Kate Birrell

About

I joined CHSS in January 2024 as a full-time NIHR Doctoral Local Authority Fellow and PhD student. My research will take an ethnographic approach to understanding how people experience the socioeconomic determinants of health in two coastal communities in West Sussex. As part of my fellowship I will also spend time working with West Sussex County Council Public Health team, where my substantive role as Public Health Lead is based, on local government action on health inequalities and research impact. 

 I have worked in Public Health for seven years at West Sussex County Council and Public Health England, working on reducing health inequalities, the wider determinants of health, addressing inequalities arising from the Covid pandemic, ageing well, and compassionate communities for death, dying and bereavement. Prior to this I worked in policy and strategy roles in health and care regulation, and on research communication and uptake in health and development. 

 In 2021/22 I undertook an NIHR Pre-doctoral Local Authority Fellowship with Brighton and Sussex Medical School, during which I completed qualitative research methods training and undertook a scoping study which shaped the development of my PhD proposal. I have an undergraduate MA in Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh and a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.  

PhD

The aim of my research is to understand how people living in two coastal communities in Arun, West Sussex, experience the place they live and their social circumstances in relation to health. The research will look at people’s sense of place identity, and how living in a coastal town impacts on their health and wellbeing. It will focus on people’s life stories, how they cope with difficult life events, and the link to their health, as well as exploring the assets and sources of resilience in the two communities. As part of my research, I will work with local communities and local government to identify community-led recommendations for action to reduce coastal health inequalities. 

Supervision

Professor Lindsay Forbes
Dr Rebecca Cassidy
Dr Lavinia Bertini (Brighton and Sussex Medical School)