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Mr Lee Knifton

Reader In Public Health & Health Policy

Social Work and Social Policy

Contact

Personal statement

I Joined Strathclyde in 2011 and my expertise is in public mental health. My contributions include:

  • In 2014 I co-founded The Centre for Health Policy, with Prof Neil Quinn, and now lead with Prof Kat Smith. The Centre connects academics across the university to develop research and knowledge exchange initiatives.
  • In 2016 I jointly established our International Centre for Doctoral Training, with Yale Medical School and New York University, funded with the NHS we have successfully supported a cohort of 7 PhD students
  • Secured research grants from the NHS, Scottish Government, Police Scotland, European Union & several charities.
  • Led research collaborations with our International Strategic Partner New York University.
  • I maintain collaborations with a range of national and international organisations to enable knowledge exchange and policy impact.
  • Joint Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Mental Health, - previously led special editions with partners including the WHO.
  • Co-Edited 'Public Mental Health: Global Perspectives' (2014).        Ìý“It should be read by businessmen, teachers and politicians as much as by clinicians" (Prof Lord Layard)

My academic role is part-time and my primary role is as Director of Research for the Mental Health Foundation, the UK's leading charity for mentla health research and policy and collaborate extensively with governments and national and international universities.

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Publications

Journal of Public Mental Health Vol 25, pp. 1-2 (2026)
Journal of Public Mental Health Vol 24, pp. 185-186 (2025)
Hough Mike, , Wenham Andrew
(2025)
, Boardman Jed
Public Mental Health Conference (joint conference between UK Royal College Psychiatrists and Faculty of Public Health). (2025)
Hunter Simon, Groot Chris, Rehm Imogen, Findlay Jo,
Stigma and Health (2025)
Inglis Greig, Sosu Edward, , Witteveen Isabel, Jenkins Pamela,
International Journal of Social Psychiatry Vol 71, pp. 554-563 (2024)

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Professional Activities

Speaker
5/6/2025
Guest editor
2025
Invited speaker
30/5/2024
Advisor
2024
Advisor
2024
Chair
13/9/2023

Projects

Knifton, Lee (Principal Investigator) Cameron, Julie (Principal Investigator) Solomon, Susan (Principal Investigator)
An in depth qualitative study in cities across the UK to understand how racism affects mental health and how communities can counter this, undertaken through participatory methods.
01-Jan-2025
Cogan, Nicola (Principal Investigator) Parra Rodriguez, Mario (Principal Investigator) Fleming, Leanne (Principal Investigator) Quinn, Neil (Principal Investigator) Tse, Dwight (Principal Investigator) Knifton, Lee (Principal Investigator) McCann, Lisa (Principal Investigator) Maguire, Roma (Principal Investigator) Smith, Matthew (Principal Investigator) Graham, Christopher Darryl (Principal Investigator) Grealy, Madeleine (Principal Investigator) Stephen, Susan (Principal Investigator) Weir, Natalie Mcfadyen (Principal Investigator) Donnachie, Craig (Principal Investigator) Cameron, Julie (Principal Investigator) Kane, Tony (Co-investigator) Lakey, Trevor (Academic) Donovan, Kevin (Fellow)
This Engage with Strathclyde event is aimed at all those with an interest in mental health including people with lived experience, NHS and social care personnel and staff, occupational health and human resource management staff, student support services, university student and staff, academics, private and public sector and other personnel interested in mental health research and knowledge exchange.


12-Jan-2023 - 12-Jan-2023
Quinn, Neil (Principal Investigator) Knifton, Lee (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2022 - 30-Jan-2025
Knifton, Lee (Principal Investigator) Cameron, Julie (Principal Investigator)
Scotland's largest study of college student and staff mental health (2,000) supported by The Robertson Trust, Colleges Scotland and The Scottish Government
01-Jan-2022 - 30-Jan-2022
Knifton, Lee (Principal Investigator) Cameron, Julie (Principal Investigator)
One of the largest and most significant studies of university student mental health that has ever taken place in the UK. 15,000 students from across Scotland's Universities shared their experiences of mental health and wellbeing - good and bad - at a time when they have also had to deal with the stresses of COVID-19. Despite the unprecedented circumstances students engaged with us and we have a great response rate which gives us real confidence in the findings. We can clearly see that there are profound challenges across all of our universities for student mental health. Equally, the study also highlights inequalities in mental health and wellbeing within our student populations
01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2021
Cogan, Nicola (Principal Investigator) Williams, Damien (Research Co-investigator) Chau, Chin-Van Yvonne (Researcher) Eckler, Petya (Co-investigator) Swinson, Nicola (Co-investigator) Hunter, Simon (Co-investigator) Knifton, Lee (Co-investigator) Lindon, Will (Co-investigator) Russell, Kirsten (Co-investigator)
A mixed methods collaborative project exploring the impact of images of knives seized by Police Scotland on adults in Scotland.
14-Jan-2020 - 01-Jan-2022

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Contact

Mr Lee Knifton
Reader In Public Health & Health Policy
Social Work and Social Policy

Email: lee.knifton@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3615