Skip to main content

Staff Profile

Professor Suzanne Moffatt

Professor of Social Gerontology

  • Email: [email protected]
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5005
  • Address: Population Health Sciences Institute
    Faculty of Medical Sciences
    Newcastle University
    Baddiley Clark Building
    Richardson Road
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE2 4AX
Background

Introduction

I trained as a speech and language therapist, working in Newcastle upon Tyne, London and Mumbai before embarking on a post-doctoral research career in 1990. Until 2000, I worked on environmental epidemiology studies investigating the health of communities living near industry. Since 2000, I have researched on the topics of aging, social & health inequalities, welfare and social prescribing. My current and long-term interests are in the health and well-being of older people, the impact of changes to the welfare state, tackling health and social inequalities, evaluating the impact of social prescribing and applying research to policy and practice.

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) Ist Class, Speech Pathology & Therapy, University of Manchester, 1982
PhD University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1990
MsC Sociology Health & Health Care (Distinction) University College London, 2004

Memberships

British Society of Gerontology 




 

Research

Research Interests

My main research interests concern the health and well-being of older people, tackling poverty and social exclusion and the impact of changes to the welfare system on health and wellbeing. I have carried out extensive research into the impact of welfare rights advice on people over state retirement age and ethnic minority elders, funded by the Department of Health and Age Concern.

I am interested in methodological issues, particularly the integration of quantitative and qualitative methods, straddling the boundaries between epidemiology and sociology, particularly the limitations of quantitative and qualitative methods alone within public health research, as well as mixed methods research. I have considerable experience in involving participants and the wider public in research and have disseminated research findings to a wide range of academic and non-academic audiences and have published on this topic. As a result, a number of studies in which I have been engaged have influenced health and social policy.


Current and Recent Funding

NIHR Public Health Research (Call 16/122 Community groups and health promotion) 2018-2020, £517,932 Impact of a community based social prescribing intervention on people with type 2 diabetes in an ethnically diverse area of high socio-economic deprivation. Exploiting a natural experiment to evaluate effects on health and health care utilisation with economic assessment and ethnographic observation. Principal Investigator

 Centre for Ageing Better 2017-2018,£74,155, Evaluation of Transitions in Later Life (phase 2). Co-investigator (Principle Investigator, Dr Martin Hyde, Swansea University).

 Newcastle University Institute for Ageing and Institute for Social Renewal “Social Interactions of Ageing” 2017-2018, £16,978.78, Investigating intergenerational relations during austerity and following ‘Brexit’: a comparative study of Sunderland, Newcastle and Edinburgh. Principal Investigator.

 NIHR School for Public Health Research Public Health Practitioner Evaluation Scheme 2016-2017, £51,609, Ways to Wellness: feasibility study of the impact of a social prescribing intervention. Principal Investigator.

 Centre for Ageing Better 2016-2017,£48,950, Inequalities in Later Life – a scoping review. Co-investigator (PI Prof Tom Scharf, Newcastle University).

 Newcastle University Institute for Ageing 2016-2017, £9887, Can social prescribing maintain improved health among older chronically ill people? Principal Investigator.

 Public Health England, 2016-2017, £60,000, Northern Health Equity Review Network Healthier Lives and Fairer Lives in the North. Co-investigator (Principal Investigator, Prof Eileen Kaner, Newcastle University).

 Cabinet Office 2015-2016. £99,813. Evaluation of the Ways to Wellness Ltd Social Impact Bond. Principal Investigator.

 Chief Scientist Office Scotland, 2015-2017. £211,197 FInWell: Fair credit, health and wellbeing: eliciting the perspectives of low-income individuals.  Co-investigator. (Principle Investigator, Professor Cam Donaldson, Glasgow Caledonian University)



Teaching

Postgraduate Teaching

Contribute to MSc Public Health Modules

Degree Programme Director, MSc in Public Health and Health Services Research Module Leader for Health and Society Module. (2010-2014)

PHD Students

2018 Alison Jane, Impact of the roll out of Universal credit on health and wellbeing, School for Public Health Research

2017 Bethan Griffiths, Ethnography of Social Prescribing in Primary Care, funded by ESRC North-East Doctoral Training Centre ( 3 collaborative award)

2016 Tash Fothergill Misbah, Parkinson’s disease in sub Saharan Africa, funded by ESRC North-East Doctoral Training Centre (.5 3 collaborative award)

2016 Gemma Spiers, Exploring the relationship between social care and health care utilisation for older adults, funded by the NIHR School for Primary Care Research

2016 Hannah Merrick, The experiences of grandparenting children with special needs, funded by ESRC North-East Doctoral Training Centre ( 3 collaborative award)

2015 Joel Halligan, The impacts of welfare reform on income, health, wellbeing and diet: a mixed-methods study of a deprived area in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, funded by ESRC North-East Doctoral Training Centre (.5 3 collaborative award)

External Examiner

Southampton University MSc Gerontology, MSc Global Aging



Publications