Glasgow Centre for Population Health Podcast

In Lecture 6, the final lecture of Seminar Series 2014-2015, Professor Bruce S. McEwen delivers a talk on how experience shapes the brain across the lifecourse; epigenetics, biological embedding and cumulative change. Professor McEwen is a neuroscientist at The Rockefeller University, New York. He studies the brain and in this lecture, discusses how the social environment affects the brain and through the brain, affects the rest of the body, health and disease through the lifecourse. He also introduces the concept of epigenetics which concerns how environmental factors regulate expression of genes and effect brain and body function.

The fifth lecture of the 2014-2015 Seminar Series is delivered by Linda de Caesteker, Director of Public Health, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Linda talks about justice for women and in particular, the Commission for Women Offenders that she was part of. One of the recommendations of the Commission was to establish Community Justice Centres, along with Linda, colleagues from Tomorrow's Women, the Community Justice Centre in Glasgow, discuss their experiences of working in and also using the Centre.

Lecture 4 of the 2014-2015 Seminar Series is delivered by Andy Whightman, self employed writer and researcher from Edinburgh. In the Seminar, Andy discusses land, society and economy, the importance of land not just as an economic resource but how it fits in with our sense of place and the impact of how we regulate land - it's ownership, it's use - has on places and on people. This is a story from the financial crash to the hills of the highlands.

In Lecture 3 of the 2014-2015 Seminar Series, Marilyn Waring, Professor of Public Policy AUT University, Auckland New Zealand, delivers a presentation on the Economics of Dignity. The dignity discussed concerns those people who are care givers and in particular, children and the question of children's agency. Professor Waring relates this to the new provisions in Scotland for carers and young carers and poses questions about their dignity.

In Lecture 2 of the 2014-2015 Seminar Series, Byron Vincent, writer and performer, delivers a talk on Nature, Nurture and Society. He first talks about his experience of growing up on sink estates and how environment often shapes behaviour and discuses what can be done about that. In the second part he talks about his diagnoses of Bipolar disorder and Post Traumatic Stress disorder, his experience within the mental health system and changes that could be made for the better.

Kevin Morgan, Professor of Governance at Cardiff University delivers this lecture on Urban Food Policy. He looks at the rise of the city as a new player in the food policy debate taking the experiences of London, New York, Toronto and distills some of the lessons learned for cities in UK.

Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister, talks about the work of the Go Well project

In this lecture, Dr. Reeve, post-doctoral researcher at Oxford University, puts forward the case that austerity does harm health but that is a choice we make and we can change how our governments respond to the recession and recessions in the future.

Professor Ian Deary, Director of The Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology at Edinburgh University, presents this lecture on healthy cognitive ageing and principally, the research he has carried out on the Lothian birth cohorts of 1921 and 1936.

Dr Manie Sher a Director from the Tavistock Institution of Human Relations in London presents this lecture on 'Who are the real insane? Our perceptions of disordered thinking and behaviour as defences against imagination'. The Tavistock Institute is concerned with a broad range of issues through activities involving research, organisational and change consultancy primarily in the Public Sector. With a background as a pyscho-analyst, Dr Sher brings these perspectives to bear on the work he does with large complex organisations which he discuses in this lecture, looking at examples where mental health issues are central to the organisations concerned.

The first of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH) 2013-14 Seminars; Maria Pereira reflects on Money, Love and Virtue.

In the final lecture of the 2012/2013 series of lectures provided by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH), Professor Jane Macnaughton, Medical Humanities, University of Durham, discusses the links between Medical Humanities and the idea of the Fifth Wave in Public Health.

Professor Rachel Yahuda delivers a presentation on epigenetics and the effects of stress on the next generation.

Public health faces many challenges today and this will intensify in the future across many different areas – cost, technology, lifestyles, expectations etc. In this lecture, Dr Joe Ravetz proposes that we need new ways of thinking to deal with these challenges.

