Jack Birch

At the beginning of October, all our researchers and co-investigators from across the NIHR Policy Research Unit Behavioural and Social Sciences got together at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton…... At the beginning of October, all our researchers and co-investigators from across the NIHR Policy Research Unit Behavioural and Social Sciences got together at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton ...

Earlier this month, all our researchers & co-investigators got together at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton.

We discussed topics such as engaging youth in research, public involvement, and ensuring meaningful impact.

Read more here: www.linkedin.com/posts/nihr-p...

To have this as the policy for a mental health service is *wild*. If someone does not attend a mental health assessment appointment, they're probably worse not better...

We're are now accepting applications for an exciting DPhil at the @oxprimarycare.bsky.social, *FUNDED* by the THRIVING Food Futures research hub!
The project is about divisive policies, supervised by me, Dr Rachel Pechey @petescarbs.bsky.social @ashakaur.bsky.social
lnkd.in/eezGaZZ3
Pls share! ✨

Jack, wearing a pink shirt, looking very seriously at a handheld microphone

P.s.: caption competition for my stern look at a malfunctioning microphone?

My main takeaway reflection from the conference - as researchers, to what extent should we be acting as advocates (or even activists?) for 1) what our research finds and 2) the policy implications of that research?

Jack standing in a pink shirt and navy chinos on a flowery carpet. He was presenting at the 2025 Society for Social Medicine and Population Health annual scientific meeting

Just back from attending another excellent @socsocmed.bsky.social conference #SSM2025

It was great catching up with old and new friends that I've made over my time in academia to date. I was happy to share our @nihr-pru-bass.bsky.social research on populism and public health interventions.

Less inequality = fewer problems

@profkepickett.bsky.social lays our her vision for a good society at #SSM2025

@socsocmed.bsky.social

Image of jack in a pink shirt and blue trousers standing up and presenting

It was great to present our review of interview studies looking at populism and how people receive public health interventions @socsocmed.bsky.social #SSM2025 yesterday!

Looking forward to two more days of exciting talks 🤓

#SSM2025 Early Career Researcher day! Follow this thread to see updates (I'm doing the updates, so look forward to inevitable typos)

Super interesting thread from @amckinlay.bsky.social on how trust relates to public health, and how this links to our recent work looking at how populism affects the acceptability of public health interventions

⬇️

Thank you @jackmbirch.bsky.social for summarising your experiences at our recent #DigitalHealthDivide2025 workshop at @univie.ac.at!

After all the bollocks of claiming (wrongly) that the UK has two tier justice system, Farage is planning exactly that.

A really nice example on how to visually communicate the text contents of a paper on mobile phones

Considering the digital health divide - NIHR PRU Behavioural and Social Sciences One of our Newcastle-based researchers, Dr Jack Birch, recently attended a workshop on the ‘digital health divide’ at the University of Vienna. “The digital health divide is how digital interventions ...

Our researcher @jackmbirch.bsky.social recently attended a workshop on the digital health divide at the University of Vienna @univie.ac.at.

Read about how they considered how research practice can be improved when considering the digital health divide ⬇️

behscipru.nihr.ac.uk/3207-2/

Are there inequalities in the attendance at and effectiveness of behavioural weight management interventions for adults in the UK? An individual participant data meta-analysis Objectives Interventions for obesity that require individual behaviour change, such as behavioural weight management interventions, may contribute to health inequalities. We explored if there was evid...

Very happy to see a big paper from my PhD *OUT TODAY*

We explored if there were inequalities in the attendance & effectiveness of behavioural weight management interventions in an individual participant data meta-analysis.

See the thread for findings 👇

bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/3/2/...

Want to help improve mental health in academia? We are looking for bloggers for our November and December slots.

You can submit a pitch here and learn more about the process: voicesofacademia.com/contact-2/

AI tools used by English councils downplay women’s health issues, study finds Exclusive: LSE research finds risk of gender bias in care decisions made based on AI summaries of case notes

AI replicates, magnifies and perpetuates the biases already active in our health system and society www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Thanks to all my co-authors for getting this mammoth paper out!

@amyahern.bsky.social @mrcepid.bsky.social

We did not find any differences in effectiveness by age, education, occupation, place of residence, nor household income. Similarly, we did not find evidence of inequalities in attendance at these interventions.

❗ For sex, we found that the interventions had a greater effect in men than women – however, this was likely driven by men in the control groups (i.e., no or minimal intervention) actually gaining weight, whereas women in these groups would still lose some weight.

❗ These interventions were more effective in those of a white ethnicity than those from ethnic minority backgrounds. This highlights more needs to be done to equitable support those from ethnic minority groups, a pattern we see all too often in health and healthcare.

Are there inequalities in the attendance at and effectiveness of behavioural weight management interventions for adults in the UK? An individual participant data meta-analysis Objectives Interventions for obesity that require individual behaviour change, such as behavioural weight management interventions, may contribute to health inequalities. We explored if there was evid...

Very happy to see a big paper from my PhD *OUT TODAY*

We explored if there were inequalities in the attendance & effectiveness of behavioural weight management interventions in an individual participant data meta-analysis.

See the thread for findings 👇

bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/3/2/...

In particular, it was fruitful discussing what we can to better our practices in future to address the digital health divide. Excited to see what emerges from the workshop and how can produce meaningful change that actually helps people!

It was great to have a diverse group of international researchers, of all career stages, considering how we currently impact on the digital divide (the good and the bad) through our research practices.

A landscape image of Vienna in Austria. In the foreground are green Vineyards, and in the background is the city landscape. The sky is blue with big grey clouds

Just back from a very interesting (and intellectually stimulating!) couple of days in Vienna.

I attended a workshop on improving research practice to understand and address the digital health divide, hosted by Prof @lauramkoenig.bsky.social and colleagues at the University of Vienna.

Optimising Integrated Care Services (OptICS)- Online Stakeholder workshop Do you want to help develop the future direction of integrated care? Reserve a spot to secure your workshop space.

As part of our OptICS project, we’re hosting an online stakeholder workshop on the 6th of October!

If you work in integrated care, be it service delivery, management or commissioning, join us to explore how behavioural and social science can support the sector.

🎟️ Sign up here: shorturl.at/LtFZA

In the 2025 edition of @uclpophealthsci.bsky.social, our researchers @amckinlay.bsky.social and @jackmbirch.bsky.social discuss the enduring challenge of health inequalities, and link to our work discussing populism and the acceptability of public health interventions.

Check it out below!

As much as I love SSM (the people and the conference), presenting research that - due to the need to include basically final results in the abstract - means a lot of the presented work is already published. It would be great to discuss more work in progress research and get feedback!

Earlier this month, the govt published the 10yr health plan. A 'moonshot to end the obesity epidemic' was launched. 🚀

BUT.. what do the public actually think about this?

We did some work (pre 10 year plan announcement) with @moreincommonuk.bsky.social on this.

More below 👇 🧵1/6

I've just written 'psychling' when I mean 'cycling'...what that says about my current energy levels, I'm not sure