Dr Geoff Bates is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, and Lecturer and Deputy Director of Studies on the Professional Doctorate in Policy Research & Practice.

He was previously based at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Public Health Institute at Liverpool John Moores University. Geoff’s research interests are in public health and health policy. In particular, he is interested in how to tackle the wider determinants of health and health inequalities through policy and individual-level interventions, and understanding health and social behaviours as the outcomes of complex systems. He is interested in the development of interventions, policies and guidance, knowledge transfer and the use of evidence to inform decision-making across systems.

 
Geoff currently works on the ‘Tackling Root causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development’ (TRUUD) project, a five year, large-scale transdisciplinary project looking at changing urban development systems in the UK to help reduce non-communicable diseases and health inequalities. He also works on research relating to drug use and drug policies, with a particular focus on substances that are used to modify physical appearance or performance. His research projects have focussed on a range of health and social policy topics including: substance use and addiction, homelessness, climate change and sustainability, physical activity and employment. 

Geoff has experience delivering undergraduate and postgraduate courses and supervising student projects and PhD students. His teaching covers health policy and public health topics including theories of health policymaking and structural determinants of health outcomes. He enjoys teaching research methods, most commonly qualitative methods, evidence synthesis, participatory methods and study skills. He is interested in systematic review methods and has developed and delivered modules and training courses to students and researchers in this area.