What of healing? In this lecture Dr David Reilly described his exploration of what might emerge from our efforts to improve health and wellbeing when we shift our focus from external interventions towards life's innate drive to restore equilibrium and wholeness. His approach was born of necessity over twenty years ago when he was working with patients who were not responding to conventional techniques. Since then he has been learning how to help people access their own potential and expanding his knowledge of the automatic maps, that impact upon self-care, change and human flourishing. Some years in, the learning was experimentally scaled from one-to-one to the group-based WEL programme. This was put into service as an action research developmental-demonstration model in the NHS Centre for Integrative Care in Glasgow. More recently the programme has been developed in partnership with the Scottish Government and extended into a primary care setting and staff welfare programmes. Can the subjective inner life be rehabilitated from its battered and neglected place in evidence based medicine? Might the principles of wellness enhancement be scaled up to larger health care systems and population health? Dr Reilly outlined promising preliminary results from this latest development of the programme and considered the potential to foster wellbeing and flourishing in everyday life. The ideas behind the programme have formed an integral and important part of the Cultural Influence on Wellbeing Project led by Phil Hanlon who chaired the session.

Founded by MOBO award-winner Akala in 2009, The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company is a musical theatre production social enterprise which offers young people a different view of the arts and ultimately of themselves. Working in a variety of settings including schools, prisons and community venues, engaging in music and literature, the Hip Hop Shakespeare company strives to inspire and enable young people to better meet their potential, express themselves and highlight their creative talent. Central to their approach is an exploration of the social, linguistic and cultural parallels between the works of Shakespeare and modern day hip-hop artists. In this illustrated lecture, Akala introduced us to the work of the hip-hop Shakespeare approach.

Identifying biologic and behavioural causes of disease has been one of the central concerns of epidemiology for the past half century. This has led to the development of increasingly sophisticated conceptual and analytic approaches focused on the isolation of single causes of disease states. However, the growing recognition that (a) factors at multiple levels, including biologic, behavioural, and group levels may influence health and disease, and (b) that the interrelation among these factors often includes dynamic feedback and changes over time challenges this dominant epidemiologic paradigm. Using examples we will discuss how this deterministic paradigm has led us down a narrow path that challenges our capacity to meaningfully understand the complex causes of health states. Once we begin ‘thinking in systems’ we inevitably arrive at a broader public health conceptualization of the causes of health states. This has important implications both for the science as well as for a public health policy approach that aims to improve the health of populations.

Vorarlberg in Austria has 20 years of experience in experimenting with different ways and methods of promoting a more sustainable society. Out of this experience has emerged the idea of a 'learning institution' embedded in a tight-knit network of co-operating institutions. In this lecture Manfred Helrigl outlined a 'philosophy of self-organization' and illustrated its impact through practical examples. Manfred suggested that we need to rethink familiar leadership-strategies and revitalize democracy, because the existing system is not capable of handling wicked problems. He also outline how they are approaching this challenge in Vorarlberg, what a new culture of co-operation could look like and its implications for society, government and administration at local and regional level.

We all blame our genes for many of our features, behaviours and illnesses. Recent studies suggest that the environment before birth is also a major influence on the risk of ill-health across the lifespan and perhaps into a further generation. This process, called ‘developmental programming’, has been studied intensively in recent years and is beginning to reveal a process called epigenetics which underpins growth, behaviour and health risks. In this seminar, Prof Seckl will discuss these issues and how for example, stress during pregnancy or how well a child’s grandfather ate, impacts on their life.

