System-science Informed Public Health Economic Research for Non-communicable Disease Prevention (the SIPHER Consortium)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Technical Summary
This grant is funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP) which is administered by the Medical Research Council on behalf of the UKPRPās 12 funding partners: British Heart Foundation; Cancer Research UK; Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates; Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; Economic and Social Research Council; Health and Social Care Research and Development Division, Welsh Government; Health and Social Care Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland; Medical Research Council; Natural Environment Research Council; National Institute for Health Research; The Health Foundation; The Wellcome Trust.
VISION
SIPHER will transform efforts to realise widely-held aspirations for a āhealth in all policiesā approach by providing novel evidence supporting cross-sectoral policy processes. We represent a unique blend of disciplines covering public health, policy analysis, economics complex systems modelling, data curation and analytics. Our highlycommitted co-production partners offer ideal āliving laboratoriesā as local, regional and national jurisdictions developing ambitious ways of cross-sectoral working in noncommunicable disease (NCD) prevention.
Focusing on health inequalities, we will build on detailed understanding of partnersā needs, evidence use and policy-making practices to co-produce new models and decision tools for the economic evaluation of health and non-health-sector strategies. These will allow policy-makers to:
- Explore interdependencies and trade-offs between effects on outcomes for different subpopulations and sectors (e.g. how do housing and unemployment affect mental health, and vice versa);
- Identify opportunities for synergistic action, and for disinvestment;
- Monitor evolving local contexts, including unanticipated changes, to help next-step
decision-making.
RATIONALE
The UK Governmentās emphasis on localism and devolution creates new opportunities for cross-sectoral prevention of NCDs and the social, economic and health inequalities that drive them. Novel types of evidence are needed which: 1. Speak to diverse policy audiences and balance their strategic priorities;
2. Allow examination of dynamic, adaptive and interdependent features of the sociopolitical systems into which policies are implemented.
Complex systems modelling (CSM) has been highly effective in helping us understand and forecast the performance of many physical, natural and social systems (e.g. climate change, cities, crime, retail). The time is ripe to harness its potential for public health.
MANAGEMENT
Managerial roles include Directorate, Consortium Steering Group, Project Manager, Research Development Manager, Knowledge Transfer Manager and External Advisory Group. Collaboration agreements will be negotiated during the Consortium Development Grant (CDG). Co-production is realised via joint researcher appointments/secondments into partner organisations.
VISION
SIPHER will transform efforts to realise widely-held aspirations for a āhealth in all policiesā approach by providing novel evidence supporting cross-sectoral policy processes. We represent a unique blend of disciplines covering public health, policy analysis, economics complex systems modelling, data curation and analytics. Our highlycommitted co-production partners offer ideal āliving laboratoriesā as local, regional and national jurisdictions developing ambitious ways of cross-sectoral working in noncommunicable disease (NCD) prevention.
Focusing on health inequalities, we will build on detailed understanding of partnersā needs, evidence use and policy-making practices to co-produce new models and decision tools for the economic evaluation of health and non-health-sector strategies. These will allow policy-makers to:
- Explore interdependencies and trade-offs between effects on outcomes for different subpopulations and sectors (e.g. how do housing and unemployment affect mental health, and vice versa);
- Identify opportunities for synergistic action, and for disinvestment;
- Monitor evolving local contexts, including unanticipated changes, to help next-step
decision-making.
RATIONALE
The UK Governmentās emphasis on localism and devolution creates new opportunities for cross-sectoral prevention of NCDs and the social, economic and health inequalities that drive them. Novel types of evidence are needed which: 1. Speak to diverse policy audiences and balance their strategic priorities;
2. Allow examination of dynamic, adaptive and interdependent features of the sociopolitical systems into which policies are implemented.
Complex systems modelling (CSM) has been highly effective in helping us understand and forecast the performance of many physical, natural and social systems (e.g. climate change, cities, crime, retail). The time is ripe to harness its potential for public health.
