Staff profile

I joined the Department as a Research Fellow in 2007, working on the 'Comparative analysis of how local system factors affect progress tackling health inequalities' research project, having previously combined working as a local government officer with postgraduate research. Since then my research has developed in three fields: health inequalities; climate change adaptation; and post-industrialism and class. In each of these areas I have a strong interest in the application of complexity theory to policy and governance systems and how the political economy functions relative to these. For example, my interest in health inequalities centres on the implications of both methodological and ideological framings for how this issue is understood and addressed. My research in this area focuses on the application of both complexity theory and qualitative comparative analysis to health inequalities and links to broader debates about governance and public policy implementation. 

I recently completed a book called Social Policy, Political Economy and the Social Contract that ties together a range of diverse but related research interests that I have developed throughout my academic career, through employing complexity and social contract theory to understand the trajectory of the political economy and its interrelationship with policy. I also recently had a book published on Levelling Up the UK Economy: The need for transformative change with Luke Telford.  I am now working on research with Durham County Council's Public Health team on the wider determinants of health and am involved in collaborations around the impact of air pollution on brain health, social prescribing and the social determinants of health, and spatial disparities.  With colleagues at Durham we are beginning to develop an agenda around dirsupting place-based social complexities and are seeking collaborators.

I previously worked as a researcher on the Built Infrastructure for Older People's Care in Conditions of Climate Change (BIOPICCC) project. This project focused on developing research strategies to help ensure that the infrastructures and systems supporting the health and social care for older people (aged 65 and over) will be sufficiently resilient to withstand harmful impacts of climate change in the future, up to 2050. A key output was the BIOPICCC Toolkit https://www.dur.ac.uk/geography/research/researchprojects/biopiccc/toolkit/comprising online resources to assist local authorities, partner organisations, and neighbourhood and community groups to undergo the process of cross sectoral local level resilience planning. 

I was a Teaching Fellow in the Department between September 2012 and June 2015, acting as module convenor for the Sociology of Social Exclusion (level 2) and Policy Related Evaluation and Research (Level 4) modules. I also taught the level 3 Urban Studies module in SASS in 2010/11. Since July 2015 I was appointed as a lecturer in the Department and have added the Social Policy Level 3 and Level 4 modules to my teaching portfolio alongside teaching on the Work and Professions and Health and Place level 3 modules.

• Health inequalities
• Place-based policy and governance systems
• Complexity theory
• Political economy
• Social contract theory
• Climate change adaptation and resilience
• Qualitative comparative analysis

Authored book

• Wistow, J. (2022). Social Policy, Political Economy and the Social Contract. Policy Press
• Wistow, J., Blackman, T., Byrne, D., & Wistow, G. (2015). Studying Health Inequalities: An Applied Approach. Policy Press

Chapter in book

• Oven, K., Wistow, J., & Curtis, S. Older people and climate change: Vulnerability and resilience to extreme weather in England. In L. Reyes Mason, & J. Rigg (Eds.), People and climate change: Vulnerability, adaptation and social justice (68-86). Oxford University Press

Journal Article

• Griffin, N., Wistow, J., Fairbrother, H., Holding, E., Sirisena, M., Powell, K., & Summerbell, C. (2022). An analysis of English national policy approaches to health inequalities: ‘transforming children and young people’s mental health provision’ and its consultation process. BMC Public Health, 22(1), Article 1084. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13473-6
• Holding, E., Fairbrother, H., Griffin, N., Wistow, J., Powell, K., & Summerbell, C. (2021). Exploring the local policy context for reducing health inequalities in children and young people: an in depth qualitative case study of one local authority in the North of England, UK. BMC Public Health, 21(1), Article 887. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10782-0
• Griffin, N., Phillips, S. M., Hillier‑Brown, F., Wistow, J., Fairbrother, H., Holding, E., …Summerbell, C. (2021). A critique of the English national policy from a social determinants of health perspective using a realist and problem representation approach: the ‘Childhood Obesity: a plan for action’ (2016, 2018, 2019). BMC Public Health, 21, Article 2284. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-12364-6
• Telford, L., & Wistow, J. (2020). Brexit and the working class on Teesside: Moving beyond reductionism. Capital & Class, 44(4), 553-572. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309816819873310
• Matheson, A., Walton, M., Gray, R., Wehipeihana, N., & Wistow, J. (2020). Strengthening prevention in communities through systems change: lessons from the evaluation of Healthy Families NZ. Health Promotion International, 35(5), 947-957. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daz092
• McGowan, V., Wistow, J., Lewis, S., Popay, J., & Bambra, C. (2019). Pathways to mental health improvement in a community-led area-based empowerment initiative: Evidence from the Big Local ‘Communities in Control’ study, England. Journal of Public Health, 41(4), 850-857. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy192
• Curtis, S., Oven, K., Wistow, J., Dunn, C., & Dominelli, L. (2018). Adaptation to extreme weather events in complex health and social care systems: The example of older people’s services in England. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 36(1), 67-91. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654417695101
• Curtis, S., Fair, A., Wistow, J., Val, D. V., & Oven, K. (2017). Impact of extreme weather events and climate change for health and social care systems. Environmental Health, 16(S1), Article 128. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-017-0324-3
• Wistow, J., Curtis, S., & Bone, A. (2017). Implementing extreme weather event advice and guidance in English public health systems. Journal of Public Health, 39(3), 498-505. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdw094
• Cairns, J., Wistow, J., & Bambra, C. (2017). Making the case for qualitative comparative analysis in geographical research: a case study of health resilience. Area, 49(3), 369-376. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12327
• Wistow, J., Dominelli, L., Oven, K., Dunn, C., & Curtis, S. (2015). The role of formal and informal networks in supporting older people's care during extreme weather events. Policy and Politics, 43(1), 119-135. https://doi.org/10.1332/030557312x655855
• Warren, J., Wistow, J., & Bambra, C. (2014). Applying qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) in public health: a case study of a health improvement service for long-term incapacity benefit recipients. Journal of Public Health, 36(1), 126-133. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdt047
• Warren, J., Wistow, J., & Bambra, C. (2013). Applying Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to evaluate a public health policy initiative in the North East of England. Policy and Society, 32(4), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polsoc.2013.10.002
• Blackman, T., Wistow, J., & Byrne, D. (2013). Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis to understand complex policy problems. Evaluation, 19(2), https://doi.org/10.1177/1356389013484203
• Blackman, T., Wistow, J., & Byrne, D. (2011). A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Factors Associated with Narrowing Health Inequalities in England. Social Science & Medicine, 72(12), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.04.003

Report

• Chapman, T., Mawson, J., Robinson, F., & Wistow, J. (2018). How to Work Effectively with the Third Sector. A discussion paper for public sector organisations. [No known commissioning body]
• Curtis, S., Fair, A., Wistow, J., Val, D., & Oven, K. (2015). Impact of extreme weather events and climate change for health and social care systems. [No known commissioning body]