About us

Brunel’s Centre for Health and Wellbeing across the Lifecourse (CHWL) draws together researchers in welfare, ageing, rehabilitation, public health, and health economics to address complex health challenges from early life to older age.

We work  in partnership with communities, services, and policy partners to generate evidence that improves practice, informs policy, and reduces inequalities in health and wellbeing in the UK and internationally.

Main research aims

Bringing together some of Brunel’s most active and inventive social and health science researchers we examine how political, economic, and sociocultural contexts shape health and wellbeing across the lifecourse. We place particular emphasis on ageing, rehabilitation, welfare systems, and inequalities.

Our values and approach

The centre’s work spans the full methodological spectrum, from laboratory-based analysis of movement, physiology, and rehabilitation to large scale secondary data analysis, economic evaluation, and the monitoring and evaluation of complex interventions. We are distinguished by our commitment to co-creation and meaningful patient and public involvement, ensuring that lived experience shapes the research questions we ask and the interventions we design, test, and refine. We develop and apply innovative methods, including sensory and visual approaches, and create evidence-based decision support tools for policymakers, researchers and wider stakeholders (e.g. http://equipt.eu).

Key objectives

Research excellence within the CHWL is framed by three key objectives directly reflecting Brunel’s 2030 Research Strategy through the priority and strategic ‘Health’ challenge and wider UK societal challenges and sustainable development goals focused on ageing, and health and wellbeing by:

• leading innovation in open research, education and training, and knowledge exchange for the health and wellbeing benefit of societies in the UK and globally
• developing interdisciplinary approaches to understandings of health and wellbeing in the life-course in UK and international contexts
• increasing the quality and relevance of academic and non-academic partnerships, including multi-sectoral collaborations for public engagement which have both UK and global relevance.