UK Public Health Science

A national conference dedicated to new research and cross-sector collaboration in Public Health in the UK and Ireland with the support of the Society for Social Medicine and Population Health

Programme

Main conference

The Public Health Science conference will be held on Tuesday 21 April 2026 at the Crowne Plaza hotel, Newcastle upon Tyne from 09.00 to approximately 17.00.

The theme of this year’s conference is Research to reality: Implementing public health science in practice and policy.

Programme

09:00 Ashley Adamson  – Opening remarks

09:10 Alice Wiseman – Keynote
Why treat people and send them back to the conditions that made them sick?

09:45 A Mountain
Life’s a Beach! Or is it? An ethnographic exploration of the health and social needs of coastal communities in Redcar and Cleveland

09:55 L Loria-Rebolledo
Estimating the Value of the Health and Wellbeing Benefits of the NHS Scotland Outdoor Estate: a cross-sectional study

10:05 P Lee
Assessing the Impact of Childhood Adversities on a multidimensional index of Positive Adulthood Transition: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study

10:15 A Lake
A mixed method exploration of children and young people’s perception and consumption of energy drinks

10:25 I G N E Putra
The estimated impacts of the introduction of taxation and warning labelling on foods high in fat, sugar, or salt in England: A microsimulation study

10:35 Oral presenter panel discussion 1 and refreshments

11:10 Clare Bambra – Keynote
Getting Better: How we can reduce health inequalities

11:45 K Frazer
Qualitative study of Irish Travellers’ cancer awareness: impact of behaviour choices diminishes when compared to systemic racism across the life course

11:55 V Nunn
Co-designing an NHS–VCSE outcomes framework: a mixed-methods case study in North East and North Cumbria

12:05 K Jackson
Lessons from the process evaluation of a mobile health bus service offering primary care and relational peer support to people experiencing substance use related harms

12:15 A Burrows
From surplus to sustenance: a feasibility and follow-on study co-producing healthy food with underserved communities in the Tees Valley

12:25 Z Akhter
Food, Pregnancy & Me: Prevalence, sociodemographic factors, and maternal and infant health impact of food insecurity during pregnancy – a UK prospective cohort study

12:35 Oral presenter panel discussion 2

12:55 Poster session 1 and lunch

13:40 Poster session 2 and lunch

14:30 Nason Maani – Keynote
Commercial determinants of health Inequality: From evidence to action

15:25 E Widnall
How schools and youth organisations are supported in preventing and responding to self-harm and suicide: A qualitative study with frontline staff and external support providers

15:35 A M Cârstea
Exploring community care in an ethnographic study with South Asian families living with dementia in Newcastle upon Tyne

15:45 M Li
Socioeconomic inequalities in patient-provider communication: a cross-sectional NLP study of UK dental care reviews

15:55 G Groom
“We have to work twice as hard”: A qualitative study of barriers and enablers to local authority public health careers for people from minority ethnic backgrounds

16:05 K Todd
Nurse-led Telephone Outreach to Improve Influenza Vaccination Uptake in 2–3-Year-Olds: A Targeted Intervention in West Wales

16:15 Oral presenter panel discussion 3

16:30 Prize giving – Prizes for best oral and poster presentations across various categories

16:45 Mark Pearce  – Closing remarks

Early career researcher event

The early career researcher event will be held on the afternoon of Monday 20 April 2026 at One Strawberry Lane. More information is available here.

Conference dinner

A pre-conference dinner will be organised for the evening of Monday 20 April 2026 at the Crowne Plaza. Attendance must be booked in advance and is available as an option on the conference registration form.