Glasgow Centre For Population Health Podcast

The determinants of 'happiness' and its distribution both domestically and internationally suggest that a more appropriate target for policy is 'unhappiness', which responds to several forms of public action. But setting happiness as an objective does suggest some policy priorities. These include non-material forms of recognition, taxation of positional goods and support of culture and the arts. Individuals have an intrinsic short-term myopic bias, which is exacerbated by the flow of novelty in affluent societies. They find it difficult to commit. Government has a role in supporting personal and social commitment for the long term, e.g. in co-ordinating responses to challenges such as climate change and energy depletion.

Julian Tudor Hart and David Donnison have been outstanding contributors to the British welfare state and the NHS since its beginning. In this conversation they reflect upon their experience in a period of considerable change in accountability, professionalism, democracy and ask do we still live in a generous society? In the light of all this, what then shall we do?

By placing too high a value on the material aspects of life, English speaking nations put themselves at twice the risk of mental disorder over their mainland European counterparts. This overemphasis on materialism has its roots in the ideologies and policies of the Thatcher administration in the UK and the Reagan administration in the USA. Through placing an over-emphasis on materialism, these perspectives led to people spending less time on meeting fundamental human needs, resulting in increased mental disorder. A greater focus on other aspects of life is needed to restore the balance.

Individual differences in response to stressful experiences are a hallmark of the human condition. The same experiences that some people find aversive are considered neutral or rewarding by others. Paradoxically, experiences that are rewarding can also be defined as stressful because they activate stress hormone systems, such as the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. Despite this activation, however, the brain is often buffered against the negative effects of high stress hormones when the experience is perceived as rewarding or "positive". The adult brain is structurally plastic, undergoing changes in the birth of new neurons, a process called neurogenesis, and remodelling of dendrites. Positive and negative stress can modulate brain structure and these changes are believed to participate in cognitive function (the processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning) and mood regulation. In this lecture, Professor Gould will discuss the influence of stress hormones on plasticity in the adult

Looking back over the twentieth century we can see many examples of utopian schemes which have inadvertently brought disruption to millions; from compulsory ‘extended family’ villages in Tanzania, collectivisation in Russia, Le Corbusier’s urban planning, the Great Leap Forward in China and agricultural ‘modernization’ in the tropics. Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? Drawing upon his highly original book of the same title, and his long-term work in South East Asia (Burma in particular), Professor Scott helps us to understand how potentially harmful “state-spaces” are constructed. He shows how large-scale authoritarian schemes fail through the violence which they impose upon complex interdependencies which cannot be fully understood. He suggests that design for successful social organisation – like cities – depends on the recognition that local, practical, knowledge is as important as formal, abstract, knowledge in addressing the challenges which we now fa

Humanity has now become as powerful a geological agent in shaping the operation of the planet as the oceans, ice sheets and rivers, to the extent that many believe we have entered a new geological era. What is happening to the planet? How confident are we that we understand the changes, and how should we respond to them if the science is uncertain? These matters have important economic, social and philosophical implications, and present unique political problems (the recent flooding is a small-scale example). How should we respond?

Professor Tannahill has recently been appointed as Honorary Visiting Professor to the School of Health & Social Care. Professor Tannahill's appointment will support the School's development in two areas of strategic importance; Research Development and Social Enterprise.

Professor Bruce Link’s research has focused on how and under what conditions socioeconomic disparities are translated into health inequalities. In this lecture, Professor Link will introduce the fundamental-social-causes concept and present evidence related to its scope and validity by focusing on health patterns and trends in New York. Using data from New York and elsewhere he will argue that the association between socioeconomic status and mortality has persisted for over a century despite dramatic changes in the diseases afflicting humans and radical changes in the risk factors presumed to account for those diseases. Drawing upon a range of sources, he will suggest that socioeconomic disparities endure because socioeconomic status embodies an array of flexible resources, such as knowledge, money, power, prestige and beneficial social connections that can be used to protect health no matter what the risk factors or diseases are at any given time. His lecture will end with some considerati

Featuring renowned speakers Professor Richard Wilkinson and Professor Corey Keyes, this seminar was held in Glasgow on Thursday 11th October 2007. As part of the Journal of Public Mental Health series of seminars, it explored key issues in public mental health and invited debate about the gap between what we know about population level influences on mental health and current policy responses to psycho-social problems. The series was supported by the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health and the Mental Health Foundation.

Featuring renowned speakers Professor Richard Wilkinson and Professor Corey Keyes, this seminar was held in Glasgow on Thursday 11th October 2007. As part of the Journal of Public Mental Health series of seminars, it explored key issues in public mental health and invited debate about the gap between what we know about population level influences on mental health and current policy responses to psycho-social problems. The series was supported by the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health and the Mental Health Foundation.

