Research
We strive to provide robust evidence on the health, health equity and cost impacts of population interventions
Our aim
SHINE is both a research program and a consulting service for the government and other agencies. The aim of SHINE is to provide robust evidence on the health, health equity, and cost impacts of population interventions, through causal inference and sophisticated simulation approaches from epidemiology, economics, and data science.
SHINE strives to be able to quantify the impact of (virtually) any intervention on health, health inequalities, health expenditure and income-earning potential of the population. Answering these questions is vital to forecasting the impact of a range of interventions and optimising policymaking for best value for money. We aim to answer questions like:
"when applied to the population, how much health gain will intervention X achieve compared to intervention Y? Over what time period? At what cost?"
How we do research
We both lead projects and collaborate with other researchers. Projects we lead include COVID-19 policy modelling, a range of tobacco control projects, and the (necessary) methodological research we pioneer to build ‘next generation’ simulation modelling. Projects we collaborate on include Healthy Housing and Tobacco Endgame interventions – both as part of NHMRC Centres of Research Excellence
Do your PhD with us
The Population Interventions Unit and Scalable Health Intervention Evaluation program (SHINE) has a PhD position available commencing early 2023. The PhD research project will assess the health gain and health inequality impacts of housing interventions. Click the link below to learn more and apply.
Research highlights
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COVID-19 Policy Options
During the pandemic we have updated our Pandemic Tradeoffs website and tools for contemporary modelling on ‘best’ policy options.
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Tobacco Control Interventions
We have a suite of tobacco modelling, ranging from that funded by the NZ Ministry of Health to underpin their world-leading Action Plan to research with the Tobacco Endgame Centre of Research Excellence.
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Dietary Interventions
We have an extensive history of dietary intervention modelling in NZ, Australian and the UK – that with next generation SHINE modelling we will ‘refresh’ and extend in collaboration with other research groups.
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Housing Interventions
We are mapping out the likely health benefits of interventions to reduce cold and mouldy housing, and quantifying the impact of housing standards for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations and the Australian population generally.