Neighbourhood Forum Warrington
Justin Bradley . 22 Jan 2016 14:36

3 of 7 films on the theme of 'Taking forward the Thriving Places Approach - Learning from Elsewhere'. Jan Holding presents 'Stronger Together Warrington' (STW) a concept of neighbourhood working. This project began in 2006, working in the most deprived areas of Warrington. Discusses background, Warrington, discrepancies between different wards some most deprived nationally whilst others most affluent. Talks about the aims of STW - improve all aspects of living to enable people to live the best lives possible, shift the mind-set of public services, enable people to control community budgets, improve the attitudes and expectations of people, openly recognise life inequalities that exist in the town. Talks about the governance of STW, actual work carried out and the collaboration between communities, public services and steering group. Katie Donnelly and Cam Kinsella-Drew present information on the Golden Gates Housing Trust - Health Inequalities Project. Discuss lifestyle, inequalities issues, housing stock and the landscape they operate within, housing and health issues and collective partnership working to address these issues. Hazel Smith presents information on the Women's Group, a 10 week long course which aims to inspire individuals to change behaviour through motivation and education sessions and to increase feelings of competence and self-esteem.

GCPH Thriving Communities: Participatory Budgeting in Govanhill, Glasgow
Justin Bradley . 22 Jan 2016 09:04

1 of 7 films on the theme of 'Taking forward the Thriving Places Approach - Learning from Elsewhere. Chris Harkins presents Participatory Budgeting and the Govanhill Project, Glasgow. He describes Participatory Budgeting (PB), communities holding budgets and democratically deciding how to spend those funds, transferring responsibility from the state to communities, deepening democracy by engaging local people to participate in the political process at a local level. He talks about the origins of PB (Brazil) and the positive developments experienced through improved infrastructure and schools, today 40% of public sector budgets are decided by Participatory Budgeting whereas, in the UK, PB tends to be limited to small community based projects. He discusses the Govanhill Project, how using the PB model the group wanted to have a deeper impact rather than the usual community engagement and consultation. The forming of the Govanhill Community Action Group from existing community groups, the support from Community Health Partnerships (CHPs) and facilitation from Oxfam Poverty UK. He discusses the processes, findings from the pilot and the three projects which were then awarded funding - Govanhill Addictions Family Support Group, Govanhill Community Justice Group, Govanhill Baths Fund. He concludes with a summary of the learning themes and key practical challenges which evolved from the process.

GCPH Thriving Communities: Small Sparks (Newcastle)
Justin Bradley . 22 Jan 2016 15:05

4 of 7 films on the theme of 'Taking forward the Thriving Places Approach - Learning from Elsewhere'. Karen Inglis opens this presentation with an overview of the Small Sparks project, Newcastle. Discusses Asset Based Practice, developing the skills and capacity of everyone in the community, valuing people. The importance of interventions being adopted as a long term journey; an ongoing process rather than a project. Ali Lamb presents information on the Kenton ward, an area of Newcastle, discusses the Cowgate Strategy, the Community Budget Pilot. Carol Barclay talks about the pulling together of different groups to work as one community in order to identify ways to spend the budget for the benefit of that community. Discusses what they did in the first stage of the pilot, what projects were awarded funds, talks about breaking down barriers, the Celebration Day that was held at the end. Now looking at what to do for next year. Karen Inglis closes the presentation, talks about some of the unexpected outcomes, the sharing of stories at the Celebration Day, different ways of measuring outcomes - the importance of joint working and valuing peoples stories alongside that of statistical data.

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: A Sense of Place
Justin Bradley . 11 Dec 2015 14:07

A series of four short films developed for the Glasgow Centre for Population Health’s (GCPH) Understanding Glasgow website. The films entitled Working Men, A Sense of Place, Young Mums and Bolting Doors, Mending Fences were commissioned to reflect people’s lived experiences and to let them tell their stories. A Sense of Place introduces us to Alice who was born, brought up and lives her life in the East End of Greenock. Passionate about her community, Alice shares memories and talks about plans to regenerate the area, in particular a derelict piece of ground and the plans to turn this into a garden with allotments, play-park with community café. She talks about community spirit and using your vision to look ahead at what is possible, and how, as part of the local Community Association, funding was secured to make the regeneration possible.

