DEPTH research group

The DEPTH research group uses interdisciplinary approaches to health research to promote health and equity. Our work spans a wide range of topics and settings including sexual and reproductive health, health services quality improvement, health promotion, and the lived experiences of people navigating health systems – from young people with sickle cell in the UK to refugees with disabilities in Uganda.

At the heart of the group's work is the DEPTH framework for knowledge co-production, a collaborative approach that centres expertise and perspectives of communities, and brings together diverse groups including policymakers, programme designers, clinicians, and - most importantly - community experts with lived experience and knowledge of the setting and topic. The framework has been applied across diverse populations, geographies, and research designs.

Our work is interdisciplinary, intersectional, informed by theory, co-produced, and designed for real-world impact.

DEPTH was founded at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and is now based within the Interdisciplinary Research in Health Sciences (IRIHS) unit at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford.

Research themes

Current projects

• Lived-experience researchers navigating co-production in academic health research
  Bakita Kasadha · Funded by NIHR
• Impact of telemedicine on abortion accessibility and equitable provision in England and Wales
  Rebecca Blaylock · Funded by NIHR and Wellbeing of Women
• Sexual and reproductive health and rights among refugees with disabilities in Kampala and Bidi Bidi, Uganda
  Casey-Lynn Crow
• Lived experiences of sexuality among young people with disabilities in China
  Weiqi Han
• Co-produced community action for cervical cancer screening (Act4CC): a randomised controlled trial in rural Cameroon
  Ania Wisniak

Past projects (examples)

The DEPTH approach has been developed through a wide range of projects spanning public health, health services, sexual and reproductive health, and methodological studies.

• Routes: new ways to talk about Covid-19 for better health
  Funded by DHSC
• This Sickle Cell Life: voices and experiences of young people with sickle cell
  Funded by NIHR
• Understanding contraceptive use among women in Accra, Ghana
  Funded by DFID
• The sixteen18 project: sexual practices of young people
  Funded by ESRC
• Nepal Family Planning Programme evaluation
  Funded by DFID-GEFA
• Reproductive oppression and reproductive autonomy of girls and young women in Kenya
  Erin Hartman
• Participation, accountability and maternal deaths among communities in northern Kenya
  Mary Mbuo · Funded by Wellcome Trust
• Young people's lived experiences and perceptions of sexuality in Dhaka, Bangladesh
  Prima Alam · Funded by ESRC

Past consortia

• CLAHRC for Northwest London
• ACCESS (Improving sexual and reproductive health and rights in complex and challenging environments)

Previous work

For the group's earlier work, see the DEPTH pages at LSHTM.