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From medical officers of health to multidisciplinary public health specialists: A history of the professional transformation of public health in Britain, 1970 – 2025
No full textThroughout the twentieth century, senior roles in UK public health were reserved for doctors. Local authority medical officers of health were replaced in 1974 by NHS community physicians and from 1989 by medical directors of public health. Over the last decade of the century, an increasingly vocal group of non-medical public health professionals sought to break the glass ceiling that restricted them from advancing to senior roles; although they received encouragement from some leaders within the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, there was also significant resistance from many members. A number of factors came together around the year 2000, which culminated in a ground-breaking decision by the English Department of Health to allow non-medical appointments as directors of public health and consultants in public health in the NHS, with the then Secretary of State memorably declaring it was time to ‘take public health out of the ghetto’. At the same time, the leadership of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine overcame opposition from some of its members and opened its training, examinations, and membership to non-medical candidates. By the early 2020s, half of the renamed Faculty of Public Health members were from backgrounds other than medicine as well as 90% of directors of public health in England. This paper explores the complex history behind this unprecedented opening of a medical specialty to non-medical membership, the factors that enabled it, and the continuing legacy of tensions and inequalities within an occupation that is both a medical specialty and a multidisciplinary profession
Decolonising hydrology: Reflecting on positionalities for sustainable and just futures
No full textColonialism continues to have an enduring impact on hydrological research, practice, and education. This paper examines the colonial legacy in hydrology and highlights the need for decolonisation to achieve justice, inclusivity, and sustainability in water management. Through tracing the development of hydrology research and examining stories from Canada, Indonesia, India, West Asia, and Africa, the paper uncovers the different ways colonial-era policies that have shaped contemporary water challenges. Findings indicate that colonial hydrological practices have led to significant ecological and social impacts, disrupted Indigenous knowledge systems, and intensified transboundary water conflicts. We advocate for considering, when desired by communities, place-based and Indigenous knowledge into the sciences, practices, and outputs of hydrology, revisiting ownership practices, and addressing neo-colonial influences through co-creation and inclusive learning. By reflecting on our colonial past, we propose pathways through reflective questions and a decision tree to guide future water knowledge generation and support local water management
Oil shock spillovers in emerging markets: Sectoral dynamics of demand, supply, and risk channels
No full textThis study investigates how disaggregated oil price shocks (demand, supply, and risk) propagate across emerging market equity sectors. Using quantile granger causality and time-varying parameter vector autoregression extended-joint connectedness frameworks, the analysis captures both dynamic interactions and responses during major turmoil including US-China trade tensions, COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia-Ukraine conflict. Results reveal strong nonlinear and quantile-dependent effects: demand shocks peak under moderate market conditions, supply shocks affect defensive sectors via inflationary channels, and risk shocks exert pervasive systemic influence across all sectors. Connectedness analysis shows high spillovers, with sectors such as financials, industrials, materials acting as major transmitters, while healthcare, utilities, and information technology largely absorb shocks. Network analysis further shows risk shocks as the dominant transmitter during crises, temporarily reversing to a net receiver during COVID-19. These findings highlight crisis-sensitive sectoral vulnerabilities, offering actionable insights for investors and policymakers in oil-sensitive emerging markets
The potential for a transdisciplinary systems approach to improve national policy analysis: Learning from UK cases of home energy transitions
Full text linkThe urgent imperative to decarbonise societies requries effective decisions to neogotiate interconnections of people, technology and policies. In this theory paper, we hypothesise that integrating transdisciplinary engineering with systems approaches can provide useful principles and tools to support effective sustainability policymaking. We consider this hypothesis in the context of a historic and current UK energy sector transition: (a) the transition from ‘town-gas’ to natural gas in the 1960–1970s and (b) the current shift from natural gas to low carbon domestic heating, focussing on heat pump deployment. Through these case-studies, we find that transdisciplinary and systems approaches are apparent in the successful historic transition, while remaining largely absent in the present low carbon heating transition, which is currently stalled. We argue this is caused by policy analysis being siloed and economically focused. We present two systems approach examples to show how they might be applied to begin addressing current UK policy failures for low carbon heating. We identify benefits while recognising some key limitations of this approach, including the resource requirements on officials. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research to continue developing the conceptual and practical basis and therefore lead to improved decision making in national sustainability policymaking
From the pitch to the market: What determines fan token prices dynamics and trading activities?
