Research Programs & Projects

Our Centre was established to investigate the theme of how social and physical environments influence health. Within this our priority area is interventions to change social and physical environments and thereby improve health.

The research is about the reach of the interventions, their quality, design, appeal, suitability to local context, effectiveness, the people most /least affected, the sustainability of effects, the cost effectiveness, the side effects, the multiplier effects and the value or benefit people ascribe to having interventions like this in the community to improve their health.

Health regions, provincial departments, municipal authorities, employers and industries, schools, community associations and community organisations represent our constituency or “client” group. We work with them to design and assess the best interventions that should be put into practice to improve the health of residents, employees or whose ever needs they represent.

Some of the work is policy advice - that is, advice on what works best or reviews of the state of the art with respect to particular actions to improve health.

A main hub of research activity is our Social Network Analysis Program (SNAP). Network analysis investigates how people’s experience of the world is structured by examining their ties or relationships with others, quantitatively. The social relationships within which people are embedded determine much of the information people are exposed to, the support they get from others and the ideas and role models they might come across. This can have lots of implications for health and well being.

Summary snapshots of recent projects within the Centre or conducted in association with colleagues elsewhere can be found here.

A full listing of all our projects and activities can be found here.