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Animating Assets - Reflections from Milton
Justin Bradley . 24 Mar 2016 16:31

GCPH worked in partnership with the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) to test asset based approaches to improving community health and wellbeing. Supporting different communities across Scotland to design, test, and gather evidence of the change that comes from taking an asset-based approach in their local areas. The ultimate aim of the research and learning programme was to produce new evidence of the impact made by asset-based interventions on health and wellbeing. The programme ran until September 2015. This short film captures the reflections of the people of Milton and their experience of working with researchers on the Animating Assets collaborative action research programme.

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Animating Assets in Barmulloch and Balornock
Justin Bradley . 24 Mar 2016 16:29

GCPH worked in partnership with the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) to test asset based approaches to improving community health and wellbeing. Supporting different communities across Scotland to design, test, and gather evidence of the change that comes from taking an asset-based approach in their local areas. The ultimate aim of the research and learning programme was to produce new evidence of the impact made by asset-based interventions on health and wellbeing. The programme ran until September 2015. This short film captures the reflections of the people of Barmulloch and Balornock and their experience of working with researchers on the Animating Assets collaborative action research programme.

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Big Noise
Justin Bradley . 24 Mar 2016 16:27

A short film about the Big Noise project in Scotland. Young musicians from the Raploch Orchestra interview each other and discuss what being involved in the orchestra means to them.

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Bolting Doors, Mending Fences
Justin Bradley . 11 Dec 2015 14:30

A series of four short films developed for the Glasgow Centre for Population Health’s (GCPH) Understanding Glasgow website. The films entitled Working Men, A Sense of Place, Young Mums and Bolting Doors, Mending Fences were commissioned to reflect people’s lived experiences and to let them tell their stories. Bolting Doors, Mending Fences introduces us to Alex who moved to Renfrew from Pollock when his family needed a larger house. His story takes us from when his family moved, how his close was used for drugs use, as a short-cut to the scheme behind and how he changed this by getting a door fixed, adding a bolt and ……getting a Rottweiler. He talks about deciding to fix up his garden and how people had said it would be destroyed by the local kids but it was the local kids who started helping him out. His story shows us how everyday things help a community; the fish pond, talking to people, Christmas and the Santa-Sleigh, just being there to help kids fix their bikes. He talks about people’s perceptions, fears and letting kids be kids.

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Food memories
Justin Bradley . 11 Jan 2016 14:24

Short film reminiscing about food, family, friends and school meals.

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Going it Alone
Justin Bradley . 07 Jan 2016 10:44

Short film on bringing up a child in Glasgow today as a single parent.

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Introduction
Justin Bradley . 04 Dec 2015 15:40

Compilation video of the first four films produced for the Glasgow Centre for Population Health's (GCPH) new online resource, Understanding Glasgow website (www.understandingglasgow.com). This website was built to share evidence and information about the forces that shape people's lives in the west of Scotland. It is designed to provoke discussion and facilitate inquiry to create new solutions and enable action to improve health and tackle inequality, however, data can only tell you so much. Stories provide a powerful insight into the personal life experiences of people in Glasgow aiding that discussion and use of the data gathered.

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Mandala
Justin Bradley . 07 Jan 2016 11:21

This short film invites you to explore Glasgow through Understanding Glasgow's mandala. Developed by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, Understanding Glasgow sets out to describe the city and its people. The mandala shows the interconnection of nodes between information such as education, health, population, social capital, environment and much more. By using the mandala you can access statistical information, videos showing people's stories, briefing papers, reviews on each element whilst gaining an understanding of how each element builds into the place that is Glasgow.

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Miniature Cities
Justin Bradley . 16 Mar 2016 12:33

A short film which looks at the cities of Glasgow and Gothenburg in the context of villages of 100 people. The film asks how similar are the lives of the people of these two cities.