Full text linkThis study provides one of the first comprehensive examinations of how football-related events, social sentiment and benchmark cryptocurrency movements jointly shape the market dynamics of fan tokens. Using weekly data for tokens issued by 10 prominent football clubs, we analyse how prices, returns and trading volumes respond to match outcomes, player transfers, injuries and suspensions, as well as to broader drivers including the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, Google search trends and Bitcoin closing prices. Combining independent t-tests with multiple linear regression models, we show that on-pitch events, particularly wins, losses and player injuries, significantly affect both valuation and trading activity. Social sentiment and attention proxies emerge as the critical determinants of market behaviour, while Bitcoin demonstrates diverse influences across clubs. By documenting the association among sporting performance, investor sentiment and wider crypto-market conditions, the study offers actionable insights for token holders, football clubs and policymakers, and contributes to a deeper understanding of the behavioural foundations of this emerging class of digital assets
Enhancing sustainability in surgical service delivery: Exploring the intersection of comprehensive surgery scheduling and operating room capacity management policies
Full text linkThis study examines how operating room capacity management (ORCM) policies can enhance access to surgical services and improve societal welfare by reducing cancellations and improving resource utilisation. Using a discrete event simulation (DES) model, we evaluated three ORCM policies—dedicated, flexible, and hybrid—across different hospital sizes, focusing on their intersection with elective scheduling strategies. The analysis incorporated the perspectives of both hospital managers prioritising resource efficiency and patients concerned with surgery cancellations. Results indicate that the effectiveness of each policy depends on the specific circumstances of the hospital (e.g., hospital size and the adopted scheduling strategy), with the hybrid policy generally outperforming the others. Sensitivity analysis showed that incorporating comprehensive elective surgery scheduling—addressing pre- and post-surgery resource availability, as well as the unpredictability of emergency arrivals—substantially reduced cancellations and improved ORCM outcomes. This research highlights the critical role of selecting an appropriate ORCM policy and optimising elective scheduling to ensure sustainable surgical operations, minimise disruptions from emergencies, and improve patient care. Our findings provide actionable insights for hospital managers to refine their strategies, balancing patient needs and operational efficiency in the context of sustainable healthcare delivery
Excluded by design: Barriers to human-scale travel revealed through marginalised groups’ experiences of streets
Full text linkStreets involve a compromise between engineering, regulation and behaviour, aimed at meeting the needs of a diverse range of users (motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchairs, micromobility) while often attempting to fulfil both Movement and Place functions. It is reasonable to ask to what extent these compromises prioritise the needs of some over others and what might be the consequences. This study used Q methodology with a selection of road users chosen to represent groups likely to be marginalised by compromises of regulation or design, particularly those who walk or cycle. The analysis revealed five common categories of viewpoints: ‘We are traffic’ (the need for movement in streets, comparable to motorists), ‘Safety and comfort first’ (recognition of streets’ Place function), ‘Access is not optional’ (streets currently deny access to some), ‘Designed for all’ (unless designed for everyone, many will neverchoose to walk or cycle), and ‘Rules matter’ (rules should prompt those that can harm most to take a greater share of responsibility). These themes show that more marginalised users recognise the balances between Movement and Place and perceive restrictions on their access to public spaces arising from design and regulation compromises. A clear theme was that compromise designs, which expect users of very different vulnerability to mix, are a major barrier to more active travel and that, while a reduction in intimidating behaviour from motorists would be welcome by more marginalised groups, physical separation between means of travel would contribute the most to the creation of street environments conducive to human-scale movement
What do we mean by ‘creative health’? The benefits of defining ‘creativity’ in the arts and health field
No full textThe term ‘creative health’ is increasingly used in the context of ‘arts and health’ programming, evaluation and research. In this comment, I draw on the psychology of creativity to critically examine this term (focusing on the word ‘creative’ rather than ‘health’). I argue that conceptual clarity and consistent terminology are essential for the arts and health field. This is important for two key reasons: 1) to ensure we have shared and comprehensible terms in the field; and 2) to clarify the active ingredients within arts-based interventions and activities that contribute to health outcomes
Transforming voices: Reimagining organizational vulnerabilities of Mexican women in tourism through experimental audio-visual research
