Science, health and sustainability

The Centre for Research in Social Simulation (CRESS) is a world leader in applying a complexity perspective to sociological problems using simulation methods. A series of EU funded projects have developed simulation methods to help in understanding policy issues in application areas as diverse as tax reforms, business strategy, the housing market, the management of drinking water, and the spread of information about epidemics.  

Previous projects include ANTICIPATE - Actively anticipating the unintended consequences on air quality of future public policies. This NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) funded project brought together policy analysts and policy makers from UK central government, devolved administrations and local and regional authorities, stakeholders from business and civil society organisations, and academics and researchers. FutureDAMS was an interdisciplinary research consortium funded by RCUK as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund that aimed to improve the planning and governance of integrated water-energy-food- environment systems. Kavin Narasimham developed an agent-based simulation model of Water User Associations in Ghana to understand their effectiveness in managing water from dams for irrigation.

The agent-based housing model, first created in 2008 after the financial crisis, has continued to be developed by Nigel Gilbert and colleagues and now models social housing and private renting as well as the owner-occupied housing sectors. It is being used to examine the implications of recent calls to reform the council tax system and to implement property taxes.

The INHABIT Hub, which Nigel Gilbert and Imogen Bayfield are members of, aims to make sure the UK’s move to net zero homes also creates healthier places to live. It does this by generating new scientific evidence on the impacts of retrofitting i.e., improving existing homes so they waste less energy, and turns this into practical advice for government and industry professionals.  CRESS has created a ‘chatbot’, open to anyone interested in retrofit that can answer questions about retrofit organisations and UK retrofit guidance.

Kate Burningham is currently co-Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP). This was originally a five-year (2016-2020) ESRC-funded  research centre to address the question of what prosperity can mean in a world of environmental, social and economic limits. CUSP has become a leading international network, drawing together expert partners from academic and non-academic institutions as co-producers of the work programme. Key projects that Kate  co-ordinated include an international study (with partners in New Zealand, Brazil, India, Bangladesh, Japan and South Africa) considering what enhances young people’s sustainable wellbeing in cities. ; and longitudinal qualitative work exploring everyday consumption and sustainability in the context of early motherhood. Kate is also a co-investigator on the ESRC funded ACCESS network  which champions the role of social science in tackling environmental problems and recently completed a BBSRC funded project which explored the role of social enterprises as catalysts for healthy and sustainable food systems.

Tom Roberts is currently working across a portfolio of interdisciplinary research exploring the relationships between environmental change, health, wellbeing and everyday practices. He is leading research with UKHSA, alongside the Met Office, NHS organisations and local authorities, to evaluate and improve England’s Weather-Health Alert system and strengthen responses to extreme weather. Roberts also leads social science research within the £2 million NERC-funded GP4Streets project, working with partners across Surrey and the West of England to explore how green, blue and grey infrastructure can support healthier and more sustainable neighbourhoods. His Love Dogs, Love Nature research, developed in partnership with the Surrey Hills National Landscape and collaborators in Australia, examines how dog walking can balance recreation and human wellbeing with biodiversity and livestock protection. Other current research explores environmental volunteering and recreational litter picking, and how families engage with environmental and climate-related news. 

Jill Timms has been researching the flower industry for over two decades and is co-lead of the Sustainable Flowers Research Project. Her interests focuses particularly on: the role of collaboration; responsibilities to workers and the environment in complex global supply chains; the rise of private standards and certification schemes; and the role of different groups, such as consultants, campaigners, governments and consumers, in changing policy and practice towards net-zero. Jill works with key industry stakeholders to improve sustainable practice and has been funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust, ESRC, DFID and DEFRA. Jill is an Academic Advisor to the Sustainable Floristry Network and on the national committee of Sustainable Church Flowers.

Health and illness have been key areas of expertise within the Department for many years – with Emeritus Professor Sara Arber making a significant contribution to our understandings of inequalities in health. Current research in this strand includes a focus on key areas of contemporary concern in relation to mental and physical health and wellbeing, and explores the implications of both emerging technologies and prevailing cultural trends. 

A number of current and recent research projects focus on wellbeing and mental health in relation to key points in the life course.  Ranjana Das and Paul Hodkinson’s research on the mental health of mothers and fathers culminated in collaborative work with the Institute of Health Visiting and the National Childbirth Trust on an ESRC funded impact project to develop resources to support new parents. Hodkinson’s research on men’s journeys of hair loss explores how, in the context of competing masculine expectations, going bald can be accompanied by the negotiation of struggles relating to identity, biography and everyday wellbeing.  One strand of Peter Hemming’s research explores the growing prominence of wellbeing and therapeutic cultures in contemporary society, with a particular focus on mindfulness, mental health, emotions and therapeutic approaches within education. We also have research interests in mental health support chatbots and in artificial intelligence and recovery (Rob Meadows and Christine Hine),

Within studies of health we have ongoing research interests in how inequalities related to gender identity and sexual orientation relate to health (David Griffiths, Andy King).  Sazana Jayadeva’s  research examines how Long Covid patients engage with self-tracking apps and online patient groups to gain insight into their illness - in a context where many cannot access adequate medical support.  Jayadeva is leading an ESRC impact project titled, Improving Healthcare Support for Long Covid Patients: Embedding Patient Experience in Clinical Education. In collaboration with the Royal College of General Practitioners, Surrey School of Medicine, and the patient-led charity Long Covid SOS, the project will produce educational resources on Long Covid for use in medical schools, and CPD on supporting Long Covid patients for GPs. Christine Hine is conducting a programme of research relating to the use of digitally-enabled remote-monitoring in later life and in dementia care. Her research project on ethics of smart care resulted in a book on ethical smart care across contexts of policy-making, design and everyday use. 

We have been carrying out research on sleep for nearly 20 years. Current research focuses on the social patterning of sleep, recovery and sleep and sleep and digital technologies. More detail on our work can be found on our Sociology of Sleep site. Recent outputs of this work have included the first patient reported outcome measure for sleep in recovery from addiction (2019). This has now been included in the SURE Recovery app. Rob Meadows’ recent achievements include publications exploring the entangling of sleep and technology, and the cultural history of sleep and dreaming.

There are many links between Sociology at Surrey and the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. For example, Anastasia Loukianov is a sociologist and social anthropologist based in the School of Health Sciences. She is currently working as part of the Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC), a collaboration between the School of Health Sciences of the University of Surrey, Surrey County Council, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, Surrey Minority Ethnic Forum, and Good Company to explore how interdisciplinary teams work together to produce research knowledge on health determinants and inequalities and how they make the most of different and at times competing viewpoints.