The Health and Happiness research cluster is based in the Philosophy Department. It is a community of staff and students of philosophy and other disciplines who pursue original research at the intersection of philosophy, ethics, psychology and medicine. Some research topics that are of particular interest to the cluster include:

• Competing accounts of health and disease/illness
• The relationship between health and well-being or happiness
• The distinction between subjective and objective well-being
• The relationship between a meaningful life and a happy life
• Heath and perfection (plastic surgery; genetic enhancement; body image)
• Medicalisation
• Good death and bad death
• The problem of ‘evil pleasures’

Key experts include:

•  Dr Lisa Bortolotti, Reader in the Philosophy department, works on biomedical ethics and the philosophy of the cognitive sciences (with a special focus on psychology and psychiatry).
•  Dr Iain Law, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, is currently working on papers in moral theory, moral psychology, the philosophy of medicine and applied ethics.
•  Dr Yujin Nagasawa, Reader in Philosophy, specialises in the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of the mind and applied philosophy.
•  Dr Jussi Suikkanen, Lecturer in Philosophy, has research interests in meta-ethics and ethical theories, the nature of moral properties, moral judgments, and truth in ethics. He also has an interest in theories of happiness and well-being.
•  Professor Heather Widdows works on global ethics, virtue ethics and feminist theory as well as bioethical issues, particularly those of reproductive, research and genetic ethics.

The Health Services Management Centre (HSMC) is based within the School of Social Policy within the College of Social Sciences. Celebrating 40 years in 2012, it is the leading UK centre for research, teaching and consultancy in health and social care. A key strand of its work is focusing around partnerships, collaboration and integrated care, with a particular focus on the relationship between health and social care and on the new Health and Well-being Boards being developed following the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Other key interests include the personalisation agenda and working with people receiving services and their families to develop support that is more fully tailored to individual need and circumstances. Alongside our national and international research, HSMC also teaches the educational component of the national Management Training Scheme – the fast-track graduate scheme for future NHS leaders.

Key experts include:

• Professor Martin Powell is a leading international expert in health policy, decentralisation, partnership, and the history of health care before the NHS.
• Professor Russell Mannion specialises in the evaluation of health care reform and innovation, patient safety and quality improvement, and clinical governance and hospital Board governance.
• Professor Jon Glasby is HSMC Director and a qualified social worker by background. He is involved in a range of national and international research, teaching and consultancy projects around health and well-being, personalisation and community care services.
• Dr Helen Dickinson is a Senior Lecturer in Health Care Policy and Management and Director of the University’s Public Services Academy (add website). She specialises in areas such as inter-agency working, public service leadership and the governance of health systems.
• Dr Jo Ellins leads HSMC’s Patient Experience and Public Involvement (PEPI) workstream, and has an interest in understanding and improving patients’ experiences as well as in re-thinking the relationship between providers and users of health services.

The Institute of Applied Social Studies (IASS) is part of the School of Social Policy in the College of Social Sciences and is an internationally leading centre for research in social policy and social work. It has been providing social work education since 1908, when one of the first Diplomas in Social Studies in the UK was established at the University. The Institute draws together expertise from across the fields of social policy, social work and community justice. In its research and teaching, it explores how policy and practice can contribute to making a difference in people's lives - particularly those who may face disadvantage or social exclusion.

Key experts include:

• Dr Jerry Tew is currently involved in national research projects on recovery approaches in mental health practice and the implementation of personalisation - and locally based research on community development approaches. He is leading a new national research project on whole family approaches in mental health and is involved in developing collaborative research activity in relation to resilience, self and identity and student mental health.
• Professor Sue White focuses on the sociological analysis of professional judgement and  decision-making with an emphasis on understanding how science, formal knowledge, rhetoric, moral judgement, emotion and subjectivity interact in professional practice, particularly in child health and welfare.
• Dr Nathan Hughes carries out research relating primarily to young people and their families, having initially joined the University as part of the National Evaluation of the Children's Fund. Nathan recently spent time as a visiting researcher with the Alfred Felton Child and Family Welfare Research Program at the University of Melbourne, having been awarded a research fellowship exploring the development of policy and practice in relation to anti-social behaviour in Victoria and West Australia.
• Professor Pete Alcock is Director of the national ESRC and cabinet Office-funded Third Sector Research Centre, with an interest in the development and delivery of third sector policy, poverty and social exclusion.
• Dr Jenny Phillimore has researched widely in the fields of migration and superdiversity.  Over the past decade she has managed teams of researchers focusing on access to health, education, employment, training, and housing integration with a particular focus on integration and organisational change in the UK and EU

The School of Health and Population Sciences is based within the College of Medicine and Dentistry.  The School has research expertise in the fields of primary care, public health and epidemiology, clinical trials, health technology assessments, health economics, occupational and environmental medicine, biostatistics, health services research, health care development, nursing and physiotherapy. The School’s research strategy is focused on three key programmes:

