The Policy Institute runs a responsive research facility for the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Professor Dame Sally Davies, addressing a range of crosscutting public health and social policy areas including anti-microbial resistance, obesity, pollution and genomics. We provide both commissioned research projects and evidence-based policy briefings with insights to inform policy and practice.
Through this facility we have contributed to tackling some of the most pressing global challenges, most notably rising levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Our work on this topic has examined ethical, social and economic questions around the global use of antibiotics, addressing how we might best curate existing antibiotics while developing new ones, and balancing the needs of current populations with those of future generations.
AMR and the other public health challenges we have addressed through this facility are united by their complexity, and require a response characterised by a deep understanding of policy and practice processes in addition to a broad range of academic expertise. As such, we have a diverse academic team who work together across public health and other policy areas both nationally and internationally in order to provide the best evidence to inform policy.