The Social Science and Urban Public Health Institute celebrated its official launch on 26 April at The Exchange, Bush House, in London.

Professor Nikolas Rose (Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, School of Global Affairs) is co-leader of the Institute, together with Professor Judith Green (Life Sciences & Medicine and an affiliate of the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine) and Dr Stephanie Hatch (Institute of Psychiatry). The Institute aims to apply innovative inter-disciplinary social science to urgent urban public health challenges, both in the UK and globally. 

The Institute brings together King’s PhD students and academics working in social science, as well as public health practioners, policy makers and other external collaborations such as Professor Mike Kelly from the Institute of Public Health and Director of Public Health for Lewisham, Danny Ruta.

Commenting on the launch Professor Nickolas Rose said:

“There is no doubt that many features of urban existence are linked to poor physical and mental health, from pollution to loneliness. But the challenge is to find ways to make cities into habitats in which individuals, families and communities can thrive – and the kind of interdisciplinary research that SUPHI will promote is essential to inform policies to make that happen.”

 Professor Judith Green commented:

“These are exciting times to be working on urban health.  There is a renewed political will to address the upstream determinants of health in cities - and social scientists are absolutely core to that.  Working across disciplinary borders, the SUPHI collaboration aims to address some of the big questions public health: how to foster mental wellbeing in the city; how to harness digital technologies for the benefit for all; how we make cities healthy places to live, work and play in.”

Along with speeches from the three co-leads, the launch gave an opportunity for networking and for the Institute team to showcase their research in urban public health. There was a South East London community photography project, audio recordings of sounds in the city generated by participants using the Urban Mind app, and discussion board asking guests to respond to different questions about how we can foster healthier cities. 

More information about the Institute is available at suphi.kcl.ac.uk and follow them on twitter @SUPHI_KCL. If you are interested in joining the Institute, please email suphi@kcl.ac.uk.