MANAGEMENT
Managerial roles include Directorate, Consortium Steering Group, Project Manager, Research Development Manager, Knowledge Transfer Manager and External Advisory Group. Collaboration agreements will be negotiated during the Consortium Development Grant (CDG). Co-production is realised via joint researcher appointments/secondments into partner organisations.
Organisations
Publications
| Title | Layered Systems Map: Experience and Evidence of Housing and Health - Lisa Garnham, Ellen Stewart, Katherine Smith, Clementine Hill O'Connor |
| Description | The systems map virtually represents the pathways through which the components of a system interact with and relate to one another. This systems map shows how peoples' housing is connect to their health outcomes. The map is constructed from a combination of published evidence on pathways from housing to health outcomes, and participatory systems mapping carried out with SIPHER's Community Panels. The aim is to demonstrate how systems thinking can bring together both grounded lived experience stories and open access research evidence into one online interactive tool. The link to this will be added later Feb 2025. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Impact | Impacts to follow. |
| URL | https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsipher_housingandhealth.layeredsys... |
| Description | Commission on Economic Growth - Glasgow City Region - Professor Petra Meier |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | No impacts yet. |
| Description | SIPHER Inclusive Economy Indicators included in Glasgow City Region Capital Investment Health Impact Assessment (CHIA) toolkit. |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | https://www.chiatoolkit.co.uk/ |
| Description | SIPHER response to the Scottish Parliament Housing (Scotland) Bill Consultation |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://yourviews.parliament.scot/lghp/housing-scotland-bill-call-for-views/consultation/view_respon... |
| Description | Scottish Government Review of National Outcomes - Petra Meier |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://nationalperformance.gov.scot/ |
| Description | Orienting Policy Towards Inequality Minimising Actions (OPTIMA): A systems science approach to 20-minute neighbourhood policy and evaluation |
| Amount | Ā£1,319,798 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NIHR160301 |
| Organisation | National Institute for Health and Care Research |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2024 |
| End | 08/2027 |
| Description | System-science Informed Public Health and Economic Research for Non-communicable Disease Prevention (the SIPHER Consortium) |
| Amount | Ā£4,980,462 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MR/S037578/1 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2019 |
| End | 07/2020 |
| Title | SIPHER Inclusive Economy (electoral ward level) - Hugh Rice, Andreas Hohn, Nik Lomax, Robert Clay |
| Description | In 2023, we published the SIPHER Inclusive Economy (local authority level) dataset - an open access data asset which was developed within the SIPHER Consortium in collaboration with SIPHER policy partners to provides a meaningful collection of data that can be used to explore the extent and nature of economic inclusion across the 363 local authorities in Great Britain. This new dataset for electoral wards represents a collection of inclusive economy indicators for the over 8,000 electoral wards, enabling a substantially finer spatial resolution. The dataset is available as an open access resource since 09/2024. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The dataset for electoral wards is currently utilised by the SIPHER consortium to produce peer-reviewed articles. SIPHER has coordinated a webinar to promote the dataset, published a blogpost, and made publicly available and interactive spatial data visualisation tools available to allow interested users to explore the dataset. |
| URL | https://osf.io/s24ye/ |
| Title | SIPHER Synthetic Population Dashboard - Nik Lomax, Alison Heppenstall, Dylan Lewis, Emma Comrie, Andreas Hohn, Robin Purshouse, Kashif Zia, Petra Meier |
| Description | The SIPHER Synthetic Population Dashboard enables independent exploration of a spatially aggregated version of the SIPHER Synthetic Population for a selected set of key life domains and variables. With a 'click and explore' format users can compare areas of interest, create bespoke detailed area profiles, develop customised data visualisations an ddownload the aggregated data used. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Impact not yet known |
| URL | https://sipherdashboard.sphsu.gla.ac.uk/ |
| Title | SN9277: SIPHER Synthetic Population for Individuals in Great Britain, 2019-2021 - Andreas Hohn |
