The University of Sheffield
Public Health

Paul Bissell BA MA PhD

Professor Paul Bissell

Section of Public Health
School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR)
The University of Sheffield
Regent Court
30 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 4DA

Office: Room 2037, 2nd Floor, Regent Court

Tel: (+44)(0)114 222 0831
Fax: (+44)(0)114 272 4095

email : p.bissell@sheffield.ac.uk


Biography

I studied sociology and politics as an undergraduate, completed an MA (Econ) in Applied Social Research and then a PhD in medical sociology, all at the University of Manchester. I've since undertaken a wide variety of research as a contract researcher before working in public health at the University of Salford and then moving to do research and lecture in schools of pharmacy. I worked at the University of Manchester (1994 - 2001), the University of Nottingham (2001 - 2006) and then came to The University of Sheffield in 2006 to run the Master of Public Health programme.

I am currently a Professor of Public Health and the Director of the Public Health Section.

Research Interests

My research interests span health services research, public health and their intersections with medical sociology. In relations to the former, I have been involved in numerous studies evaluating different aspects of pharmacy practice and medicines management. These include evaluations of medicines management services (with colleagues in Aberdeen and Keele), the supply of emergency contraception (with colleagues in Nottingham) and supplementary prescribing by pharmacists and nurses (again with colleagues from Nottingham and Flinders University). I have an enduring curiosity with what people do with their medicines and I am particularly interested in using narrative approaches to shed light on medication practices. This dovetails with a longstanding concern which focuses on understanding the subtleties of lay accounts of illness, as well as the embodied and biographical dimensions of health, illness and its treatment.

Health inequalities, the broader determinants of health as they connect with issues around distributional justice have long interested me. I am interested in the application of psycho-social explanations for health inequalities in order to sensitively research how lay people account for how social inequality gets under the skin.

I currently manage a major programme of research around weight management and obesity for the NIHR CLAHRC for South Yorkshire. This involves setting up a cohort of adults in south Yorkshire to better understand issues around the self-management of overweight and obesity and its impact on health care utilization (see http://clahrc-sy.nihr.ac.uk). I am also leading a longitudinal qualitative study looking at the habitual and un-reflected aspects of food consumption and dietary practices in families in south Yorkshire as part of this programme of work.

Teaching Interests

I co-ordinate and teach on HAR 6531 `Qualitative Research Design & Analysis´ on the Master of Public Health programme and teach the social determinants of health / health inequalities to undergraduate and postgraduate students. I also teach on obesity, self-management of chronic disease, the doctor-patient relationship for our Sociology of Public Health module.

Having led the Master of Public Health programme at The University of Sheffield between 2006-2010, I remain strongly commited to teaching and enhancing the quality of the student experience in ScHARR, the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health and the University. Having recently secured funding for a further 5 years of funding for the Erasmus Mundus recognised EuroPubHealth programme, I am also interested in strengthening our teaching and research links with European partner institutions (see www.europubhealth.org).

Professional Activities

Member of UK Public Health Association (UKPHA)and the British Sociological Association (BSA).

Current Projects

Key Publications