Professor Ghazala Mir

Profile

I have research interests in health and social inequalities covering a range of disadvantaged groups as well as the intersections between these: ethnic and faith communities, women and people with learning disability.

I have been a health inequalities researcher at the University of Leeds since 1999. I led the Health and Social Care Research Group between 2008 and 2010 and am currently Research Lead at the Nuffield Centre for Health and International Development.

My research projects focus on the experience of people underserved by health services and seldom heard in decision-making about health policy and practice. I am a founder and Chair of the multidisciplinary Inequalities Research Network and have led work to highlight key research priorities in my field; I’m particularly interested in research on interventions that reduce health inequalities. My research has been published in case studies of good practice by the Chief Medical Officer and the Economic and Social Research Council.

I have supervised PhD students in areas related to my research interests and teach on various undergraduate and postgraduate courses. I lead the Research Methods module for the BSc in International Health programme and have previously led a similar module for the International Masters in Public Health: I have delivered various teaching sessions and workshops for medical and nursing students, including: Research Skills, Religion and Health, Qualitative Research Methods, Individuals and Populations and Communication Skills. Externally, I teaches on the MSc in Global Mental Health at the University of Glasgow and taught on the Cambridge Muslim College Diploma course on Contextual Islamic Studies & Leadership between 2015-2018. I was also the Co-Lead for Postgraduate Research students at the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences between 2018-2021.

I have substantial experience of translating my research findings into policy and practice through education and training, engagement with policy bodies and participatory research that brings together service users, practitioners and policymakers in order to develop health services. I am an Advisory Group member for the UN/UKRI/AHRC Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and NHS England/NHS Improvement Mental Health Data Quality Group. I am on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disability. 

I have previouly been a member of the Government Task Force on Learning Disability and co-Chair of the Ethnicity and Learning Disability Subgroup and has acted as a member of the National Institute of Health Research HS&DR Research Funding Board. I have also contributed to Advisory Groups for various national bodies including the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Department of Health, Care Quality Commission and Disability Rights Commission . 

Responsibilities

• Chair, Inequalities Research Network
• Research Lead, Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development

Research interests

My research covers health inequalities affecting people from minority ethnic and faith communities, women and disabled people. My academic activity focuses on addressing and preventing social exclusion in health and social care settings. I am currently leading an evaluation of culturally adapted therapy for depression in a deprived area of Bradford and  has overseen trials of this therapy in Istanbul and Lahore. I am leading work packages for multicentre consortia research on inclusive support for Long Covid and on digital inclusion in management of blood disorders.

I led the international Socially Inclusive Cities Network exploring strategies that public services can use to ensure minority ethnic and religious groups receive effective and equitable support. This international work was developed through activity that I am leading within the interdisciplinary Inequalities Research Network of academics, practitioners, voluntary organisations and policymakers to support joint work towards a fairer society. IRN is based within the Leeds Social Sciences Institute.

My previous research studies have involved developing the culturally adapted intervention for depression; facilitating participatory groups to address infant mortality amongst women in groups at highest risk; and improving health and social care services for people with disabilities, minority ethnic and Muslim populations. I am also Director of the Ethnicity Training Network, which promotes the transfer of research evidence into health and social care policy and practice. Further details of my research can be found at the following links:

Partnerships for Equity and Inclusion

Socially Inclusive Cities

Addressing Depression in Muslim Communities

Social Networks and Infant Mortality

Partnerships for Social Justice

Inequalities Research Network

Evidence and ethnicity in commissioning 

Muslim Communities Learning About Second-Hand Smoke - Mclass Pilot Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial  

Satisfaction with social care services: The experiences of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and White British populations

Ethnicity Training Network

Women, Faith and Social Cohesion

Social policy and health inequalities : the relevance of faith to chronic illness management in the Pakistani community

Current Postgraduate Students:

Evrim Anik - Assessment of culturally adapted Behavioural Activation for the treatment of depression in Turkey: a feasibilty study

Ning Song - Understanding and reducing mental health stigma in Chinese young people: Towards a culturally acceptable anti-stigma intervention

Olivia Joseph - Incivility in the NHS: Exploring racial and ethnic minority healthcare workers experiences, the consequences for them and for patient care

Previous:

Dr Carolyn Mcrorie: The experiences of people with dementia in the acute hospital ward setting

Dr Rumana Farooq:  Understanding the bereavement experiences of Pakistani women following infant mortality

Dr Sarah Wood:  Exploring experiences and meanings of self harm in South Asian women in the UK

Dr Anna McIntyre: People with learning disabilities from British Pakistani communities

Dr Holly Jones:  A Qualitative Study Exploring the Experience of Transition - BME people with learning disabilities

Dr Teresa Owen: Gender representation and occupational therapy

Qualifications

• PhD School of Medicine, University of Leeds

Student education

Module Lead: BSc International Public Health: Research Methods (also previously nternational Masters in Public Health: Health Systems Research Methods)

MBChB tutor: Individuals and Populations; Communication Skills; Religion and Health; Qualitative Research

Healthcare: Nursing in a Multicultural Society; MSc Clinical Research Methods; Pre-registration Midwifery

Research groups and institutes

• Leeds Institute of Health Sciences
• Research at the Nuffield Centre of International Health and Development
• International health research

Current postgraduate researchers

• Miss Evrim Anik
• Ms Olivia Joseph
• Ning Song