Very few people argue with the need to address the social determinants of health and much effort has already been made at national and international level to reduce persistent health inequities between and within countries. However, global health inequities continue to widen, as the effectiveness and quality of programmes vary considerably, sometimes resulting in the reverse of expected outcomes. Local political issues and cultural conflicts clearly play a part in these situations. However, the asset model proposed in ‘Health Assets in a Global Context’ suggests that it is the disproportionate emphasis between deficit and asset based approaches that prevent effective and sustained action. The former focuses on assessing health needs, sometimes ignoring the potential strengths of individuals and communities; the latter assesses multiple levels of health-promoting aspects in populations, and promotes joint solutions between communities and outside agencies. The Asset Model sets out a challenge for policy makers, researchers and practitioners to think and act differently to support positive joint solutions for health. It brings together a range of existing ideas to provide a framework for establishing the evidence base required to demonstrate the benefits to be gained from investing in asset based approaches. Antony Morgan is an epidemiologist and the Associate Director, Centre for Public Health Excellence for NICE. He is currently responsible for producing public health guidance across a range of public health topic areas, including inequalities, community engagement, social and emotional wellbeing of children, sexual health, alcohol misuse, quitting smoking during pregnancy, domestic violence and Hepatitis B and C.

Since 2010 the University of Strathclyde, the University of Herat and the NGO PeaceWaves International Network have been collaborating on two projects funded by the British Council. One of these collaborative projects is under the scheme called INSPIRE International Strategic Partnership and started in January 2011. The focus of this project is to run (across three years) two training courses for Afghan practitioners in Person Centred/Experiential Skills plus a final advanced input. The course is experientially co-constructed between tutors and participants on a daily basis, in respect of the local cultural and traditional values and has the long term aim to be training for trainers that can be applied and replicated autonomously at the University of Herat and several other Afghan organisations. In this lecture members of the team will present an overview of their work, together with findings so far and the implications of these for a country living with the consequences of a long period of war and devastation.

Since 2010 the University of Strathclyde, the University of Herat and the NGO PeaceWaves International Network have been collaborating on two projects funded by the British Council. The first, under the scheme called DelPHE and started in September 2010, is a three year collaborative research project titled Afghan Civil Society's opinion and suggestions regarding women's empowerment and children's education in their country. 15 young Afghan researchers have been trained on quantitative and qualitative research methods. Parallel to that, a questionnaire and some focus groups have been developed and are due to be run by the young researchers across the six Afghan Provinces. The aim of this project is to give a voice to Afghan Civil Society regarding two main emergencies in their country (that are also points raised by the Millennium Development Goals, 2009): women's empowerment and children's education. In this lecture members of the team will present an overview of their work, together with findings so far and the implications of these for a country living with the consequences of a long period of war and devastation.

A growing number of people, including millions from Britain, have been entering a global precariat, part of an emerging class structure shaped by globalisation. In this lecture, drawing on his new book, The Precariat: A New Dangerous Class, Professor Standing examined the labour market dynamics that underpin the growth of the precariat and set out the nucleus of a new 'politics of paradise' that is beginning to take shape outside the political mainstream.

Seminar Series 7 concluded on Tuesday 10 May 2011 at St Andrew's in the Square, Glasgow. Everyone faces stressful experiences. They are facts of life. Not everyone handles stressful experiences in quite the same way, however. And not all stressful experiences are the same. Some are brief. Others are chronic. Some are psychological. Others are physical. Some make us grow and give us an opportunity to flourish. Others make us flounder and undermine our wellbeing. The different ways in which stress can affect people either positively or negatively ultimately depends on the brain. This is because the brain is the central organ that filters our experiences as being positive or negative — and it ultimately determines how we handle these experiences throughout life. The purpose of this lecture was to provide a general overview of what we know and what we don’t know about how the human brain processes and responds to stressful experiences, both in the short-term and over the long-term. A particular emphasis was placed on the strengths and weaknesses of brain imaging studies to address open questions about the bodily pathways linking stressful experiences to health, particularly physical health. To this end, the speaker’s work on the neurobiology of stress and cardiovascular disease risk was used for illustrative purposes. The lecture concluded by considering how future studies on this complicated topic can deepen our understanding of how stressful experiences can become embodied by the brain to influence health throughout life.