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Miniature Glasgow
Justin Bradley . 24 Mar 2016 16:33

A short film which imagines the city of Glasgow as a village of 100 people and asks 'what would it be like?'

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Working Men
Justin Bradley . 11 Dec 2015 13:53

GCPH Understanding Glasgow: Young Mums
Justin Bradley . 11 Dec 2015 13:43

GCPH and Journal of Public Mental Health Seminar: Promoting Positive Mental Health in a Time of Inequalities - an Ethical Dilemma?
Justin Bradley . 09 Oct 2015 14:21

Featuring renowned speakers Professor Richard Wilkinson and Professor Corey Keyes, this seminar was held in Glasgow on Thursday 11th October 2007. As part of the Journal of Public Mental Health series of seminars, it explored key issues in public mental health and invited debate about the gap between what we know about population level influences on mental health and current policy responses to psycho-social problems. The series was supported by the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health and the Mental Health Foundation.

GCPH infographics
Justin Bradley . 13 Jul 2016 13:59

A collection of the infographics we produce to highlight key facts and numbers to do with all aspects of life and health in Glasgow.

GCPH: Go Well 8th Annual Event
Justin Bradley . 11 Jan 2016 11:42

Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister, talks about the work of the Go Well project. She talks about Go Well's achievements, taking an holistic approach to improving communities, thanks the project for the valuable evidence which has helped inform policy to improve the well-being of people in some of Scotland's most disadvantaged areas.

GCPH: Resilience Film
Justin Bradley . 11 Dec 2015 12:19

A short film on resilience, the ability to cope well in the face of challenge. The film discusses the different types of resilience and asks the question 'How do you support the resilience of people and communities?'

Glasgow's Healthier Future Forum 11
Justin Bradley . 11 Apr 2016 08:49

The 11th Healthier Future Forum took place on Thursday 31 March 2011 at Glasgow Science Centre. Taking the focus of 'a resilient Glasgow', this event presented indicators of progress and drew upon newly developed conceptual models to improve understanding about Glasgow's health. Delegates were encouraged to think about Glasgow's past, its present and its future and what might be the key components of a more resilient city. Includes contributions by TANNAHILL, Professor Carol; WHYTE, Bruce; HANLON, Professor Phil; WRIGHT, Nick.

Go Well : Meet the Team
Justin Bradley . 07 Jul 2016 13:50

Go Well is a collaborative project between the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, the University of Glasgow and the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. Established in 2004 as a research and learning programme to look at the impacts of housing improvements and neighbourhood renewal on the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities in Glasgow.

Power as a health and social justice issue.
Justin Bradley . 14 Aug 2017 08:20

The Community Empowerment Act is an important new piece of Scottish legislation with opportunities to reduce health inequalities through the redistribution of power – but that depends on us really understanding what power is, where power lies and how this relates to health. In addition to the film we have created four short excerpt videos, each outlining a different concept within the main animation, as well as a transcript for accessibility

Research connecting communities
Justin Bradley . 06 Feb 2017 11:01

In this film, we set out to find out what difference social research has made to lives of people living in the East End of Glasgow. We spoke to different local groups and organisations to see what role research played in their plans, and what role research has to play in future.

Resilient Glasgow.
Justin Bradley . 11 Sep 2017 13:08

Glasgow is one of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities (100RC). Through membership of the 100RC Network, Glasgow has developed a resilience strategy, Our Resilient Glasgow (hyperlink), that acts as a roadmap to greater resilience looking further into the 21st century. The strategy was developed with reference to the four essential dimensions of urban resilience: health and wellbeing, economy and society, infrastructure and environment, and leadership and strategy. This short animation tells the story of the City’s resilience journey to date.

Understanding Glasgow : Connected City Glasgow Game Film
Justin Bradley . 07 Jul 2016 13:39

Undertstanding Glasgow: Food Environment Glasgow Game Film
Justin Bradley . 07 Jul 2016 13:32

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