In a city which prides itself on friendliness and yet has inequalities in health which persist despite our best attempts to tackle them, questions about our relationships to others are of key significance. This issue of otherness is ancient and contemporary, local as well as global, and of significance both in everyday life and periods of cultural crisis. In this lecture, Aftab Omer will consider how to develop core principles and practices that are responsive to the challenges of otherness both within the city and beyond. The diversity we see in the human race is often treated as a problem rather than an asset. For example, we see this in various forms of social oppression such as inequality, racism and cultural trauma. Omer argues that responding effectively to the fragmentation that characterises this global cultural crisis, calls for leadership that practices a profound engagement with all that is other. Such a perspective will raise important insights and questions about how people, organ

It seems we are in trouble. Two recent reports – the Stern Report on the economic impact of climate change for the UK Treasury and that of International Panel on Climate Change – suggest that human activity has serious environmental consequences, such as global warming. The almost insatiable demands on natural resources by giant emerging economies like China and India are new as is that in East Europe. Yet more than two billion people still live in abject poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Their basic needs and demands must be fulfilled. Can all of this be sustained in the context of inexorable GDP growth being the exclusive measure of material fulfillment and happiness? How can we find an ethical economic response when demands are increasing, resources are declining and damage to the fabric of the ecosphere on which we all depend upon for life is becoming obvious? One way forward is suggested by the traditional Indian thought of humans being a part of nature and therefore helping to

Public health is facing a cruel paradox. On the one hand, concern about the public's health has never been higher and issues like obesity, alcohol misuse, growing inequalities in health, and environmental degradation compete for attention on the policy agenda. On the other hand, there is widespread dismay over the means available to address these complex public health challenges. Either they seem inadequate for the task or they are poorly implemented. Whether it is the workforce charged with health improvement and its fitness for purpose, the slender finances available for public health causes, the weak incentive structure to bring about the shift from sickness to health, or the ethical tension between the nanny state and the individual in making lifestyle choices, those engaged in improving the public's health have arguably never worked in such a fraught and confused environment. In this seminar Prof Hunter explored whether we need a new approach to health leadership and governance in order to provide

Stress is a condition of the mind that differs among individuals and reflects not only major life events but also the conflicts and pressures of daily life that elevate physiological systems so as to cause a chronic stress burden. This burden reflects not only the impact of life experiences but also of genetic load and early life experiences that set life-long patterns of behaviours and physiological reactivity. While hormones associated with the chronic stress burden protect the body in the short-run and promote adaptation, in the long run they promote changes in the body that impair function, for the immune system and the brain. In this lecture, Professor McEwen will discuss how social ordering in human society is associated with gradients of disease, and describe the relationship between mortality, morbidity and socioeconomic status. Though these relationships are complex, Professor McEwen will argue that they are likely to reflect, not only differences in lifestyle, but also the cumulativ

In this lecture Professor McAra-McWilliam explored the application of creativity and imagination in addressing complex challenges in a world that is perceived to be increasingly uncertain and undergoing rapid change. Using her own work on the Creative Imagination, she argued that design processes can generate alternative directions and visions, based on the values which we want to support in our societies. These can therefore work as ‘antidotes’ and alternatives within the discourse of globalisation and individualisation. This lecture used case studies from McAra-McWilliam’s work with Hewlett Packard, Philips and the European Union ‘Connected Community’ research programme which she pioneered. These examples explored how design can foster social and technological innovation with properties which enhance wellbeing.

Jerry Sternin argued that traditional expert-driven models for individual, social and organisational change often don’t work. The Positive Deviance approach builds on successful but ‘deviant’ (different) practices and strategies that are identified from within the community or institution. Positive Deviance is based on the belief that in every community, organisation, business or group, there are individuals or entities whose uncommon, but demonstrably successful behaviours or strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their neighbours or colleagues who have access to exactly the same resources. How does this happen? What can we learn from it? Could it work in Glasgow?

In aiming to promote conversation within a community about how life practices can be changed for the better health and flourishing of its individual members, a crucial question is how that conversation is initiated, and by whom. A rich source of ideas is provided by looking at examples of thinking about 'promoting the good life' in the Western tradition, especially in Renaissance humanism and the eighteenth century debate about the role of the arts. This lecture will focus on these debates and their contemporary relevance.

This lecture examined the effects of urban design on health, placing it in the larger context of planning and public health, and proposed solutions that combine public health and urban planning strategies relevant for the 21st century. Dr Frumkin spoke of public health lying at the heart of urban planning in the early 20th century, but since then, the growth of cities has occurred in relatively unplanned ways. Urban sprawl — the expansion of cities into rural areas, heavy reliance on automobiles, low-density, low-mix land use patterns — represents one extreme, especially in North America and Australia, but increasingly in Europe as well. At the other extreme we have high density, overcrowded, creaking infrastructure. Frumkin described how urban planning and design may affect health in a variety of ways: threatening air quality, impeding physical activity, increasing injury risks, and eroding social capital are but a few examples.

From a starting point that emphasised the changing nature of the world and the globalisation of everyday life, this lecture demonstrated the many ways in which globalisation impacts on health, and health impacts on globalisation. Dr Kickbusch explored the implications of 'good global governance for health', and the possibility of achieving a global healthy treaty.

This lecture presented the case for lay knowledge and theories to be taken more seriously. Professor Popay argued that lay knowledge is sophisticated, helps to answer questions about meaning and experience, and should be treated as an 'equal but different' voice in informing decision-making about policy and practice.