The fifth seminar in Series 7 took place on Wednesday 13 April 2011 at the Trades Hall of Glasgow. Public policy debates in industrialized societies tend to evolve around two instrumental subsystems: the economy and the welfare state. The ultimate goal of these subsystems - the well-being of citizens - receives very little attention. It seems as if policy makers assume that they understand it so well that it needs no special reflection. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The determinants of well-being have changed considerably in recent decades as societies have become wealthier, cultural norms and regulations have become more liberal, and the influence of the markets in everyday life has grown. Instead of scarcity and deprivation, the majority of people in affluent societies suffer from the "problem of choice" – an inability to make good choices for their own and others' well-being. Increasing concerns surrounding work-life balance, mental health, obesity, personal finances and children's development, as well as the rapidly growing markets for life management and well-being magazines, TV-programs and personal consulting services, suggest that this problem is real and has major societal impacts. This underlines the need to develop a better and more holistic understanding of everyday well-being that could serve as a basis for better individual decisions and public policy making. Improving knowledge about well-being is also crucial for innovating products and services to improve it. The more you know about the determinants of well-being in everyday life, the better products and services you can develop. Hence, well-being and competitiveness are not contradictory, rather they are consistent with each other.

The 11th Healthier Future Forum took place on Thursday 31 March 2011 at Glasgow Science Centre. Taking the focus of 'a resilient Glasgow', this event presented indicators of progress and drew upon newly developed conceptual models to improve understanding about Glasgow's health. Delegates were encouraged to think about Glasgow's past, its present and its future and what might be the key components of a more resilient city.

The fourth seminar in Series 7 took place on Tuesday 8 March 2011 at the Lighthouse, Glasgow. It has become all too evident in recent months that the world, as well as local society, is being subjected to an increasing pace of shocks. These range from natural events, such as earthquakes, eruptions, super-storms and large scale flooding, to societal shocks including financial crises, budget cuts and unrest with outworn regimes and politics. At the local level we see escalating fuel and food prices, weather stress and degrading public health. These challenges are having the effect of switching the agenda from sustainability towards resilience. The question emergency planners ask is "how can we plan for anything without having to plan for everything?" The essential nature of resilience is to prepare capacity to be able to bounce back from shocks, surprises and contingencies. The task is to get things returned to normal as quickly as possible. But supposing we are entering a future where normal as we know it no longer exists? There may be structural changes taking place in people and planet that are too far gone from the normal that we have become comfortable with. This talk introduced the idea that we need to begin thinking about what it would mean to bounce beyond, to respond to crises as opportunities to change the way we configure life. In the increasing frequency of what Homer-Dixon calls synchronous failure, where our rigid structures are really broken down, we may be able to initiate positive changes that are impossible as 'gentle change' as the current system fights to keep the status quo. This leads us to a new concept called transformative resilience.

The third seminar of Series 7 took place on Tuesday 8 February 2011 at the City Halls in Glasgow. It was Plato who first observed that human beings naturally integrate the true, the good and the beautiful. We still observe this in our own lives when we are allowed to do so. Yet, the true (as manifested in the ideologies of scientism and economism) has been elevated in our work and professional lives to a position where 'evidence' and 'cost effectiveness' trumps all other considerations. The result is that we feel brutalised and not 'fully human'.

The first Seminar Series event of 2011 took place on Wednesday 19 January at the Teacher Building, Glasgow. Hazel Henderson spoke live from Florida via webcast. At the seminar Hazel discussed the implications of recognising global finance as a commons for re-structuring our current global casinos. She explored how to restore the purpose of finance as serving the real economies of the world, as well as the principles that should guide finance in the service of people and planet and outline the limits of markets and money itself. She examined how best to defend the global commons: atmosphere, oceans, biodiversity, etc from inappropriate market penetration and protect human rights, especially those of indigenous peoples in non-market societies and their traditional cultures and lands. Her seminar also raised possible implications of socially responsible investing at the local level.

