Professor Russell Mannion

 Russell has held the Chair in Health Systems at the University of Birmingham since 2010.  He is an Honorary Professor at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney. He was previously Director of the Centre for Health Services Management at the University of York (2005-2009) and served as a Board Director of the York Health Economics Consortium. 

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Current and recent advisory and public appointments (UK and international)

As part of the Centre for Science and Policy’s network of academics at the University of Cambridge, Russell provides evidence to inform policy-making at the highest levels of the UK Civil Service.

• Member of the advisory board of the National Guardian’s Office for the NHS (2018-)

• Expert advisor, World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Cairo (2018-)

• Member of the expert review panel for Covid-19 Research programme, Swiss National Science Foundation (2020-)

• Member of the evaluation panel (Economics and Politics) Academy of Finland, Helsinki (2018-)

• Member of the assessment panel, German Research Foundation (DFG) for multidisciplinary Research into Epidemics and Pandemics in Response to the Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 (2020-)

• Member of the panel of experts, Belgium Science Policy Office, Brussels. (2020-)

• Member of the evaluation panel (Health, Welfare and Society), Academy of Finland, Helsinki, (2021-)

• Member of the international advisory board for the Cologne Regional Health Care Research Network (2018-)

• Member of the international advisory board for research planning, Medical School, University of Cologne (2018-)

• Member of the Irish Health Research Board, (2016-)

• Academic advisor to the Department of Health Policy Research Programme Research Committee (2017-)

• Member of the College of Reviewers for the Government of Canada and the Canada Research Chairs programme (2016-)

• International expert, International Society for Quality in Health Care (2017-) (Tokyo, Doha, Cape Town, Florence).

• Visiting Professor, Sant' Anna School of Advanced Studies, University of Pisa (2017-)

• Visiting Professor, University of Heidelberg (2019 -)
• Chair of the External Evaluation Committee, Cyprus Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education (2021-)
• Independent Expert Consultant, The Science Fund of Serbia (2021-)
• Member of the Expert Review Panel, Research Council of Norway (2021-)

• Member of the Social Sciences Panel, Research Grants Council, Hong Kong (2021 -)

• Vice chair of the evaluation panel (Health, Welfare and Society), Academy of Finland (2022 -) 

• Chair Norwegian Centres for excellence sub-panel (2022-)  

• Visiting Professor, University of Sassari, Sardinia (Autumn term, 2022)

• Independent Evaluator,  Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation (2023-) 

• Returning Visiting Professor, University of Sassari, Sardinia (Autumn term 2023)

•  Chair of the Welfare, Wellbeing and Health Research panel, Academy of Finland (2024 -) 

• Expert advisor, Health Sciences Research panel, Research Foundation Flanders, Brussels, (2024-2028)

• Member of the Expert Review Panel for Ground-Breaking Research (FRIPRO) Research Council of Norway (2025-2028)

• Expert advisor, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Panel, Research Foundation Flanders, Brussels, (2025-2029)

• Returning Visiting Professor, University of Sassari, Sardinia (Autumn term 2026)

• Chair of the External Evaluation Committee, Cyprus Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education (2026-)

Russell presents keynote lectures and seminars around the world and provides policy and research advice to a range of national and international governments and agencies, including: the World Health Organization, OECD, the International Society for Quality in Health Care, the European Health Management Association, the European Union, Department of Health, HM Treasury, NHS Confederation, Nuffield Trust, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the governments (and sub-jurisdictions) of  Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Cyprus, Finland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Jordan, Malta, Spain, Switzerland and New Zealand.His work on organisational culture, health care quality and patient safety was used at evidence at the Mid Staffordshire Public Inquiry chaired by Sir Robert Francis QC and the inquiry into failing maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust chaired by Dame Donna Ockenden. His research features in the WHO Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030. He has won numerous international awards and prizes for his research including the Baxter European book Award. He is the Birmingham lead for The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute (THIS Institute) based at the University of Cambridge.

Russell has more than 350 peer reviewed publications, many appearing in leading scientific journals such as The Lancet, BMJ, Social Science and Medicine and The Milbank Quarterly. He has authored or edited 14 books.  His most recent books include: The NHS at 75: The State of Health Policy: Policy Press (2023),Healthcare Reform, Quality and Safety: Perspectives, Participants and Prospects in 30 Countries (2015) ( With Braithwaite et al);  Dismantling the NHS: Evaluating the Impact of Health Reforms (2016), Policy Press (with Exworthy and Powell); Health Systems Improvement Across the Globe:  Success Stories from 60 Countries. (2017) Taylor & Francis (with Braithwaite et al),  Healthcare Systems Improvement Across the Globe:  Future Predictions for Global Care.(2018) and Making Culture Change Happen (2022).  

He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Health Organization and Management and sits on the editorial boards of: the International Journal for Health Policy and Management; the International Journal for Human Rights in Healthcare; the International Journal of Public and Private Healthcare Management and Economics; and the Open Medical Informatics Journal. 

He is currently external examiner (2022-2026) for the MSc Health Policy Planning and Financing -  jointly hosted between the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

In March 2022 Russell presented the 36th Annual Health Services Research Lecture at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: Changing cultures in healthcare: What, why, how?

Russell’s specialisms are: 

• Evaluation of health systems reform
• Global health and international health policy
• Patient safety and healthcare quality
• Pandemic planning and management
• Speaking Up and whistleblowing in healthcare organisations
• Political economy, (especially Populist approaches) to health policy  
• Performance measurement and management 
• Organisational behaviour and healthcare cultures
• Publication bias in health services research
• Cooperation and partnership working in health as social care
• Medical Tourism
• Commissioning and procurement theory
• Economic Sociology, behavioural economics and Institutional Economics
• Mixed methods research