Dr Geoff Bates is a Lecturer in Public Health Policy at the Institute for Policy Research. He is the Director of Studies for the Doctorate in Policy Research & Practice.

Geoff's research focuses on how to improve public health and reduce inequalities through tackling the wider determinants of health, such as the social, political and economic factors that shape the conditions we live in. He is interested in the effective use of different types of evidence to inform policy-making, and the design and evaluation of interventions and policies to improve health and wellbeing. Before joining the university Geoff was previously based in the Public Health guidance team at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). 

Geoff is the evaluation lead on the ‘Tackling Root causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development’ (TRUUD) project, a six year, large-scale transdisciplinary project looking at changing urban development systems in the UK to prevent non-communicable diseases. Previous research projects have focused 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. He is Director of Studies on the Doctorate in Policy Research and Practice. His teaching covers a range of health policy, public health, and policymaking topics. He also enjoys teaching research methods, most commonly qualitative methods, evidence synthesis, participatory methods and study skills.