SSM ECRs featuring… Will Ball!

Will Ball is a PhD Student at the School of Health & Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University and a Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen.

Will Ball

Edinburgh Napier University and University of Aberdeen

PhD Student and Research Fellow

SSM member since: 2020

SSM participation: Attended 2020 ASM, presented at 2021 ASM, contributed to SSM Newsletter organisation

Topics of interest: Health Inequalities, area deprivation, data linkage

What inspired you to pursue a career in public health?
I am a Registered Nurse by background and have witnessed the impacts of social and economic factors on health. As Nurses we are taught to advocate for our patients – I can’t think of a better way to do that than to help understand how health inequalities arise and what we can do to reduce them.
I think I naturally gravitate towards quantitative methods, but I see huge value in being able to tell a story with numbers. Before I became a Nurse I read ‘The 32 Stops’ by Danny Dorling and it really captured my imagination, especially as I was living in London at the time. I was also introduced to ‘The Spirit Level’ by Wilkinson & Pickett, which presented a compelling case for helping to explain health inequalities. The Spirit Level also enthused me because it seemed hopeful, and that we can change the way things are.

What excites you about working in research now?
I’m really excited about the way Open and Reproducible Research practices are being promoted and adopted now. They seem like such fundamental concepts for rigorous & progressive research and it’s very exciting to be developing as a young researcher in the current context.

I’m also excited by platforms like Twitter. Although it can often be a very negative place, there are huge benefits as well. I’ve had the opportunity to interact with and ‘meet’ like-minded researchers from around the world. I wouldn’t have had that sort of opportunity previously and I’m even beginning to collaborate with some of my virtual colleagues!

What area of social medicine/public health are you interested in?
My main research interests center around health inequalities, particularly in reference to area deprivation. I’m also interested in data linkage and the potential insights we can gain from greater accessibility of the wealth of data which is collected for research and administrative purposes.

Can you tell us a bit about a project you’re working on now?
I’m just about to submit my PhD thesis looking at self-rated health inequalities in British Nurses. It looks at the health of Nurses compared with the general population, as well as cross-national differences on the island of Great Britain.

I’m also a Research Fellow working as part of the Networked Data Lab (NDL), funded by The Health Foundation. The NDL brings together analytical groups from around the country to address issues in public and population health. This year we are exploring inequalities in access to children and young people’s mental health care.

What do you hope this will lead to?
As well as collaborating nationally, we’re working closely with our local NHS and council colleagues. We’re in the process of developing analytical code and tools which can be shared to help shape policy and service planning. We’re also developing new linkages of health and social records to look at datasets which haven’t previously been analysed together.

To keep up to date with Will, follow him on Twitter @WillBall12 or get in touch via email.

SSM ECR features is a new blog series that celebrates early career researchers. Each month we meet a member we admire, learn more about their work and find out what and who inspires them. To find out more visit socsocmed.org.uk/blog or email ecr.ssm@gmail.com.