The first seminar in this Series took place on Thursday 18 November 2010 at the Lighthouse. The ATLAS Collaboration will conduct experiments at the very edge of science, using one of four detectors located on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The Collaboration consists of over 3000 scientist working in over 174 research institutes and universities located in 38 countries around the globe. In such a complex and spatially extended network (what we would today call a complex adaptive system) how do the knowledge flows allow the creation of one of the most sophisticated technological objects ever built? Drawing on a conceptual framework, the Information-Space or I-Space, Max Boisot described and tried to make sense of the ATLAS collaboration’s culture. He explored the lessons that the management of globally distributed ‘big science’ projects such as the ATLAS collaboration hold for other complex adaptive systems such as cities.

Adam Kahane delivered the last seminar from this series. His lecture was based on his assertion that the two methods most frequently employed to solved our toughest social problems - relying on violence and aggression, or submitting to endless negotiation and compromise - are fundamentally flawed and that the seemingly contradictory drives behind these two approaches - power, the desire to achieve one's purpose, and love, the urge to unite with others are actually complimentary.

At the fifth lecture of this Seminar Series, David Gustave, an Educational Motivator from the children's charity 'Kid's Company' delivered a seminar based on both personal biography and professional experience. He spoke about the needs of young people in the UK today, and how their needs can often be wrongly judged. He spoke about how young people seek the same types of fulfilment that many of us do - something that Kid's Company helps them to understand and work towards.

The fourth lecture of the sixth Seminar Series was delivered by Wayne Elliot, Head of Health forecasting at the Met Office. The presentation given by Wayne was called 'Impact of weather on human health - current and future issues' and was deliverd at the Lighthouse, Glasgow. Those who attended this event heard about the work of the Met Office in relation to people's health and the initiatives they run to support the work of the health service and others involved in health protection and improvement. The work of the Met Office in relation to their work on climate change was also discussed, this included elements such as: * what aspects of the British weather are important * what areas of illness/wellbeing are chiefly affected * how the health programme operates as a business - the opportunities and challenges this brings * future impacts of the climate on health - what we know and what we don't know

This lecture took place at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Economic growth is supposed to deliver rising prosperity: higher incomes increasing wellbeing and leading to prosperity for all. But this conventional formula is failing. Growth has delivered its benefits, at best unequally. Moreover, the ecological and social consequences of unfettered growth are devastating. Climate change threatens long-term wellbeing. Resource scarcities undermine the basis for future prosperity. Persistent inequalities still divide the world and a growing ‘social recession’ haunts the market economies. Development remains essential for poorer countries. But are ever-increasing incomes for the ‘already rich’ still a legitimate goal for advanced nations? Or should we be aiming for prosperity without growth? In this seminar, Tim Jackson, an advisor to the UK Government and author of Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet (Earthscan, 2009), will argue that society faces a profound dilemma: economic growth is unsustainable; but ‘de-growth’ – or economic contraction – is unstable. He will show that the prevailing ‘escape route’ from this dilemma – to try and ‘decouple’ economic activity from its impact – is not working. How can we proceed in a world where global resource consumption is still rising yet meeting climate change targets will require reductions in carbon intensity two orders of magnitude higher than anything achieved historically? In the light of these challenges, Professor Jackson engages in a critical re-examination of the economic structure and social logic of consumerism. He will set out a new vision of a shared prosperity: the capability to flourish as human beings – within the ecological limits of a finite planet.

On Monday 27 April, at the CCA Glasgow, Shakti Maira provided his presentation on Nested Realtionships - Beauty, Aesthetics, Art and Happiness.

In this lecture Dr Burns reflects that recent trends show relative improvements in some Scottish health indices compared to other countries. However, health inequality remains an obstinate challenge in Scotland, with the greatest difficulties found largely in the Clydeside conurbation. The policy implications of this and the findings of recent research on the effects of stress on brain structure are considered.

Recent demographic trends suggest that demands on healthcare will increase to such an extent that no matter how efficient healthcare professionals are, they will never be able to provide enough care in light of the ageing population and increasing prevalence of chronic ill-health. This gap between the need for care and the size of the workforce could be bridged by the development of Information Technology (IT). While there are many developments in Scotland (and elsewhere), little work has been undertaken at a national level to develop integrated IT systems for this purpose. Careful and appropriate development will be necessary if such an IT infrastructure is to contribute fully to the future of care, but there is no business case for this and no sense of political urgency to develop such an infrastructure despite the understanding that to reach an effective level in ten years we need to start now.

