UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care

International Day of Persons with Disabilities and Disability History Month Event 2025 Join UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services and UCL Student Success on Thursday 4 December 2025 for an online event to celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities and Disability…

Join UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services and UCL Student Success for an online event to celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities and Disability History Month.

📆 04 December 2025, 2:00 pm–4:15 pm

www.ucl.ac.uk/students/eve...

UCL’s festive gift guide is live, showcasing unique products from UCL entrepreneurs, all of which have received support from UCL Innovation & Enterprise. 🎄🎁

Discover gifts from bespoke cakes to eco-friendly coffee cups and jewellery made from recycled electronics.

Check it out: bit.ly/48dom2R

A blue model of a house made using wood, paper and cyanotypes.

"I hope the work will start meaningful conversations for positive change."

We're excited to announce that artist Lynn Dennison has been commissioned by UCL to create a public art installation exploring the relationship between health, health inequalities and housing: www.ucl.ac.uk/population-h... 🏠

Britain has an obesity crisis driven by poverty and bad food. Is Ozempic the answer? Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic are difficult to access without cash, but is the answer to really to roll these out on the NHS?

Professor Rosalind Raine offers insight into weight-loss jabs in this @bigissue.com article: “It will do nothing to make our population healthy. Children can keep growing up eating unhealthy foods.” www.bigissue.com/life/health/...

A blue graphic shows a photo of Prof Fancourt in a recording studio. Accompanying text reads: "Art Cure announcement: Audiobook loading..."

A blue graphic shows the front cover of the Art Cure book, alongside the text "Bookmark your calendars, 7 weeks until publication".

Last week was a step out of the ordinary, as Professor Daisy Fancourt headed to the studio to record the #ArtCure audiobook with @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social 🎙️

There are now 7 weeks to go until Art Cure's publication — learn more on our website: sbbresearch.org/projects/art...

tools for symptoms of depression among young adults (18 to 25 years old) in East Asia and the Pacific. A total of 22 studies with 24,069 participants were included, covering both clinical and non-clinical populations. Nine selfadministered screening tools were identified, with Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Patient Health Questionnaire-2 PHQ-2, and Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) being the most frequently studied. PHQ-9 demonstrated moderate to excellent internal consistency reliability, with Cronbach’s alpha ranging from 0.67 to 0.92, and a pooled AUC of 0.86, indicating strong screening accuracy. PHQ-2, showed an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.85, high sensitivity (0.96), and moderate specificity (0.80). CES-D exhibited an AUC of 0.87, good sensitivity (0.81), and specificity (0.78), with high heterogeneity (I² = 74.70 %–86.69 %). The meta-analysis revealed substantial variability in sensitivity and specificity across settings, with differences in study methodologies, cutoff scores, and reference standards contributing to high heterogeneity. Additionally, 95.5 % of studies had a moderate risk of bias in patient selection, affecting generalizability. Despite these limitations, PHQ-9, PHQ-2, and CES-D remain valuable tools for identifying symptoms of depression among young adults. The accessibility, ease of administration, and strong psychometric properties of these tests support their continued use in resource-limited settings, though standardization of methodologies and expanded regional validation are needed to improve screening accuracy and applicability.

Validated self-administered screening tools to identify depression among young adults (18 to 25-years-old) in East Asia and the Pacific Region low-and-middle income countries (LMICs): A systematic review by my PhD student Dennis Dantic. https//www.science... @ucl-primarycare.bsky.social

Asylum, Housing, and Community In this episode, host Ethne James Souch speaks with Professor Mette Louise Berg, Dr Judith Spirig, Faith Nyamakanga, and Nelson Gomez about the lived realities of asylum housing in the UK, and the wid

🎙️ New ep: Asylum, Housing & Community
Host Ethne James Souch talks with Mette Louise Berg, Judith Spirig, Faith Nyamakanga & Nelson Gomez about asylum housing in the UK—how policy, privatised systems & ideas of “deservingness” shape everyday lives.
🎧 https://bit.ly/4p2aIFA

Brilliant to see academics from our Institute featured in @clarivate.com’s annual ‘Highly Cited Researchers List’ for 2025, which recognises the most influential researchers in their fields.

Congratulations to all!

www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/no...

Alzheimer’s Society I-Care DTC PhD Studentships - DEMENTIA RESEARCHER Apply for a funded PhD Studentship within the Alzheierm's Society I-Care DTC - help shape compassionate integrated dementia care across leading UK universities.

We are delighted to launch applications for our 2nd cohort of PhD students as part of our Alzheimer's Society I-Care Doctoral Training Centre. 5 PhD Studentships & 1 clinical Training Fellowship available starting October 26. Apply now online!
www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/alzheimers-s...

Spotlight on EAG co-leads Megan Armstrong and Alissa Barette An interview with our new co-leads for the Equality Action Group (EAG), a dynamic staff and student team which facilitates equality, diversity and inclusion within the Institute and beyond.

Find out about our Equality Action Group in this chat with new co-leads Megan Armstrong and Alissa Barette 👋 www.ucl.ac.uk/population-h...

UCL launches devolution and health equity collaboration with the LGA A new partnership between UCL and the Local Government Association (LGA) is helping councils take action on health inequalities.

"At UCL, we are committed to working with local authorities to embed the social determinants of health into the fabric of local governance." - @michaelmarmot.bsky.social

A new partnership between UCL and the LGA is helping councils take action on #healthinequalities. www.ucl.ac.uk/grand-challe...

Spotlight on Professor Maria Kett Maria Kett shares insights on disability, humanitarian policy, and why cross-disciplinary collaboration is key to tackling global health challenges.

"I’ve always believed research should have real-world impact."

Read this fantastic spotlight on Professor Maria Kett, Director of the UCL Centre for Humanitarianism and Social Inclusion 📑 www.ucl.ac.uk/health-of-pu...

