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Health at Durham

Unbound from clinic, we frame health differently. Our vision for health is for people to thrive in the places they live. We embrace physical, mental, social and environmental health, envisioned as a synergy of self, beliefs, culture, family, community and planet.
44 Specialist
Institutes, Centres, Academies and Projects
40 Courses
Undergraduate Courses and Postgraduate Programmes
£20 Million
in Research Funding
People holding fruit and vegetables in a Community Garden

Welcome to Health at Durham

Health at Durham is a university-wide strategic programme of world-leading research, education, engagement and impact. Our rich and diverse expertise takes place across three interrelated ways of framing health.
About Us
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Our three health frames

Discover more about what is taking place across our interrelated frames of health.

  • Individuals and Health

    For this framing, health is about the physicality, behaviour and wellness of the embodied self.
    Individuals and Health

  • Communities, Places and Health

    For this framing, health is about the communities and places in which people live, including the complex systems of which they are a part.
    Communities

  • Environments, Ecology and Health

    For this framing, health is about sustainability, planetary health and the multiple environments in which humans live, from microbiology to ecology.
    Environment

Individuals and Health

For this framing, health is about the physicality, behaviour and wellness of the embodied self.
Individuals and Health

Communities, Places and Health

For this framing, health is about the communities and places in which people live, including the complex systems of which they are a part.
Communities

Environments, Ecology and Health

For this framing, health is about sustainability, planetary health and the multiple environments in which humans live, from microbiology to ecology.
Environment
Our Courses
University student
Our mission is to encourage and support high calibre interdisciplinary research to understand and address human health challenges.
Professor Charlotte Clarke
Executive Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Health

Research Excellence Framework (REF)

90 percent of our research, including health, rated 'world-leading' or ‘internationally excellent.'

The depth and breadth of our university research was demonstrated by more than 1,000 research staff, whose research was submitted in 24 different subject areas, including a wide range of health topics, from infectious disease and the neuroscience of pain to health inequalities and global health to nutrition and sustainable farming to the medical humanities and medical ethics. Full results can be found on the REF 2021 website. See also our health impact case studies below.
REF 2021 website (external link)
Digital illustration of multiple TV screens showing data

 

 

90% world-leading or internationally excellent research.
88% world-leading or internationally excellent outputs.
90% world-leading or internationally excellent research impact.
97% world-leading or internationally excellent research environment.

 

 

Health impact case studies

From improving people's health and influencing changes in the law, our research is having an impact around the world.

Supporting voice-hearers and changing perceptions

Our Hearing the Voice project – drawn from research from across the University - is providing resources to help voice-hearers and their families.
Laptop displaying hearing the voice website with cathedral background underlay

Pioneering research into infant sleep safety

Our Anthropologists have revolutionised research into infant sleep safety and helped reduce rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Parents lying next to babies in bed with durham underlay

 

 

What's new?

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Working together with people in secure mental health units to stay healthy

We’re collaborating with the NHS to empower people in secure mental health units get the exercise that they need to stay healthy.

Research news
Looking down a hospital ward.

Report tackles modern air pollution

Professor Brian Castellani, from our Department of Sociology, has made significant contributions to a new report identifying air pollution as a public health crisis.
Global research
RCP report cover on a navy background

ERC Spotlight: Professor Lynda Boothroyd and the body image intervention programme

We will host the European Research Council's (ERC) Scientific Council meeting this June. Leading up to the visit, we are highlighting some of the projects at Durham that are happening thanks to support from the ERC.
Global research
A classroom of children in Columbia taking part in a pilot body image awareness session

ERC Spotlight: Professor Hannah Brown and the ALIVEAfrica project explore how animals impact health and wellbeing

We will host the European Research Council's (ERC) Scientific Council Meeting this June. Leading up to the visit, we are highlighting some of the projects at Durham that are happening thanks to support from the ERC.
Global research
Hannah Brown and her research team

Climate change driving rise in soil’s antibiotic resistance

A multinational research team, including Professor David W Graham from our top-rated Biosciences Department, have helped uncover a worrying new effect of climate change - the rise of antibiotic resistance in soil bacteria.
Research news
Soil bacteria

New study unlocks pathway to treat chronic pain

A new study involving our Biosciences department has revealed a previously unknown pain pathway in the human nervous system, reshaping our understanding of how chronic pain functions.
Research news
A person having chronic migraine

Physical activity insecurity is stopping youngsters from getting active, study finds

New research suggests that feelings of discomfort and unsafety are preventing some young people from being physically active.
Research news
The feet of a person wearing bright trainings walking along a path
Discover More News

Working together with people in secure mental health units to stay healthy

We’re collaborating with the NHS to empower people in secure mental health units get the exercise that they need to stay healthy.

Looking down a hospital ward.

Climate change driving rise in soil’s antibiotic resistance

A multinational research team, including Professor David W Graham from our top-rated Biosciences Department, have helped uncover a worrying new effect of climate change - the rise of antibiotic resistance in soil bacteria.
Soil bacteria

New study unlocks pathway to treat chronic pain

A new study involving our Biosciences department has revealed a previously unknown pain pathway in the human nervous system, reshaping our understanding of how chronic pain functions.
A person having chronic migraine

Get in touch

Contact our team:

Contact us

Health at Durham,
Palatine Centre,
Durham DH1 3LE

Tel: +44 (0)191 334 4042