Professor Katherine Smith
Social Work and Social Policy (Subject)
Personal statement
I am a Professor of Public Health Policy at the Strathclyde School of Social Work and Social Policy (having recently moved, via Strathclyde's Global Talent scheme, from the University of Edinburgh's School of Social & Political Science, where I was Director of Research and Co-Director of SKAPE - the Centre for Science, Knowledge & Policy at Edinburgh).
My principle research interests are the dynamics of policy change and the relationships between evidence, expertise, policy and practice, particularly for issues relating to public health and inequalities. I am currently involved in the following five areas of research: (i) research exploring public, policy and academic understandings of health inequalities in the UK (supported by grants from the ESRC and by my 2014 Philip Leverhulme Prize award), which uses a combination of surveys, deliberative mini-publics, interviews and documentary analysis; (ii) research examining innovative health taxes, which is exploring the potential for different types of taxes in a range of different income settings (this includes work focusing on Scotland, which is funded by an ESRC impact accelerator award); (iii) research exploring the impacts of the UK's research impact agenda; (iv) I am leading a policy-focused workstream of SIPHER, a UKPRP funded consortium that is working to support policymakers to achieve an upstream shift in policy responses to public health and health inequalities via a complex systems modelling support tool; and (v) I am also involved in a separate UKPRP funded consortium called SPECTRUM, for which I will be helping to develop deliberative approaches to examining public preferences for tackling the costs of unhealthy commodity products (alcohol, cigarettes, ultra-processed food, etc). My earlier research (undertaken at the universities of Edinburgh, Bath and Durham) involved analysing corporate (particularly tobacco industry) efforts to influence EU and European Member State policies, comparatively assessing UK policies to tackle health inequalities, and evaluating national and local strategies to improve public health in the devolved UK. These various projects have been written up in various journal articles, a monograph entitled ‘Beyond Evidence-Based Public Health Policy: The Interplay of Ideas’ (Palgrave Macmillan, October 2013), a co-authored book on The Impact Agenda (forthcoming in Spring 2020 with Policy Press) and a British Medical Association award-winning edited collection, ‘Health Inequalities: Critical Perspectives’ (Oxford University Press 2016). I am currently Co-Editor-in-Chief of Evidence & Policy and Co-Editor of the book series Palgrave Studies in Science, Knowledge & Policy.
I welcome PhD applications concerned with public policy analysis, public health or inequalities and have a strong track record of supporting graduate students in their research and policy careers.
Prize And Awards
- The Richard Titmuss Book Award
- Recipient
- 7/7/2022
- Cambridge University Prize for Excellence in Social Policy Scholarship
- Recipient
- 1/7/2018
- BMA Public Health Book Prize 2016
- Recipient
- 9/2016
- The Bleddyn Davies Early Career Prize
- Recipient
- 2014
- Philip Leverhulme Prize for Sociology & Social Policy
- Recipient
- 2014
Publications
- Health and social welfare policies in the ‘post-Covid-19’ era : Embracing a paradigm shift?
- He Alex Jingwei, Ellison Nick, Smith Katherine
- Urban Governance Vol 4, pp. 3-4 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ugj.2024.03.001
- Operationalizing inclusive growth : can malleable ideas survive metricized governance?
- Hill O'Connor Clementine, Smith Katherine, Hughes Ceri, Meier Petra, Purshouse Robin
- Public Administration Vol 102, pp. 114-130 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12916
- Young people's perspectives on addressing UK health inequalities : utopian visions and preferences for action
- Fergie Gillian, Vaczy Caroline, Smith Katherine, Mackenzie Mhairi, Phan Thu Thuy, Hilton Shona
- Health Expectations Vol 26, pp. 2264-2277 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.13825
- An exploration of stakeholder views and perceptions on taxing tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages in Ghana
- Singh Arti, Smith Katherine, Hellowell Mark, Logo Divine Darlington, Marten Robert, Suu Kaung, Owusu-Dabo Ellis
- BMJ Global Health Vol 8 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2023-012054
- Integrating evidence and public engagement in policy work : an empirical examination of three UK policy organisations
- Hill O’Connor Clementine, Smith Katherine, Stewart Ellen
- Policy and Politics Vol 51, pp. 271-294 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.1332/030557321x16698031794569
- Bold action is needed to strengthen primary prevention
- Meier Petra, Katikireddi Srinivasa Vittal, Smith Katherine
- BMJ Vol 380, pp. p595 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p595
Research Interests
My principle research interests are the dynamics of policy change and the relationships between evidence, expertise, policy and practice, particularly for issues relating to public health and inequalities. I am currently involved in the following five areas of research: (i) research exploring public, policy and academic understandings of health inequalities in the UK (supported by grants from the ESRC and by my 2014 Philip Leverhulme Prize award), which uses a combination of surveys, deliberative mini-publics, interviews and documentary analysis; (ii) research examining innovative health taxes, which is exploring the potential for different types of taxes in a range of different income settings (this includes work focusing on Scotland, which is funded by an ESRC impact accelerator award); (iii) research exploring the impacts of the UK's research impact agenda; (iv) I am leading a policy-focused workstream of SIPHER, a UKPRP funded consortium that is working to support policymakers to achieve an upstream shift in policy responses to public health and health inequalities via a complex systems modelling support tool; and (v) I am also involved in a separate UKPRP funded consortium called SPECTRUM, for which I will be helping to develop deliberative approaches to examining public preferences for tackling the costs of unhealthy commodity products (alcohol, cigarettes, ultra-processed food, etc). My earlier research (undertaken at the universities of Edinburgh, Bath and Durham) involved analysing corporate (particularly tobacco industry) efforts to influence EU and European Member State policies, comparatively assessing UK policies to tackle health inequalities, and evaluating national and local strategies to improve public health in the devolved UK. These various projects have been written up in various journal articles, a monograph entitled ‘Beyond Evidence-Based Public Health Policy: The Interplay of Ideas’ (Palgrave Macmillan, October 2013), a co-authored book on The Impact Agenda (forthcoming in Spring 2020 with Policy Press) and a British Medical Association award-winning edited collection, ‘Health Inequalities: Critical Perspectives’ (Oxford University Press 2016). I am currently Co-Editor-in-Chief of Evidence & Policy and Co-Editor of the book series Palgrave Studies in Science, Knowledge & Policy.
Projects
- Policy Research Unit: Improving Health and Reducing Inequalities in Scotland
- Congreve, Emma (Principal Investigator) Smith, Kat (Co-investigator) Stewart, Ellen (Co-investigator)
- 12-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2027
- Trends in Socio-Economic Determinants of Health Inequalities in Scotland
- Eiser, David (Principal Investigator) Congreve, Emma (Co-investigator) Smith, Kat (Co-investigator) Spowage, Mairi (Co-investigator) Stewart, Ellen (Co-investigator)
- 10-Jan-2022 - 31-Jan-2023
- Senior public health leadership during the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak: Comparative approaches to mitigating the spread of infectious disease and its social consequences in Canada and abroad
- Smith, Kat (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2022
- Developing a participatory approach for exploring young people's perspectives on health inequalities
- Smith, Kat (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2021
- SPECTRUM: Shaping Public hEalth poliCies To Reduce IneqUalities and harM
- Smith, Kat (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2024
- System-science Informed Public Health and Economic Research for Non-communicable Disease Prevention (the SIPHER Consortium)
- Smith, Kat (Principal Investigator) Stewart, Ellen (Co-investigator)
- 16-Jan-2019 - 15-Jan-2024
Contact
Professor
Katherine
Smith
Social Work and Social Policy (Subject)
Email: katherine.smith.100@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 444 8745