No full textPurpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse how collaborative audiovisual research methods can be used to study women’s organizational practices in tourism within the Mexican–US borderlands. By discussing the process of creating short films using an experimental methodology, the paper explores how audiovisual research can help articulate women’s vulnerability as an intersectional phenomenon. The authors argue that such articulation can benefit not only researchers but also participants, enabling all to express and share experiences and perspectives that may not conform to established paradigms of representing women’s vulnerability. The paper demonstrates how audiovisual research can foster a deeper understanding of organizational vulnerability and enhance the broader impact of research on this topic. Design/methodology/approach The research project was based on experimental collaborative filmmaking. An online platform (Transforming Voices, 2024) was used for the co-production and dissemination of experimental short films using aural testimonies of participants discussing their experiences of gendered vulnerabilities when working in the borderlands between Mexico and the USA (particularly, though not exclusively, in the region of Tijuana). The project was divided into four consecutive phases: the production of 23 interviews in Spanish; the extraction and editing of audio excerpts from the interviews, resulting in the production of over 35 short narrative soundtracks; the production of 30 short films in collaboration with musicians and filmmakers from all over the world; and a series of film screening events with Tijuana’s communities, including research participants. Findings Findings show that experimental co-produced audio-visual works can be helpful when elucidating complex intersectional dimensions of the challenges and dynamics of women organizational practices in tourism and hospitality. Segregation and stereotypification are made evident in these complexities, making it possible for women to share their organizational experiences broadly. Participants of this project expressed that Transforming Voices was particularly successful at transmitting the permanence and repetitive nature of women’s vulnerability, even in changing organizational circumstances. Research limitations/implications The methodology yielded important opportunities in terms of participatory consent and availability. By anonymizing participants and not using their images participants felt safer sharing their testimony and more in control of their own narratives. However, there is a potential risk of making primary participants invisible and only indirectly represented by other co-participants. Practical implications Foregrounding voice can be a practical way to work with participants as authors and co-creators while avoiding forms of victimization and subalternation, which might result from greater visibility. These methodologies encourage a focus on what is said, rather than on who speaks, and reflection on the account rather than on the contexts in which it is said. Social implications Research has highlighted the need to empower women involved in tourist activities through initiatives such as entrepreneurship education. The authors see that methodologies such as the one used for Transforming Voices could be useful in this regard, as they not only create a forum for hitherto silenced discourses but also opportunities where participants, artists and filmmakers can collaborate in ways that favour experimentation and, therefore, creative forms of empowerment where original distributions of authorship, voice, vulnerabilities and resistances might be performed. Originality/value The originality of this audio-visual research methodology resides in its capacity to dramatize, rather than just capture and convey, women’s experiences of organizational vulnerability, a difficult topic of inquiry and dissemination. Sounds and music, in conjunction with the images and visual tracks, result in decentred and highly affective artworks, which aesthetically amplify, expand on, complicate and qualify the participants’ testimonies. Produced in sequence by a multi-ethnic and multidisciplinary group of researchers, musicians, participants and filmmakers, Transforming Voices became a valuable and stimulating way of engaging through audio-visual interaction and reflecting on vulnerabilities in the tourism workplace
Physics-informed machine learning for ASHRAE-compliant heat transfer coefficient estimation from short-term IoT monitoring
No full textAccurate Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) measurement is essential for building retrofit prioritization, yet traditional co-heating tests require 2–4 weeks of vacancy at £3,000–5,000 per building—economically prohibitive for large-scale deployment. This study develops a physics-informed machine learning framework achieving ASHRAE Guideline 14-compliant HTC estimation from 7-28 day occupied monitoring data. The framework systematically integrates SAP 10.2 building physics principles with IoT sensor streams through physics-enhanced feature engineering. A Gradient Boosting model trained on 141 UK dwellings (140 SMETER dataset, 1 Energy House 2.0) achieved CV-RMSE of 9.8%, R2 of 0.967, and NMBE of −0.6% on holdout testing, with 92.9% of buildings meeting ASHRAE compliance thresholds (CV-RMSE 100 m2 with >1,500 kWh annual consumption achieve <8% error, while buildings <50 m2 with <500 kWh require extended monitoring periods. Leveraging existing IoT infrastructure, this framework enables national-scale building stock characterization supporting evidence-based retrofit prioritization without additional measurement cost