| Description | A variety of applications across policy and research require high-quality data. Quite often, both fields need data that reflects individuals or households and captures a variety of life domains. While real data - such as data from surveys of administrative registers - is usually the best choice when modelling real-world systems, it isn't always available or accessible for the specific contexts we want to explore. Seeking to overcome these limitations, SIPHER has created a novel "digital twin" of the adult population in Great Britain, representing over 50 million synthetic individuals across England, Scotland, and Wales. The dataset offers a synthetic portrait of the adult population in Great Britain between 2019 and 2021, and captures different life domains such as health, income, employment, or housing. Supporting a wide range of applications-from identifying emerging issues and needs to assessing policy options and evaluating their impact on population health-our SIPHER Synthetic Population is a high-quality, full-scale dataset that is readily available and accessible for researchers and policymakers. The methodology to create the dataset has previously been published in the Journal Nature Scientific Data. This steps marks the completion of the project with the dataset becoming available for full independent use through the UK Data Service. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This was the first time that a full-scale synthetic population dataset was shared through the UK Data Service. Therefore, no standard processes were in place for the provision and key aspects such as ethics, documentation, or quality and disclosure control had to be discussed and agreed collaboratively. In addition, approval by the UKHLS Understanding Society Survey Team ethics panel was required. Understanding Society is the UK's largest, longest-running panel study and represents a UKRI investment of over £100m. At the end of this process, we were able to share our dataset under a general license agreement and set standards for future synthetic data provision, enabling a wide range of students and researchers to now work independently with this dataset and paving the way for future similar deposits. Based on the UK Data Services download statistics we can confirm that the dataset is used across nearly 40 projects currently, including research carried out by international and by international and UK Universities, third sector organisations, and commercial bodies. Here, applications span research, PGR projects, as well as post graduate teaching activities. |
| URL | https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/studies/study?id=9277 |
| Title | SIPHER Layered Map Tool - Paul Norman, Lisa Garnham, Ellen Stewart, Katherine Smith |
| Description | The SIPHER Layered Map tool is web-based systems mapper, allowing maps and associated text or audio-visual content to be created through a visual editor. Completed maps may then be embedded into other websites. |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Impact | Impact not yet known. URL to follow. |
| Description | Advanced large-scale data literacy with R's data.table package. Dr Andreas Hohn. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | I delivered this workshop following an invitation from Research Data Scotland's (RDS) Data Team (Invitation: Aileen Grieve). This hands-on workshop took place in person in Edinburgh. I designed this workshop to inform RDS's Data Team leads on best practice when working with linked large-scale data, and to provide hands-on support for RDS's Data Team analysts who are currently seconded into different national bodies in Scotland as part of the UK's Administrative Data Research (ADR) Program to prepare for the transformation of data provision within Scotland's safe havens. I have been informed that the workshop's key contents (i.e. assignments by reference and avoiding copy-on-modify behaviour in statistical programming) have been implemented as a standard practice into ongoing data preparation pipelines, leading to an improvement in efficiency and added value for this UKRI ESRC investment. The workshop was evaluated through a participant feedback form and achieved an overall average of 5.0/5.0 (highest possible score, evaluation run by Alison Caldecott). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| Description | Aki Tsuchiya delivered a talk at the 'Strengthening International Evidence on Health Inequality Aversion' workshop at the Fondation Brocher, Geneva. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Aki Tsuchiya was invited to take part in the 'Strengthening International Evidence on Health Inequality Aversion' workshop held in November 2024 at the Fondation Brocher, Geneva. The event brought together global experts to address health equity and social justice in decision-making and aimed to bridge the gap between research and policy, moving methods from technical development to practical implementation. This led to plans for further activity including joint publication and funding application. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Birmingham Live local news website website featured an article on the findings from SIPHER Report 'Modelling the Adult Mental Health Impacts of Child Payment Policy' - Nik Lomax and Luke Archer October 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Birmingham Live local news website featured an article on the findings from SIPHER Report 'Modelling the Adult Mental Health Impacts of Child Payment Policy' - Nik Lomax and Luke Archer October 2024 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/dwp-25-gesture-millions-universal-30242596 |
