Human Nutrition Research Centre

Staff Profile

Dr Steph Scott

Senior Research Associate

Background

Steph Scott is an NIHR ARC Senior Research Fellow based at Newcastle University. She is a social scientist with inter-disciplinary expertise across applied public health, sociology and criminology. Steph holds a Trustee role with the charity NE Youth and is an EDI representative for Outreach and Comms within Newcastle University’s Faculty of Medical Sciences. Steph has secured research income with a total value of over £3.7 million, most recently including the award of a prestigious ESRC New Investigator grant. Her research interests include marginalisation, stigma and health inequalities, particularly in relation to justice-involved families, young people, vulnerable populations and those experiencing multiple, complex needs. Methodologically, Steph is a highly experienced qualitative researcher with particular expertise in advanced qualitative skills such as longitudinal methods, co-produced data collection and analysis and visual or creative methodologies such as diary elicitation.

She has taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with teaching and module leadership expertise in research methods (qualitative, mixed methods) as well as in applied public health (social determinants of health, health inequalities) and sociological and criminological theory. Steph has experience of Programme Leadership, having acted in this capacity for all undergraduate Criminology and Sociology programmes (2019/2020) at Teesside University. During this academic post, she also developed and validated the ESRC accredited MSc Social Research Methods programme (Social Policy and Criminology) for 2018/2019.

Dr Scott is an associate member of Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, involved in several NIHR SPHR research programmes and a named collaborator for the NIHR NENC ARC. Current work focuses on: young people’s experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic; emotional wellbeing, health and health inequalities in children and young people with an incarcerated family member; the impact of stigma on the health of marginalised groups; vaccine inequalities; prison food environments; food insecurity amongst those experiencing severe mental illness; and first-time offenders of domestic violence and abuse.


Research

Research Income (total >£3.7 million, £331,111 as PI)

  • PI: ‘Divided Households’ - Exploring emotional wellbeing, health and health inequalities in children and young people with an incarcerated family member: developing a child-centred, rights-based framework for prison social visits. £299,739, Funder: ESRC New Investigator funding stream (awarded December 2021; due to begin June 2022)
  • Co-I: Acid Attacks in North East England: A Victim-Centred Perspective. £45,756, Funder: NIHR NENC ARC Open Funding (awarded November 2021; due to begin March 2022, includes £60,000 match funding, total value: £105,756)
  • Co-I: The impact of Covid-19 measures on Criminal Exploitation and Serious Violence (CESV) in vulnerable communities, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. £52,000, Funder: ADDER Accelerator underspend (£32k LA, £20k police grants).
  • Co-I: A national evaluation of Project Cautioning And Relationship Abuse (‘CARA’) awareness raising workshops for first time offenders of domestic violence and abuse. £387,000, Funder: NIHR ARC National Programme for Health and Care Inequalities (2021-2023)
  • Co-I: A mixed methods study using co-production to explore food insecurity in adults with Severe Mental Illness living in Northern England. £148,657, Funder: NIHR Research for Patient Benefit - Mental Health in the North (2021-2023)
  • PI: Exploring Prison Food Environments: Mapping Priorities for the Improvement of Food Standards and Diet Quality. £7,250, Funder: Wellcome Trust ISSF Small Grant Scheme (2021-2022)
  • PI: Understanding community aid responses to the coronavirus pandemic: a qualitative exploration of how communities in North East England have mobilised to tackle food insecurity. £3,521, Funder: Catherine Cookson Foundation (2020-2021)
  • PI: ‘Lockdown Life NE’: Exploring young people’s experiences of social distancing during the covid-19 pandemic: a qualitative diary-based study using digital and mobile technologies. £15,470, Funder: NE Youth / NU Covid-19 Research Fund / Tilly Hale Fund (2020-2021)
  • Co-I: Planning, Hot Food Takeaways & COVID-19: perceptions of the impact of regulations on access to healthy food environments. £15,000, Funder: Public Health England (2021-2022, includes £3,109 match funding from NENC NIHR ARC, total value: £18,109)
  • Co-I: An exploration of social deprivation and public attitudes in North East England and North Cumbria towards bystander cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (BCPR). £49,975, Funder: NIHR ARC Open Funding (2020-2022)
  • Co-I: Enabling children and young people’s involvement in whole system action to reduce inequalities in the social determinants of health. £760,907.82, Funder: NIHR SPHR (2020-2022)
  • Co-I: Child health system evaluation project: Integrated Care Systems and Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships £534,694.30, Funder: NIHR SPHR (2020-2022)
  • Co-I: Youth Endowment Fund Capacity building Grant: £49,965 (2020)
  • Co-I: Developing and piloting mental health campaign to reduce stigma in Trailblazer schools. Funder: NHS England’s Northern England Clinical Networks (NECN) £20,000 (2019-2020)
  • Co-I: Behavioural Insights Study: To improve uptake of support for services for Drug and Alcohol misuse in Hartlepool and to reduce prevalence in children and young people. £48, 555.82; Funder: Hartlepool Borough Council (2018-2019)
  • Co-I: FOrwaRD: Is there a role for dually focused intervention in young adults (18-25) to tackle unhealthy eating and heaving drinking and effectively reduce future health inequalities? £255, 000; Funder: Public Health Research Consortium (2016-2018)
  • PI: Socio-ecological influences on adolescent alcohol use and linked unhealthy eating behaviours: systematic review and synthesis of qualitative studies. £5, 131; Funder: Fuse (2016-2018)
  • Co-I: IDEA: Identifying and Describing Alcohol Frames. £18,500; Funder: Cancer Research UK (2015-2017)
  • Co-I: A multi-centre cluster-randomised controlled trial of screening and brief alcohol intervention to prevent risky drinking in young people aged 14-15 in a high school setting (SIPS JR-HIGH). £897,061; Funder: NIHR-PHRP (2015-2017)
  • Co-I: Examining the evidence base for alcohol screening and brief interventions in the UK prison system. £20,000; Funder: Public Health England (2014)
  • Post and research core-funded by an ESRC Case PhD Studentship (Exploring Industry Driven Influences on Young People who Drink Alcohol; 2008-2012)