Experiencing Socioeconomic Deprivation as a Carer in the United Kingdom: A Qualitative Study Background Informal carers compose approximately 7% of the UK population and, through their unpaid care, they make important contributions to society and the health care industry. Being an informal ...

🚨 New Publication Alert!
Carers experiencing socioeconomic deprivation often face a lack of social mobility options whilst making profound sacrifices, such as giving up essentials like heating and healthy food.
Policy must do better. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

We're proud to announce a new partnership between UCL and the Local Government Association (LGA) which will help councils deliver on the new health inequalities duty introduced in the English Devolution White Paper.

Find out more: https://bit.ly/47Qn8dD

Four people working at a desk

As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week this week, we're reflecting on the 10 year anniversary of UCL's entrepreneurship hub, BaseKX. BaseKX supports the UCL community gain the entrepreneurial skills they need to create their own exciting future.

Read here: bit.ly/45sLTeI

Close-up of a sign reading "The School of Pharmacy" with a blurred colourful background.

We're hiring!

Research Fellow / Senior Research Fellow in the UCL School of Pharmacy's Centre for Behavioural Medicine.

Closing date: 24 November 2025

Apply now! https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/search-ucl-jobs/details?jobId=39354&jobTitle=Research+Fellow+%2F+Senior+Research+Fellow

📣 New research!

This study highlights a critical issue: carers experiencing socioeconomic deprivation often face a lack of social mobility options whilst making profound sacrifices, such as giving up essentials like heating and healthy food.

🔗 dx.doi.org/10.1111/hex....

#CarerSupport

London Local Authorities Policy Fellowships – Deadline Extended to 27 Nov, 17:00
Applications open again for UCL researchers to join policy fellowships in Newham, Camden & Islington Councils. Flexible part/full-time secondments (4–6 months) Jan–July 2026. https://bit.ly/4oD1Wxp

✨ Continuing the Celebration! ✨

Yesterday we marked 50 brilliant years of British Regional Heart Study BRHS, and the joy is still with us today. We’re delighted to share this wonderful photo of the entire BRHS team

UCL – University College London UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

🚨 We're hiring!

NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care (Clinical Education Research)

📍 London | 🕒 Full-time | 💼 Fixed-term | 🌐 Hybrid

🗓️ Apply by 14 Dec 2025
🔗 Apply now: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
@nihrspcr.bsky.social
#PrimaryCare #NIHR #AcademicGP #MedicalEducation

🎉 Celebrating 50 years of the British Regional Heart Study!
A major milestone in UK heart research, with brilliant reflections from Prof. Goya Wannamethee on its start and impact. Great to also hear from Prof. Peter Whincup and Prof. Sheena Ramsay on the study’s lasting legacy.

Surge in women vaping means more people smoke e-cigs than tobacco One in ten Britons aged over 16 - around 5.4million - said they used e-cigarettes daily or occasionally last year, up from 9.8 per cent the year before.

"#Vaping is not risk-free and should only be used to help smokers quit it, but inadequate regulation has led to the growth in use of e-cigarettes by never smokers in recent years," said Deborah Arnott (UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care) www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Is street lighting to blame for our winter blues? Research found people with depression during the winter months were more likely to live in areas flooded with artificial outdoor lighting than places where the nights are darker.

Is street lighting to blame for our winter blues?

Study author Professor Paola Zaninotto said: ‘Outdoor light exposure at night may be an overlooked environmental risk factor for depression in older adults, especially in rural areas.’

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic...

Poorer heart health in middle age linked to increased dementia risk People with signs of damage to their heart during middle age are more likely to develop dementia in later life, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.

People with signs of damage to their heart during middle age are more likely to develop dementia in later life, according to a new study led by @uclpsychiatry.bsky.social researchers.

Vaping overtakes smoking in Britain for first time Number of vapers aged 16 and over in Britain rose to 5.4mn in 2024 compared with 4.9mn smokers, according to ONS data

Professor Lion Shahab comments on the growing popularity of vapes in the UK in this article. www.ft.com/content/79f4...

England's most deprived areas named - with Jaywick topping list Jaywick, a seaside town in Essex, has been named the most deprived area for a fourth time in a row.

Dr Megan Armstrong offers a solution to breaking the cycle of inequality by prioritising sustained investment, structural reform, and genuine community engagement 🔽 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Biological signs of poor heart health linked to later dementia diagnosis – study Researchers found the link is evident up to 25 years before a dementia diagnosis.

"Poor heart health in middle age puts people at increased risk of dementia in later life.

Damage to the brain seen in people with dementia accumulates slowly over the decades before symptoms develop." - Prof Eric Brunner (UCL IEHC). www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Come along to our in-person Postgraduate Open Evening next week!

🕔 Weds 19 November, 16:30–19:30
📍 UCL Institute of Education (IOE), Bloomsbury
🔗 Book now: www.ucl.ac.uk/medical-scie...

📹: Freddie Stoeck, Health Psychology MSc Alumna

#UCLMastersMatter #LondonStudy

Great video to launch our I-Care DTC - introducing our first cohort of 6 students focusing on dementia care.

@claudiacooper.bsky.social @qmulpsychiatry.bsky.social @qmul-wiph.bsky.social @ucliehc.bsky.social @grait.bsky.social @i-care-dtc.bsky.social

Photograph of 4 students walking down the steps of the UCL Portico on a sunny day

📣 Announcement!

UCL’s MSc in Humanitarian Policy & Practice has been selected as one of 8 programmes for the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship for 2025/26.

The scholarship covers:
🏦 tuition fees
🏠 living costs
🚆 travel to the UK

Deadline: 9 December 2025 www.ucl.ac.uk/scholarships...