Dr Hannah Fairbrother

PhD, MA Cantab, PgDipHE, BMedSci, SFHEA

Nursing and Midwifery, School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery

Senior Lecturer in Public Health

Dr Hannah Fairbrother, Senior Lecturer in Public Health
Profile picture of Dr Hannah Fairbrother, Senior Lecturer in Public Health
h.fairbrother@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2044

Full contact details

Dr Hannah Fairbrother
Nursing and Midwifery, School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery
Barber House Annexe
3 Clarkehouse Road
Sheffield
S10 2HQ
Research interests

My research focuses on socioeconomic inequalities in health and well-being, particularly as they relate to children, young people and families. This is a longstanding interest and stems from my upbringing in Sheffield, a city of contrasts in health and wealth, visiting family in Liverpool and through voluntary work in Cambridge with young mothers and with children in an underserved area of Paris.

I am particularly interested in:

  • Work to understand and address the environmental, social and political influences on health. 
  • Public perspectives, particularly children's and young people’s perspectives, on and understandings of health inequalities and their relationship with broader societal inequalities
  • The role of activism geared towards improving planetary health and promoting social justice 

I mobilise a variety of different methods to explore these key interests, including critical policy analysis, systematic and narrative literature review, participatory interviews, creative workshops, observation and systems mapping.

I am on the leadership team for the NIHR School for Public Health Research Children, Young People and Families Programme, with a particular focus on public involvement and engagement work. 

I co-lead the Child of the North N8 Research Partnership for the University of Sheffield, with my colleague Dr Jill Thompson. 

I am the Sheffield representative for Health Equity North.

Publications

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

Reports

Preprints

Research group

I am an active member of the cross-faculty Health Equity Group and the Children and Young People’s Research Theme group in the School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery.

I am interested in supervising students in my research areas and welcome prospective students getting in touch to discuss potential applications.

Grants
Principal Investigator Sponsor Title Dates
Fairbrother, H

School for Public Health Research (SPHR), National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) 

Living with Housing Insecurity 2023-25
Mason, W School for Public Health Research (SPHR), National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Reducing inequalities by improving the system within which ‘at-risk’ young people access, and engage with, community assets that support mental health. 2024-25
Dodd-Reynolds, C School for Public Health Research (SPHR), National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Supporting safe and inclusive physical activity spaces for LGBTQ+ young people 2023-24
Winpenny, E National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Understanding needs and co-developing a workplace intervention to support healthy lifestyle behaviours in young adults 2023-24

Powell, K 

Grantham Centre Go Fund Activism for Planetary Health and Equity 2023
Goyder, E Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team (PHIRST), National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Evaluation of the Nottinghamshire Healthy Families Programme Parent Infant Relationship Initiative 2022-23
Fairbrother, H Research England Connect and Reflect: bringing together academics interested in participatory research with children 2022
Goyder, E Public Health Research, National Institute for Health Research Evidence review of the impact of housing insecurity on the health and wellbeing of children and young people 2022
Fairbrother, H School for Public Health Research, National Institute for Health Research

Enabling children and young people’s involvement in whole system action to reduce inequalities in the social determinants of health

2020-22
Jago, R & Campbell, R School for Public Health Research, National Institute for Health Research Creating a Health Research Network to improve young people's mental health and well-being 2020-22
Fairbrother, H & DeVocht, F Public Health Practice Evaluation Scheme, School for Public Health Research, National Institute for Health Research Evaluating the Digital Health Contact service 2020-21
Kipping, R., Powell, K. and Fairbrother, H. School for Public Health Research, National Institute for Health Research Exploring the policy context for reducing health inequalities among children and young people 2019-20
Summerbell, C., Wistow, J., Powell, K. and Fairbrother, H. School for Public Health Research, National Institute for Health Research Mapping the child health system at a local level to reduce health inequalities 2019-20
Salami, B. Worldwide Universities Network African Child and Youth Wellbeing in the Context of Migration and Displacement 2019-20
Fairbrother, H ESRC Festival of the Social Sciences Last orders: why might young people be drinking less alcohol? 2018
Thompson, J Migration Matters Festival Hidden Voices: The Health Experiences of Migrant Children by Abdulazez Dukan 2018
Holmes, J Wellcome Trust Why is youth alcohol consumption failing?  A mixed methods investigation of changing drinking cultures across recent generations. 2018-2022
Fairbrother, H & Thompson, J Worldwide Universities Network Hidden Voices: Exploring the health experiences of children who migrate. 2016-2017
Swallow, V White Rose Fostering and sustaining UK multidisciplinary family-focused care across the life-course: A White Rose collaboration in long-term condition management 2016
Blank, L Joseph Rowntree Foundation Relationship between poverty and stress, low level anxiety and depression across the life course 2015-2016
Fairbrother, H Impact, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (IIKE) University of Sheffield, All About Me: making sense of health messages in a hands-on exhibition space 2015
Fairbrother, H Research Exchange for the Social Sciences (RESS), University of Sheffield All About Collaboration: co-producing impact with a community partner 2015
Teaching activities

I am committed to promoting educational equity and my approach to teaching is guided by a desire to create meaningful, engaging and constructively aligned programmes of learning to enable students from a wide variety of backgrounds to thrive in Higher Education and beyond.

I enjoy teaching and endeavour to integrate learning from and enthusiasm for my research into my teaching practice. I teach both undergraduate and postgraduate students using face-to-face, distance and blended learning modes.

I lead the Public Health strand of our teaching across our suite of Nursing courses. I am currently involved in teaching related to the Social Determinants of Health, Health Inequalities, Health Promotion and Literature reviewing. I have a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and have been awarded the Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.

Professional activities and memberships