| Description | Clackmannanshire Council Alliance event - Local Outcomes Improvement Plan: Jo Winterbottom |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Jo Winterbottom attended Clackmannanshire Counci's Alliance event at Alloa Town Hall to support discussions on a new Local Outcomes Improvement Plan - a 10 year strategy to address health and economic inequalities across the county. Jo gave a presentation and took part in discussions. There was lots of positive feedback resulting in follow-up meetings being arranged, commitment to use SIPHER work to inform economic strategy, and several new sign-ups to the SIPHER Bulletin. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Conference Presentation EPC 2024: SIPHER's Synthetic Population for Individuals in Great Britain: Creation, Validation, and Examples of Application |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I presented at the European Population Conference 2024 - the bi-yearly meeting of the European Association for the Study of Populations. The conference took place in 06/2024, Edinburgh, UK. Title: "SIPHER's Synthetic Population for Individuals in Great Britain: Creation, Validation, and Examples of Application". (Talk). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://www.eaps.nl/files/EPC2024-FinalProgram.pdf |
| Description | Conference Presentation SSM2024: The SIPHER Synthetic Population: Rationale, Creation, and Applications - Dr Andreas Hohn |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Conference Presentation in Glasgow, UK, 05/09/2024. Title: "The SIPHER Synthetic Population: Rationale, Creation, and Applications". Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Medicine (Talk). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://cdn.eventsforce.net/files/ef-px6ci6a56tzs/website/281/0d36edb8-527e-4361-a9f3-fda091916c83/f... |
| Description | Exploring and testing policy options using synthetic data - Andreas Hohn |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to deliver a guest lecture as part of the Public Health RESearch for Health Consortium seminar series (PHRESH). PHRESH is part of the National Institute for Health Research's (NIHR) SPHR program which connects the UK's leading public health research expertise and policymakers at regional and national level in one virtual organisation with re-occurring seminars. (Invitation: Prof. Peymane Adab) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| Description | Health Inequalities Workshop - MVLS Health Inequalities College Future Theme |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Petra Meier was invited to attend a Workshop with University of Glasgow MVLS college to discuss strategic vision for the college future team of health inequalities - focussing on setting objectives and exploring innovative interdisciplinary methods. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Introduction to the SIPHER Synthetic Population for Welsh Government and Public Health Wales - Dr Andreas Hohn |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In 03/2024, I have delivered a one day hands-on workshop to introduce the SIPHER Synthetic Population - a novel digital twin dataset developed by the SIPHER consortium - to analysts and team leads within Public Health Wales and Welsh Government. The course was attended by a total of 11 participants and took place in Cardiff within the facilities of the Welsh Goverment. The outline and content of the workshop were co-produced with SIPHER's embedded researcher's within Public Health Scotland and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and built upon a previously delivered workshop for a primary academic audience which took place in Glasgow in 12/2023. The course introduced a new audience of policy makers to this new data asset for filling gaps in existing data. Since then, I have been in a regular exchange with Laura Andrews with who I have coordinated the course. Laura is Deputy Head of the Advanced Analytics and Policy Modelling group within the Welsh Government, and now also involved in the PHI-UK Project "Policy Modelling for Health (HealthMod). The workshop was evaluated through a participant feedback form and achieved an overall average of 4.7/5.0. (Evaluation run by Alison Caldecott). We have evidence that some of the teams have utilised the interactive open access version of the dataset: the SIPHER Synthetic Population Dashboard. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| Description | Launch of new SIPHER website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | New website with SIPHER resources offering a one stop shop for all materials and resources with direct links to technical data and sources. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/sipher/ |