Talking Cities – The Micropolitics of Urban Space From Kevin Macleod to Prince Charles, it seems everyone is talking cities. What makes an eco-town or city? What is sustainable design? Architecture and happiness? Perhaps more importantly, what does inclusiveness, equality and diversity mean in the built environment? Place-making, the new term on the block, is generally agreed to be central to social inclusion, cultural well-being and identity. But what makes a good space? People experience their environment in different ways depending upon their social, cultural and economic circumstances. Policies can enable good spaces but they can also be exclusive. If all citizens are to be comfortable in and identify with the spaces and places they inhabit, then the full diversity of this experience has to be considered. It means adopting a human-centred design approach. In this lecture Stuart MacDonald will look at the effect of an inhospitable built environment – the impact of bad design - as a way of looking at inclusion. Because the impact of the designed environment upon us huge, he will suggest that everyone should be talking cities as a fundamental part of democracy.

Glasgow Centre for Population Health Seminar Series 6.

We’ve got the future in our hands: Are we up to it? There is mounting evidence that the demands of everyday life in these complex and uncertain times is presenting humanity with both a threat to survival and also an opportunity for evolutionary transformation. Is humanity being pushed beyond our limits to cope or are we instead on the cusp of a breakthrough in consciousness on a global scale? Is the rising tide of mental anguish—anxiety, depression, suicide, addiction and violence – a sign that we are being overtaken by our powerful times? Or is the newly enlivened participatory impulse that swept a young African American man into the White House an indication that we are growing up and developing expanded psychological capacities, new forms of thinking and social innovation. In this lecture psychologist Maureen O'Hara will take a fresh look at the challenges of the globalising 21st century. She will suggest that if we understand what is happening from an evolutionary perspective, we may be able to learn our way into a more humane future.

The determinants of 'happiness' and its distribution both domestically and internationally suggest that a more appropriate target for policy is 'unhappiness', which responds to several forms of public action. But setting happiness as an objective does suggest some policy priorities. These include non-material forms of recognition, taxation of positional goods and support of culture and the arts. Individuals have an intrinsic short-term myopic bias, which is exacerbated by the flow of novelty in affluent societies. They find it difficult to commit. Government has a role in supporting personal and social commitment for the long term, e.g. in co-ordinating responses to challenges such as climate change and energy depletion.

Julian Tudor Hart and David Donnison have been outstanding contributors to the British welfare state and the NHS since its beginning. In this conversation they reflect upon their experience in a period of considerable change in accountability, professionalism, democracy and ask do we still live in a generous society? In the light of all this, what then shall we do?

By placing too high a value on the material aspects of life, English speaking nations put themselves at twice the risk of mental disorder over their mainland European counterparts. This overemphasis on materialism has its roots in the ideologies and policies of the Thatcher administration in the UK and the Reagan administration in the USA. Through placing an over-emphasis on materialism, these perspectives led to people spending less time on meeting fundamental human needs, resulting in increased mental disorder. A greater focus on other aspects of life is needed to restore the balance.

Individual differences in response to stressful experiences are a hallmark of the human condition. The same experiences that some people find aversive are considered neutral or rewarding by others. Paradoxically, experiences that are rewarding can also be defined as stressful because they activate stress hormone systems, such as the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. Despite this activation, however, the brain is often buffered against the negative effects of high stress hormones when the experience is perceived as rewarding or "positive". The adult brain is structurally plastic, undergoing changes in the birth of new neurons, a process called neurogenesis, and remodelling of dendrites. Positive and negative stress can modulate brain structure and these changes are believed to participate in cognitive function (the processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning) and mood regulation. In this lecture, Professor Gould will discuss the influence of stress hormones on plasticity in the adult brain under aversive and rewarding conditions. Negative stress inhibits adult neurogenesis and results in atrophy of some types of neurons as a result of elevated levels of stress hormones. While positive stress results in even greater increases in such levels, these experiences are associated with brain growth. Professor Gould will argue that the effects of stress on the brain are complex and can be mediated by the social context, which may buffer the brain from negative consequences.

