Health and social care at the University of Leeds

Everybody has the right to good health and wellbeing. At the University of Leeds, our mission is to collaboratively harness our expertise in research and education to advance knowledge, transform lives and shape a better future for our communities, our region and the world. 

The University of Leeds’ strategic vision for health and social care is to reduce local and global health inequalities and create a sustainable future for health and social care. 

This will be delivered through health-related education, research, and innovation activities that will underpin a globally integrated health and social care system. 

Our strategic vision focuses on the social determinants of health, leading to prevention and early, effective treatment.   

“Our vision will inspire and develop the health and social care workforce of tomorrow, equipping them with the skills and approaches to make a positive impact in the world, contributing solutions locally, nationally and globally in a just and equitable way.” 

Our ‘Learning Together to Work Together’ approach is centred on teaching students from all our Schools in shared spaces that will replicate how they will work in the real world. This will enable them to develop strong clinical communication skills, which are essential for success in the workplace.

We are committed to contributing towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, several of which relate to health and social care. Our academics provide a wide range of research evidence to support the United Nations-led World Health Organisation’s global health programmes, underpinning the University's commitment to addressing global health needs.  

Collaborating across disciplines

We will deliver our vision through existing and emergent strengths across a number of faculties and interdisciplinary areas.  

In the Faculty of Medicine and Health our research is embedded within our Schools of Medicine, Healthcare, Dentistry and Psychology and is facilitated through our interdisciplinary, cross-faculty research centres, including the NIHR Leeds Biomedical Research Centre, the Leeds Cancer Research Centre, the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research, the Centre for HealthTech Innovation, and the Leeds Institute for Data Analytics.  

The Faculty of Medicine and Health is a vibrant community of over 900 academic and 800 professional, technical and administrative staff, committed to improving health and well-being in global, UK and local populations by undertaking excellent biomedical, translational, and applied health research and innovation.   

With a current, active research portfolio of £60m, the Faculty of Medicine and Health delivers transformational, fundamental, challenge-led, intensive health research which underpins novel approaches. It provides a dynamic educational experience to develop the knowledge and skills needed by a diverse professional future workforce to succeed.   

Through our methodological expertise in innovative clinical trials, imaging and data science, precision medicine and behavioural change, our research is focused on addressing significant health inequalities across cancer, musculoskeletal conditions, mental health and heart disease and rare diseases.

Our research is also focussed on health across the life course, addressing grand challenges in ageing, maternal and child health and multiple long-term conditions.  

Local and global partnerships

The University is an active participant in bringing together organisations and communities of experts to make tangible progress in addressing issues across the spectrum of Health and Social Care. 

These include the Centre for HealthTech Innovation, a joint research initiative between the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust which accelerates the development and adoption of new health technologies. 

The Leeds Cancer Research Centre launched in 2022, places Leeds at the global forefront of cancer research, to tackle some of the greatest challenges facing cancer research today.

Building on our research and trials expertise, the Centre focuses on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer with tackling cancer-related health inequalities as a strategic priority. 

We host the Leeds Academic Health Partnership, a collaborative partnership between Leeds universities, NHS organisations and the Leeds city council to address our local health inequalities.  

At the Leeds Health and Social Care Hub (PDF) - in collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care and local partners - national Government together with local on-the-ground services and academic experts are tackling health disparities, enhancing employment opportunities in the sector, and improving health outcomes across the region. 

We host a World Health Organization (WHO) collaborating centre in Research and Capacity Strengthening of Health Policy, Governance and Services. Senior Research Fellow Dr Amy M. Russell collaborated with the WHO Disability Team on the 2022 Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities, focusing on systemic health inequities and calling for action from stakeholders. 

The University’s work with the Child of the North Project demonstrates our commitment to working with other major Northern universities to reduce health inequalities for children and build a fairer future post-covid. 

The Children’s Health Outcomes Research at Leeds (CHORAL) Research Centre, to be launched with Leeds Children’s Hospital, will expand research into key areas of child health - childhood cancer, children’s mental health and life-threatening illnesses - to improve the lives of future generations. 

We work closely with the Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development to address development challenges to improve population health and our focus on global health inequalities is exemplified through our partnership with health-tech specialist, Global Health Education Group.

This collaboration has resulted in an innovative online learning tool which is designed to significantly increase the accessibility, scale and quality of clinical training opportunities available to students in any part of the world.   

Tackling health inequalities

The Faculty of Social Sciences works closely with health colleagues to examine how intersectional challenges across ethnicity, gender, class, age and disability impact health and health inequalities.

The faculty has ongoing collaborations with the World Health Organization, including on its Health Systems for Health Security framework.  

Our centres are internationally renowned for their work across the social sciences, including interdisciplinary gender studies; families, life course and generations, and disability studies.

Our research on law and social justice includes social determinants of health, investigating how social and wealth-based inequalities may influence future health outcomes. 

The School of Politics and International Studies is finalizing its fourth year of collaboration with the WHO towards its establishment as an official WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Systems and Health Security.

This year, in collaboration with the WHO, the School will launch an online training course called Health Systems for Health Security, exploring ways to build resilient systems and healthier populations. 

Within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures, the Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network brings together people interested in how arts and culture benefits health, care and wellbeing, with current projects focusing on the benefits of arts and culture in later life, for mental wellbeing, and how to support people working in arts and health in Leeds.

The Medical Humanities Research Group enables researchers to collaborate on innovative approaches to exploring meanings of medicine and health. Our Living Bodies Objects project focuses on understanding the interactions between bodies, technologies, objects and health. 

Working with WHO

World Health Organisation partnerships within other faculties include the WHO Collaborating Centre for Nutritional Epidemiology, hosted by the School of Food Science and Nutrition within the Faculty of Environment, and the contribution to the WHO guidelines on ventilation for the control of Covid-19 in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. 

Our Science and Technologies of Robotics in Medicine (STORM) Lab develops machines which can carry out surgical procedures, with particular focus on medical capsule robots, robotic endoscopy, soft surgical robots, affordable medical devices and autonomy in robotic surgery.

Sitting within the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, the lab investigates the potentiality of robotics within the field of healthcare, developing new technologies to enable earlier diagnosis, wider screening and more effective treatment for life-threatening diseases such as cancer. 

Also applying technological advances to the medical sphere is our Bragg Centre for Materials Research, where scientists are working with industry and other partners to develop new insights and solutions for innovative products, devices and applications.

A key research theme is bionanotechnology, developing materials and approaches for stem cell therapies and targeted and triggered drug delivery; biosensors for rapid diagnostics, and organ-on-a-chip systems which allow researchers to test drug treatments on specific organs. 

To read more about our transformational, challenge-led research visit the Research and Innovation homepage.