| Description | Meeting with Department of Health & Social Care UK Governement. SIPHER Directorate, June 2024. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A meeting with contacts from the Department of Health and Social Care to discuss progress on SIPHER and the new HealthMod Programme, with particular interest in the dynamic microsimulation modelling work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Meeting with Glasgow City Region to discuss SIPHER products. Emma Comrie 20 November 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Emma Comrie SIPHER Embedded Researcher met with key contacts from Glasgow City Region to disuss SIPHER products, including the Inclusive Economy Data Set. One person from the meeting subsequently attended SIPHER Synthetic Popluation training. GCR now use the SIPHER Inclusive Economy Indicators in their work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Member of Research Data Scotland's Synthetic Data Working Group - Andreas Hohn |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Since 05/2024, and as a recipient of Research Data Scotland's Synthetic (RDS) Synthetic Data Fund, I am a member of Research Data Scotland's Synthetic Data Working Group. This invitation-only working group connects different teams of researchers, NRS, NHS Scotland and Local NHS boards, Scottish Government, or Police Scotland and provides a forum to discuss analytical and legal aspects to inform the provision of synthetic administrative data. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Mental Health Foundation announcement of findings from SIPHER Report 'Modelling the Adult Mental Health Impacts of Child Payment Policy' - Nik Lomax and Luke Archer October 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Mental Health Foundation website featured announcement of findings from the SIPHER report 'Modelling the Adult Mental Health Impacts of Child Payment Policy' by Nik Lomax and Luke Archer. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/about-us/news/top-universal-credit-payments-parents-could-prevent-po... |
| Description | Participatory Systems Mapping Workshop (Housing) at Sheffield City Council (with landlord) - Lisa Garnham, Kat Smith, Emma Comrie |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In May 2024 SIPHER Workstrand 1 team members Dr Lisa Garnham and Prof Kat Smith plus Embedded Researcher Emma Comrie ran a participatory systems mapping workshop with landlords from Sheffield's private-rented sector. A collaborative project between SIPHER and Sheffield City Council, the aim is to inform the development of the Council's new Housing Strategy. SIPHER analysis will identify key aspects of the housing system that need to change in order to make the private-rented sector an attractive and valued choice, improving the quality of life for both tenants and landlords. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Participatory Systems Mapping Workshop (Housing) at Sheffield City Council (with tenants) - Lisa Garnham, Kat Smith, Emma Comrie |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In May 2024 SIPHER Workstrand 1 colleagues Dr Lisa Garnham, Prof Kat Smith and Embedded Researcher Emma Comrie ran a participatory systems mapping workshop with tenants from Sheffield's private rented sector. A collaborative project between SIPHER and Sheffield City Council, the aim is to inform the development of the Council's new Housing Strategy. SIPHER analysis will identify key aspects of the housing system that need to change in order to make the private-rented sector an attractive and valued choice, improving the quality of life for both tenants and landlords. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Presentation to Deputy Prime Minister's Data Unit 14 February 2025- Prof Robin Purshouse and Julian Cox |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Prof Robin Purshouse and Julian Cox delivered a presentation on the SIPHER Decision Support Tool to the Deputy Prime Minister's Data Unit (UK Government) on Friday 14 February 2025. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Presentation to Public Health Scotland on SIPHER Inclusive Economy Indicators - Ceri Hughes & Jo Winterbottom |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In March 2024 Ceri Hughes and Jo Winterbottom were invited to attend a team seminar at Public Health Scotland to present on the SIPHER Inclusive Economy Indicators. Attendees were invited to contact SIPHER with any follow up questions or if further information was required. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Presentation to Scottish Government regarding the application of SIPHER in Greater Manchester Combined Authority - 30 Jan 2025 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | SIPHER presentation delivered to the Scottish Government on teh application of SIPHER in Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Follow-on discussion took place regarding potential for similar application within Scottish Government. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Professor Petra Meier invited to attend University of Glasgow Economic Advisory Board meeting - May 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Meier was invited to a meeting of the University of Glasgow Economic Advisory Board in May 2024. The Board provides governance to the delivery of economic development-related projects and opportunities for the University and its strategic partners. The Board's objective is to strengthen links with communities that live, learn and work in the area, develop new partnerships and collaborations, and deliver a lasting legacy of economic and social prosperity at a local and regional level. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Public Health Wales Systems Summit April 2024 -keynote speaker Professor Petra Meier |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Meier delivered a keynote speech at Public Health Wales' Systems Summit online event 10 April 2024. 