Dundee and St Andrews universities are to join a new research network that aims to tackle some of Scotland’s biggest public health problems.
They will be joined by colleagues at Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow universities to investigate issues including alcohol abuse, smoking and obesity which jointly claim thousands of lives every year and cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds to treat.
The new Scottish School of Public Health Research will be supported by a two-year £445,000 grant from the Scottish Funding Council, which allocates public money to higher and further education.
The universities will focus their research on gaining a better understanding of why people take up smoking and drinking, drinking cultures and the acceptability of heavy drinking, and effective ways to intervene and raise awareness of the chronic health problems caused by smoking, drinking, and eating to excess.
They will work with frontline healthcare providers including NHS boards and public health officers.
The research will be used to improve patient care and practice, plan public health campaigns to help Scotland’s population live longer and healthier lives and reduce healthcare costs in the long-term.
Mark Batho, SFC chief executive, said, “The Scottish School of Public Health Research is an important new collaborative initiative which the funding council is very pleased to support.
“By working together, the universities and healthcare providers will have access to far more information and expertise than they have had before.
“This will improve the way public health issues are researched and fill gaps in our understanding of major health issues that affect the lives of many thousands of people across Scotland.”
Professor Harry Campbell, who is one of the lead academics involved in the project, said he hoped it would lead to greater collaboration and align research efforts more closely with national health priorities.
The school was also backed by public health minister Michael Matheson, who said, “This work will mean important access to information and expertise that will be collated for the first time.
“Giving up smoking is the biggest single thing anyone can do to improve their health and we know we need to address Scotland’s drinking culture.
“By finding out more information about the causes of smoking and drinking we can intervene early to prevent behaviours arising that have significant cost to individuals, families and wider society, both in terms of health and economic impacts.”
It is also hoped the pooled resources and joint working of the five universities will increase their national and international research competitiveness, allowing them to attract additional research funding from other sources, such as research councils and the private sector.
The SFC will monitor the project to ensure that NHS Scotland and other public health organisations are properly involved and that research is not duplicated. Each of the five universities will lead a research theme but they will work on the research together.