Social justice is a founding value for the Centre for Health Policy and we align with Strathclyde’s ethos of being a socially progressive institution. Our vision strongly reflects Strathclyde’s Values, being people-orientated, collaborative and innovative.

Our vision is for Strathclyde’s Centre for Health Policy to be:

• An accessible and welcoming academic hub for policy-focused health research, helping to facilitate conversations around evidence-informed approaches to improving people’s health and reducing health inequalities. We pride ourselves in creating spaces for dialogue across research, policy and affected communities. Our Associate Director, Dr Lisa Garnham, is helping to weave together the wide-ranging insights that come from the participatory expertise within the Centre.
• Firmly rooted in Scotland, but with strong international collaborations that help to generate valuable insights and learning across contexts. We believe in co-producing knowledge and solutions that are globally informed and locally relevant. With long-standing partnerships in North America, we are now growing our partnerships with the Global South, under the leadership of CHP Associate Director, Dr Jackie Stewart. This work for the 2025/6 academic year will be prioritising the African continent by building on our partnership with Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) for the rollout of In-country Health Research Prioritisation for the national, regional and continental research agenda.

The Centre for Health Policy aims to:

• Influence policy and practice for the benefit of health: Whether developing criteria for appraising policy models, enabling health research prioritisation, examining policies and practices to reduce pandemic impacts, or exploring international efforts to realise rights to mental health and wellbeing, we are always working to ensure that our research is relevant to policy and practice. Ultimately, our aim is to contribute to improved population health and wellbeing, especially in communities facing health and wellbeing challenges.
• Promote participatory methods and public engagement around health challenges and potential solutions: We are committed to using methods that ensure communities impacted by health challenges are engaged in the research we undertake. We strive to ensure inclusive, context-sensitive, and sustainable learnings and outcomes and have expertise in a wide range of participatory methods. By engaging communities directly and facilitating dialogue with researchers and decision-makers, we aim to ensure our work is shaped by the priorities and interests of those whose lives are most impacted by the policies and practices we study.
• Strengthen health policy focused research capacity and skills: We invest in developing and enhancing the capacity of individuals and groups to undertake robust, policy-focused health research. This includes supporting the many post-doctoral researchers in the Centre who are funded via external grants, building wider research methods networks, and creating opportunities to share learning and leadership in health policy research methods. We also support post-graduate students, via our innovative MSc Health and Social Policy (which includes opportunities for national and international placement-based dissertations with CHP projects and partners), via our PhD in Public Health & Health Policy, and via opportunities for PhD students, CHP partners and Associate Members to spend time at CHP.