 

Projects Supported by NIHR NENC ARC:

  • The SAILS project: evaluating embedded mental health provision within supported housing for young adults aged 18-25 (as PI; in partnership with Gateshead Council)
  • Marginalisation and Health-Related Stigma: a qualitative systematic review and meta-ethnography (as PI)
  • COVID-19 impact on youth mental health and wellbeing from a European perspective: a qualitative systematic review (as Co-I)
  • COVID-19 Health Inequalities Impact Assessment for the North East (as Co-I, in partnership with PHE and VONNE)

 

Teaching

Teaching and Learning Experience:

·        Module instructor for Public Policy, Health & Health Inequalities (PGT) (2020 to present, Newcastle University)

·        Programme Lead for all undergraduate Criminology and Sociology Programmes (2019-2020, Teesside University)

·        Programme Lead for MSc Social Research Methods (Criminology and Social Policy) (2018-19, Teesside University)

·        Module leader for Are we doing youth justice (Level 6) (2017-2020, Teesside University)

·        Module leader for Contemporary Criminological Theory (Masters level) (2017-18, Teesside University)

·        Module leader for Making Sense of Society (Sociological Theory) (Level 4) (2017-18, Teesside University)

·        Module leader for Principles of Sociology (Level 4) (2019-2020, Teesside University)

·        Module tutor for Crime and Justice (Level 5) (2017-18, Teesside University)

·        Module tutor for Inside Out (Level 6) (2017-2020, Teesside University)

·        Module tutor for Further qualitative methods (Masters level) (2010-2017, Newcastle University)

 

PhD Supervision:

·        Bell Z (start date: 2018) A qualitative exploration of the social determinants of food insecurity and its nutritional impact amongst women and children in the North East of England (Gateshead) (ongoing; ESRC Nine DTP; fourth supervisor)

·        Raby P (start date: 2018) Exploring health care staffs’ experience of delivering care in the prison environment (ongoing; funded by Teesside University; third supervisor)

·        Hopwood S (start date: 2018) Impact of insecure immigration status on access to domestic abuse refuge provision in the North East of England (ongoing; DTA PhD studentship; third supervisor)

·        Mark Adley (start date: 2021, funded by NIHR NENC ARC; ongoing; second supervisor)


Publications