81 people attended the summit. Feedback via Public Health Wales was that attendees were enthused, motivated and challenged by the event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | SIPHER Blog - 'Creating Data for Entire Populations. Exploring the SIPHER Synthetic Population: A tool for policymakers and researchers that overcomes real-world data limitations.' Abi Finn and Andreas Hohn. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | SIPHER blog 'Creating Data for Entire Populations' Exploring the SIPHER Synthetic Population: A tool for policymakers and researchers that overcomes real-world data limitations. Individual-level data for entire populations is often difficult to access for researchers and policymakers. Abi Finn and Andreas Hohn explain how ready available synthetic population datasets can fill data gaps and contribute important evidence when tackling health inequalities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/sipher/sharingourevidence/blog/headline_1117962_en.html |
| Description | SIPHER Blog - 'Measuring the Inclusive Economy - a new comprehensive dataset for Great Britain's local authorities with interactive data maps - we discuss what this reveals about the fabric of economic inclusion across Great Britain.' - Hugh Rice, Andreas Hohn, Nik Lomax |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | SIPHER Blog - 'Measuring the Inclusive Economy - a new comprehensive dataset for Great Britain's local authorities with interactive data maps - we discuss what this reveals about the fabric of economic inclusion across Great Britain.' - Hugh Rice, Andreas Hohn, Nik Lomax The blog focuses on SIPHER research that has found clear evidence that more inclusive economies have better population health and lower health inequalities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/sipher/sharingourevidence/blog/headline_1049629_en.html |
| Description | SIPHER Blog - 'SIPHER Inclusive Economy (Ward Level) Dataset - Hugh Rice, Andreas Hohn, Nik Lomax |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | SIPHER blog to explore the new SIPHER Inclusive Economy (Ward Level) Dataset which offers insights for small geographical areas to support researcher and policy makers looking to turn commitments into actionable strategies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/sipher/sharingourevidence/blog/headline_1132578_en.html |
| Description | SIPHER Community Panels - Thank You event Clarice Pears Building - Professor Ellen Stewart, Professor Petra Meier, Jo Winterbottom, Julian Cox, Dr Yin Nwe Soe and David Innes |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | An full day event to thank the SIPHER Community Panel members for their valuable contributions to SIPHER work was held in Glasgow at the University's Clarice Pears Building. Panel members travelled from Sheffield, Manchester and Fife to take part. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | SIPHER Meeting with Citizen's Advice Scotland - Petra Meier, Jo Winterbottom, Julian Cox |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Professor Petra Meier, Jo Winterbottom and Julian Cox of the SIPHER Directorate met with George Eckton, Director of Advice Services for Citizens Advice Scotland and policy colleagues to discuss / explore mutual interest around policy development / design and impact on health & wellbeing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | SIPHER Modelling the Scottish Child Poverty Targets - an interactive meeting with policymakers from across the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland to discuss results from a co-designed modelling exercise - Nik Lomax, October 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | An interactive meeting with policy makers from across the Scottish Govt. and Public Health Scotland to discuss the results from a co-designed modelling exercise focused on the mental health impacts of hitting the 2030 Child Poverty reduction targets. High level policy personnel were in attendance and saw results for the first time. The results have potential to feed in to decision making on the prioritisation of hitting the targets and the targeting of policy for sub-groups. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/337651/2/337651.pdf |
| Description | SIPHER Webinar - Measuring Economic Inclusion for local authorities and wards in Great Britain - Dr Hugh Rice |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Hugh Rice delivered a SIPHER Webinar. 24 people registered and 13 attended. The recording is available via the SIPHER website. Title: "Measuring Economic Inclusion for local authorities and wards in Great Britain - Decision-makers need high-quality, local data when crafting policy to address inequality. The SIPHER Inclusive Economy datasets aim to address the scarcity of such data with a set of indicators that capture economic inclusion and wellbeing at local authority and ward levels." The SIPHER webinar series aims to provide short informative talks on key aspects of our work and products. Offering details of our journey, development of resources (systems science methods, data, and tools), exploring policy landscapes and understanding policy systems and evidence needs. The SIPHER webinars are free and promoted widely across our own and partners channels to policy actors, local, regional and national governments representatives/agencies, third sector, academics and public audiences. Our aim is to extend the reach and diversity of stakeholder engagement - through both attendance at the webinars and online views of the recordings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/sipher/sharingourevidence/videoswebinars/ |