Looking back over the twentieth century we can see many examples of utopian schemes which have inadvertently brought disruption to millions; from compulsory ‘extended family’ villages in Tanzania, collectivisation in Russia, Le Corbusier’s urban planning, the Great Leap Forward in China and agricultural ‘modernization’ in the tropics. Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? Drawing upon his highly original book of the same title, and his long-term work in South East Asia (Burma in particular), Professor Scott helps us to understand how potentially harmful “state-spaces” are constructed. He shows how large-scale authoritarian schemes fail through the violence which they impose upon complex interdependencies which cannot be fully understood. He suggests that design for successful social organisation – like cities – depends on the recognition that local, practical, knowledge is as important as formal, abstract, knowledge in addressing the challenges which we now face.

Humanity has now become as powerful a geological agent in shaping the operation of the planet as the oceans, ice sheets and rivers, to the extent that many believe we have entered a new geological era. What is happening to the planet? How confident are we that we understand the changes, and how should we respond to them if the science is uncertain? These matters have important economic, social and philosophical implications, and present unique political problems (the recent flooding is a small-scale example). How should we respond?

Professor Tannahill has recently been appointed as Honorary Visiting Professor to the School of Health & Social Care. Professor Tannahill's appointment will support the School's development in two areas of strategic importance; Research Development and Social Enterprise.

Professor Bruce Link’s research has focused on how and under what conditions socioeconomic disparities are translated into health inequalities. In this lecture, Professor Link will introduce the fundamental-social-causes concept and present evidence related to its scope and validity by focusing on health patterns and trends in New York. Using data from New York and elsewhere he will argue that the association between socioeconomic status and mortality has persisted for over a century despite dramatic changes in the diseases afflicting humans and radical changes in the risk factors presumed to account for those diseases. Drawing upon a range of sources, he will suggest that socioeconomic disparities endure because socioeconomic status embodies an array of flexible resources, such as knowledge, money, power, prestige and beneficial social connections that can be used to protect health no matter what the risk factors or diseases are at any given time. His lecture will end with some considerations concerning the policy implications which arise from this perspective.

Featuring renowned speakers Professor Richard Wilkinson and Professor Corey Keyes, this seminar was held in Glasgow on Thursday 11th October 2007. As part of the Journal of Public Mental Health series of seminars, it explored key issues in public mental health and invited debate about the gap between what we know about population level influences on mental health and current policy responses to psycho-social problems. The series was supported by the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health and the Mental Health Foundation.

Featuring renowned speakers Professor Richard Wilkinson and Professor Corey Keyes, this seminar was held in Glasgow on Thursday 11th October 2007. As part of the Journal of Public Mental Health series of seminars, it explored key issues in public mental health and invited debate about the gap between what we know about population level influences on mental health and current policy responses to psycho-social problems. The series was supported by the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health and the Mental Health Foundation.

In a city which prides itself on friendliness and yet has inequalities in health which persist despite our best attempts to tackle them, questions about our relationships to others are of key significance. This issue of otherness is ancient and contemporary, local as well as global, and of significance both in everyday life and periods of cultural crisis. In this lecture, Aftab Omer will consider how to develop core principles and practices that are responsive to the challenges of otherness both within the city and beyond. The diversity we see in the human race is often treated as a problem rather than an asset. For example, we see this in various forms of social oppression such as inequality, racism and cultural trauma. Omer argues that responding effectively to the fragmentation that characterises this global cultural crisis, calls for leadership that practices a profound engagement with all that is other. Such a perspective will raise important insights and questions about how people, organisations and cultures relate to each other, with important consequences for the pursuit of wellbeing.