Abstract

All are invited to the hybrid Bradford Hill Seminar ‘The politics of epidemiology and public health in the UK’ with Professor Danny Dorling of the University of Oxford.

Attend in person or register to attend online at https://mrc-epid.zoom.us/meeting/register/Xt6c2C_hR7a2xOFqlKb5Dg

We like to present epidemiology as politically neutral, and public health as the science of supporting the health of the population as a whole. This is not necessarily so.

There are always choices to be made. Different academic disciplines have implicit biases and underlying beliefs, which can change over time and differ greatly between contexts. Some of the most obvious examples are between people who prefer individualistic explanations and those who see this as victim blaming.

A lack of attention to certain topics is another form of political bias. Why, for instance, are we in the UK not more concerned about how many people choose and can afford to use private health care and dentistry? Why are we not talking about how life expectancy fell in the UK after 2014? And, to what extent is our epidemiology and public health in the UK in the 2020s a reflection of UK politics?

About Professor Dorling: Danny Dorling works at the University of Oxford. His most recent three books are: “Seven Children”, “Peak Injustice”, and “The Next Crisis”. He works with road crash charity RoadPeace, Heeley City Farm in Sheffield, and the educational campaign group Comprehensive Future.