| Description | SIPHER Webinar - Public Involvement in Policy Modelling: Learning from SIPHER's Experience. Professor Ellen Stewart. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Ellen Stewart delivered a SIPHER webinar entitled: "Public Involvement in Policy Modelling - Learning from SIPHER's Experience" 24 people registered and 16 attended. The webinar was recorded and is available on the SIPHER website. The SIPHER webinar series aims to provide short informative talks on key aspects of SIPHER work and products. Offering details of SIPHER's journey, development of resources (systems science methods, data, and tools), exploring policy landscapes and understanding policy systems and evidence needs. The webinars are free and promoted widely across our own and partners channels to policy actors, local, regional and national governments representatives/agencies, third sector, academics and public audiences. SIPHER's aim is to extend the reach and diversity of stakeholder engagement - through both attendance at the webinars and online views of the recordings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/sipher/sharingourevidence/videoswebinars/ |
| Description | SIPHER hosted Professor Anne Kavanagh of University of Melbourne who presented at a SIPHER Researcher Development Meeting on her work with The Australian Research Alliance for Youth Disability and Mental Heath (RAY). June 2024. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | SIPHER was delighted to host Anne Kavanagh, Professor of Disability and Health at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Anne presented to the SIPHER team and colleagues from the Glasgow University's Social and Public Health Sciences Unit and the School of Health and Wellbeing on her work with The Australian Research Alliance for Youth Disability and Mental Health (RAY). This presentation was part of the monthly series of SIPHER Researcher Development meetings. June 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | SIPHER workshop at the Scottish Government on decision support modelling, health and economic impacts, 21 March 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | SIPHER team members Robin Purshouse, Visakan Kadirkamanathan, Emma Comrie, Shraddha Ghatkar, Ping Li and Joao Duro delivered a workshop at the Scottish Government the SIPHER Decision Support Tool, modelling for health & economic impacts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Sharing tools for policy and research - The SIPHER Synthetic Population |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | resentation as part of the 2024 Open Research Scotland Network meeting. I was invited to demonstrate the added value of sharing publicly available research data. My presentation underlined the importance of anticipating potential implications with respect to information governance and licensing when sharing research assets publicly - ideally at early stages of a project cycle. I drew on experiences gained through collaborative data sharing work with the UK Data Service and the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) Understanding Society survey team. The meeting was attended by research support team leads of Scotland's top universities and sought to support first REF 2025 preparations which could support REF Environment/Culture section. (Invitation: Matt Mahon) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://docs.google.com/document/d/13-1ZEQ9Nj9MjbAvHRGccIkcvOYfCVXJsnKYwxfeUjlU/edit?tab=t.0 |
| Description | Sharing tools for policy and research - The SIPHER Synthetic Population - Andreas Hohn |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation as part of the 2024 Open Research Scotland Network meeting. I was invited to demonstrate the added value of sharing publicly available research data. My presentation underlined the importance of anticipating potential implications with respect to information governance and licensing when sharing research assets publicly - ideally at early stages of a project cycle. I drew on experiences gained through collaborative data sharing work with the UK Data Service and the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) Understanding Society survey team. The meeting was attended by research support team leads of Scotland's top universities and sought to support first REF 2025 preparations which could support REF Environment/Culture section. (Invitation: Matt Mahon) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://docs.google.com/document/d/13-1ZEQ9Nj9MjbAvHRGccIkcvOYfCVXJsnKYwxfeUjlU/edit?tab=t.0 |
