The new ESRC Centre, Equalise, represents a 5-year (2024-2029) collaborative programme of research which is focusing on identifying promising options for reducing health inequalities. Building on 15 years of impactful research carried out by the team behind the ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies in Society and Health, the ESRC Centre for Lifecourse Health Equity (Equalise) is led by Yvonne Kelly and Anne McMunn at UCL and Rebecca Lacey at City St George's, working with a multi-disciplinary team of researchers at the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde, Essex and Toulouse III Paul Sabatier in France. 

The Centre is also working in partnership with a team of experts in local and national government and a wide range of health equity focused advocacy and voluntary groups including the Health Foundation, Race Equality Foundation, Carers Trust, Eurocarers, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Disability Rights UK, Early Education and Childcare Coalition, National Literacy Trust, Women’s Budget Group, The Poverty Alliance, Skills and Education Group, and Voluntary Health Scotland.

Key themes

The Centre’s research has 5 key themes: 

• Reducing inequalities in learning and development opportunities 
• Work and health over the lifecourse 
• Care, health and wellbeing over the lifecourse 
• Place-based inequalities 
• Research and policy synthesis 

The successful PhD candidate would be based at the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow), working with Professor Kat Smith, Dr Katharine Timpson and Dr Anna Gkiouleka. We are open to considering any PhD proposals that focus on research to identify options for reducing health inequalities in the UK and which intersect with the Centre themes (outlined above). There is, however, a particular interest in mixed methods and longitudinal methods, and in research that considers intersectionality.

Research questions

Potential research questions include:

• How do national and local variations in childcare impact on health inequalities?
• Are there geographical differences in availability and quality of childcare and are there place-based inequalities in the impact of childcare on family outcomes?
• Where could the greatest reductions in educational and health inequalities be made by improving childcare uptake and quality (e.g. in more disadvantaged areas, among children with developmental or behaviour issues, or in families with the greatest social needs)?
• What are the drivers of economic inactivity at different life stages and how and why do these vary within the UK?
• Which young people benefit most from technical and vocational education/training and how does this shape health inequalities?
• How do local and regional labour market characteristics interact with place-based characteristics over time to reduce or exacerbate health inequalities?

Further information

 The successful candidate must be able to commence study on 1 October 2025.