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2. What made you want to be involved in the Centre? 

In my research, I aim to understand why health inequalities arise and how to effectively combat them. These inequalities, e.g. between socioeconomic or ethnic groups, are the outcome of a complex interplay between elements, such as individuals, foodshops, health-care services, and local government—at multiple levels (e.g., individual, physical environment) that are interconnected (e.g., neighbours might share social norms on drinking habits) and interact (e.g., the interaction between individual norms on dietary habits and the food environment). That conceptualization of public health issues perfectly matches the proposition of the Centre, namely that, in order to improve urban mental health, the aforementioned complexities and dynamics of health problems need to be taken into account. 

Complexity science is the backbone of the Centre. It offers the tools to actually study the complexities and dynamics of public health issues. Let me illustrate this by an example. ‘Mainstream’ research on inequalities in health, including many of the studies I have done myself, assumes that inequalities in health between groups manifest as risk factors at the individual level. As a result, the collective processes that actually drive inequalities in health between these groups remain invisible in this kind of research. For example, the clustering of unhealthy behaviours in certain groups could reflect group processes that result from interactions between individuals: e.g., social norms on healthy eating are likely to shape the dietary habits of individuals within such a group. Therefore, policies that aim to promote a healthy food environment will not necessarily lead to healthier dietary habits if the group processes underlying this collective behaviour are not addressed.

3. In what way can your expertise and field of work contribute to the Centre? 

The mental health problems the Centre focuses on, such as depression, are unequally distributed across populations, with, e.g., an up to 3 times higher risk in lower socioeconomic groups. So far, prevention of mental ill-health has mainly focused on addressing individual-level factors such as coping. Meta-analyses show that such interventions can indeed reduce depression incidence by 20%. However, this leaves 80% unaccommodated for. In addition, continuing to focus on individual-level factors is likely, as has been the case for other health conditions, to further widen inequalities. In order to prevent depression, we also need to focus on factors that go beyond the individual, i.e. social determinants, including poverty, social security system, and discrimination. Given the focus on social determinants of health in my work, I hope to contribute with research on this topic to the success of the Centre.