• Population Health Research and Epidemiology (disease aetiology and health outcomes, including the role of the environment and genes, and using such knowledge to inform the design and evaluation of population-based or clinical interventions to prevent or treat conditions of population health importance).
• Service Design and Delivery (covering the themes of patient safety, quality of care, service design and delivery including lay health workers, alternative and complementary medicine).  
• Healthcare Evaluation and Methodology (focusing on the development and evaluation of the scientific methodologies for development and evaluation of methodology. Within this programme, the study of biomedical ethics, both as applied to research and clinical practice, and the history of medicine are included.)

For the purposes of the Birmingham Fellows, applicants interested in Biostatistics should apply to the ‘Mathematics, Biostatistics and Life Sciences Modelling’ theme.

Key experts include:

• Professor Christine MacArthur is Lead of the Maternal and Child health research theme in the School. Her main research has been on longer term childbirth related health problems, such as urinary and faecal incontinence and depression, and the evaluation of maternity health services, such as postnatal care. She conducts randomised controlled trials as well as cohort and other epidemiological studies.
• Professor Joanna Coast is Professor of Health Economics. Her current research programme explores the operationalisation of Amartya Sen’s capability approach for health care decision making. Professor Coast has led the development of the ICECAP-O and ICECAP-A capability indices, valued using best-worst scaling. She has also explored the use of the capability approach more broadly within health economics. 
• Professor David Fitzmaurice’s research has primarily been around cardiovascular disease encompassing screening and treatment of common cardiovascular disorders, developing models of care incorporating new technologies and prevention and treatment of venous thrombo-embolic disease. Professor Fitzmaurice’s early work investigating the utility of different types of inhaler device for patients with asthma has developed into a successful NIHR programme grant investigating the natural history of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
•  Professor Mike Hawkins is Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Centre for Childhood Cancer Survivors Studies. Professor Hawkins leads the British Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (BCCSS) and the Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Survivor Study (TYACSS). Internationally he is a leader on the scientific aspects of an EC funded collaborative investigation which for the first time will link information on adverse health consequences of being treated for childhood and adolescent cancer throughout Europe (PanCare childhood and adolescent cancer Survivor care and Follow-up studies - PanCareSurFup) and the Internationally he is a leader on the scientific aspects of an EC funded collaborative investigation which for the first time will link information on adverse health consequences of being treated for childhood and adolescent cancer throughout Europe (
• Professor Kate Jolly is Professor of Public Health. Professor Jolly has led recent RCTs evaluating the effectiveness of a range of commercial and NHS provided weight management programmes for people in primary care (Lighten Up) and an evaluation of a self-determination theory approach to an exercise referral programme (EMPOWER) in collaboration with colleagues from Sport and Exercise Science . Professor Jolly she is also evaluating a chronic disease education programme for people from a multi-ethnic population and has led two large trials in the field of cardiac rehabilitation (BRUM and BRUM-CHF). A trial of self-management of COPD will be starting in 2013.
• Professor Angus Dawson is Professor of Public Health Ethics and his research is focused on ethical issues in medicine (broadly construed) including public health ethics (e.g. vaccinations and issues related to lifestyle choices), the nature of 'health', 'public health' and related concepts, and the interactions between ethical and methodological issues in research ethics (e.g. ethical issues using natural experiments and problems in gaining informed consent in cluster randomised trials). 

The Centre for Health Law, Science and Policy is based in the Birmingham Law School.  Health Law is a growing discipline looking at a wide spectrum of issues from the health care professional-patient relationship, the "public" dimension of health, and regulatory aspects of health care delivery. The Centre for Health Law, Science and Policy aims to foster dialogue and world leading research in this area and also to foster research led teaching through the development of postgraduate courses and doctoral students. It includes leading scholars from within the Law School and also members from across the University of Birmingham working in a range of disciplines. In addition draws upon a broader advisory board including those in the NHS and legal profession working in this area and input from the broader international community. 

Law School members involved include:

• Professor Marie Fox, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies, is an expert in the regulation of animal-human boundaries, and legality of genital cutting.
• Dr Sheelagh McGuinness, Birmingham Fellow, is working in the area of Disability and Legal Personhood and Medical Migration and Health Crimes.
• Professor Jean McHale, Professor of Health Care Law, is co-academic lead of the 3rd Birmingham Policy Commission; recent work includes human rights and health, EU Health Law, regulation of clinical research, health crimes  and perfectionism.
• Dr Claire McIvor, Senior Lecturer in Law, is working on the interface between Law and Epidemiology.
• Dr Stephen Smith, School of Law, is an expert in the legal regulation of end of life decision making.