Leadership for Healthy People and Planet is a partnership between Queen's University Belfast’s Centre for Public Health and Involve. Together, we’re working to accelerate integrated action on health and the environment in Northern Ireland.
In September 2023, we convened a diverse group of researchers, health professionals, community organisations, activists, policymakers and members of the public, including older people most affected by environmental risks. Through a series of three workshops in Belfast, we explored what’s working, what isn’t, and how we can combine efforts across sectors to deliver healthier, more sustainable places for people of all ages.
Background
Queen’s University Belfast is leading research into how the environments we live in shape our health and cognitive function as we age. Poor air quality, limited green space, traffic congestion, noise and other pollutants contribute to chronic illness and cognitive decline - impacts that hit hardest in areas of deprivation, widening health inequalities. These are complex problems with equally complex solutions.
Improving the environments that surround us - better public transport, high-quality green spaces, warm and safe homes - has benefits that ripple across public health, ageing, planning, community wellbeing and climate resilience.
When we work together, we can tackle multiple challenges at once, saving money and resources while creating healthier, more liveable places.
Our Approach
The workshops formed a participatory process to map the interconnected issues and the policies and organisations that shape them. Together, participants explored:
- Where progress is being made, and where it is stalled
- Opportunities to align efforts across health, ageing, planning and environmental agendas
- Practical actions that deliver multiple benefits for people and planet
Next, participants collaboratively shaped a set of policy recommendations that set out what it will take to shift outcomes at scale. These will support government and other partners to work in common cause - designing solutions that solve more than one problem at a time.
Researchers at Queen’s will use these recommendations to develop a White Paper that can drive meaningful local action on this urgent agenda.To find out more, go to https://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/space/
You can download the full report below.