| Description | Talk at Scottish Government Directorate of Public Health Seminar - Aki Tsuchiya |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Aki Tsuchiya delivered a talk on the Social Evaluation and Discrete Choice Experiment SIPHER work for Health & Social Care Analysis Learning & Development at a Scottish Government Directorate of Public Health seminar in May 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | The Big Issue website featured an article on the findings from SIPHER Report 'Modelling the Adult Mental Health Impacts of Child Payment Policy' - Nik Lomax and Luke Archer October 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Big Issue website featured an articlea on the findings from SIPHER Report 'Modelling the Adult Mental Health Impacts of Child Payment Policy' - Nik Lomax and Luke Archer October 2024 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/universal-credit-increase-benefits-dwp/ |
| Description | The SIPHER Synthetic Population and its utility for creating multi-domain synthetic data |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to inform the work of Research Data Scotland's Scottish Safe Haven Network. The network connects different teams working for Scotland's local and national data safe havens, including NHS safe havens, and is a forum for exchange and pitching innovative ideas. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | The SIPHER Synthetic Population for Individuals in Great Britain 2019-2021 - Andreas Hohn |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Since 05/2024, and as a recipient of Research Data Scotland's Synthetic (RDS) Synthetic Data Fund, I am a member of Research Data Scotland's Synthetic Data Working Group. The working group connects different teams of NRS, NHS Scotland and Local NHS boards, Scottish Government, or Police Scotland and provides a forum to discuss analytical and legal aspects to inform the provision of synthetic administrative data. In 05/2024, I gave an invited presentation to the working group in which I spoke about the SIPHER Synthetic Population and our team's efforts to share synthetic data more publicly for use across research, teaching, and policy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Thriving Indicators Workshop - GALLANT / SIPHER March and August 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Workshop for GALLANT Thriving Glasgow Portrait collaboration with colleauges from Glasgow City Council and the SIPHER Consortium to refine the list of indicators for the Thriving Definitions to be able to benchmark the current state of affairs and monitor changes going forward. Workshop to agree on porposed indicators and to help tackle those for which data / clear indicators are harder to identify. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | UK Data Service 'The Experts' Expert' podcast - Nik Lomax |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Nik Lomax took part in 2 UK Data Service podcasts to talk about the dynamic synthetic datasets released into the UK Data Service's collection by the SIPHER Consortium, which created a digital twin of the adult population of England, Scotland and Wales using research data from Understanding Society and the UK census data. Nik talked about how the SIPHER Synthetic Population datasets can be applied to influence future Government policies to improve people's lives. Nik talked about the overall purpose and objectives of the SIPHER Consortium. Interview by Rodney Appleyard, Communications and Stakeholder Manager for the UK Data Service. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://mrccsosocialandpublichealthsciencesunit.createsend1.com/t/d-l-slljhhl-l-s/ |
| Description | Workshop 'Exploring LIfe Expectancy Analysis and the SIPHER Decision Support Tool' - 3 February 2025 Robin Purshouse, Shraddha Ghatkar, Joao Duro, Emma Comrie |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A workshop to explore (1) recent analysis undertaken by the SIPHER Consortium related to life expectancy in Scotland and (2) the potential role of the SIPHER Decision Support Tool and, more broadly, multi-criteria decision tools in the policy process. Workshop participants provided valuable perspectives on the analysis and the potential role of tools like SIPHER Decision Support Tool. Feedback will inform future development of SIPHER Decision Support Tool as well as how we support potential users to understand its capabilities. We will engage with participants who expressed an interest in using parts of the modelling in future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Workshop on Climate Change and Mental Health - Dec 2024 - Professor Petra Meier |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Professor Meier attended this policy-focused event hosted by University of Glasgow on Monday 9 December 2024. The workshop brought together experts from across Scottish research, policy and community organisations to expand professional networks, hear research insights on climate change and mental ill health, and to engage in strategic discussions about the implications and opportunties for Scotland's climate change adaptation policies and plans. The workshop sessions were: -Raising awareness of climate change and mental ill-health challenges -The mental health risks of climate change in Scotland -Anticipating adaptation challenges and mental ill-health. -Climate change and people with existing mental ill health: What is Scotland's response? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | http://www.glasgow.ac.uk/mentalhealthclimatechange |