PhD Studentship: Health and Well-being and Data Science: WGSSS Studentship: A Linked Whole-Population Data Approach to Understanding Wellbeing and Inequalities

Context: Population Needs Assessments (PNAs) are a statutory requirement under the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 and provide the primary evidence base for regional planning, service transformation and commissioning across health, social care and wider wellbeing systems. In West Glamorgan (Swansea and Neath Port Talbot), the Regional PNA is developed through collaboration between Swansea Bay University Health Board, local authorities, the third sector and the Regional Partnership Board, and informs Public Service Board priorities. This collaborative PhD builds on a ten-year programme of interdisciplinary research by Professor Kemp and Dr Fisher that conceptualizes wellbeing through connections to self, others and nature, aligning closely with the preventative, place-based and long-term principles of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act. In Wales, responsibilities for health, wellbeing and the natural environment are formally aligned through national policy and delivery structures led by Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales, yet PNAs currently have limited analytical capacity to examine how social, relational and environmental determinants intersect with wellbeing, inequality and service use over time. This PhD is embedded within statutory partnerships and will strengthen the population-level evidence available to support PNA development. 

Rationale: PNAs are intended to support preventative, long-term and place-based approaches to wellbeing but are often constrained by fragmented data across sectors and life stages and by reliance on cross-sectional analyses. The Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank enables secure linkage of anonymised population data across health, education, social care and administrative systems, creating opportunities for life-course, family-level and spatial analyses that incorporate wider determinants of wellbeing, including local environments and access to nature. 

Probable aims: The aim of the PhD is to develop and apply a theoretically informed, life-course framework for understanding population wellbeing and its determinants using linked administrative and survey data, generating evidence to inform service transformation and commissioning within the West Glamorgan PNA. The project will pay particular attention to inequalities across communities and explore comparisons with regional, national or international data where comparable indicators and infrastructures exist. 

Likely research questions: Indicative questions include: how theory can inform interpretation of wellbeing, mental health and need across the life course using linked population data; what inequalities in wellbeing, mental health and service use exist across West Glamorgan and how these vary by place, deprivation and access to local environments; how adult wellbeing and service use intersect with physical health, socioeconomic disadvantage and family context; what intergenerational relationships can be observed between parental mental health and children’s wellbeing; and how evidence on place-based determinants, including access to nature, can support Regional Partnership Boards and Public Service Boards in meeting statutory duties for prevention and long-term wellbeing. 

Scope, methods and design: The core empirical focus is West Glamorgan and the Regional PNA and comparative work beyond the region. The project will use linked, anonymised data accessed via the SAIL Databank, drawing on health, education, social care, survey and administrative datasets, and other relevant sources of data that may be identified as the project unfolds. Methods will include descriptive mapping, regression and multilevel modelling, family-level and spatial analyses, and exploratory data-driven approaches, guided by explicit theoretical frameworks. Analyses will combine longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches as appropriate. Findings will inform the West Glamorgan PNA, and enable comparisons with regional, national or international wellbeing indicators. 

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