Our Research

Research with real impact and benefits to our local, national, and global communities.

A profile of an anatomical model of a human head

Our research effort is a dynamic and growing part of who we are. It is grouped into three themes: Experimental Medicine (ExpMed), Interdisciplinary network for culture, health, ethics and society (INCHES), Centre for Health Informatics, Computing and Statistics (CHICAS).

Research themes

  • Experimental Medicine (ExpMed)

    Research that aims to have patient benefit in the future but is either fundamental in approaches to mechanism identification, and/or at the early stages of translational research. May include but is not limited to: musculoskeletal conditions and ageing, physical activity, basic biology of diseases including cancer, exploratory research.

  • Interdisciplinary network for culture, health, ethics and society (INCHES)

    Research that aims to improve people’s lives by considering patterns and experiences of health. Researchers in the group investigate healthcare practices, cultures and policies in various contexts, using social science and humanities based methods.

  • Centre for Health Informatics, Computing and Statistics (CHICAS)

    CHICAS research focus is on statistical and epidemiological methods and their implementation in open-source software. We have long-standing expertise in spatial and spatio-temporal methods, population health data research, infectious disease modelling and design of field studies. CHICAS has been designated as the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Geostatistical Methods for Neglected Tropical Disease Research.

Faculty research areas

Research groups in Lancaster Medical School work closely with our colleagues in the rest of the Faculty of Health and Medicine to address the Faculty's core research themes. To find out more, please visit the Faculty theme below.

Research supervisors

We pride ourselves on shaping the next generation of researchers. The training and support of our students is fundamental to the department and our PhD programmes are at the centre of our research community.

Find a supervisor
Group of researchers at Lancaster

Active Research

The Medical School is involved in numerous research projects and activities.

  • Prehabilitation and Perioperative Medicine Research

    We are a group of researchers and clinicians interested in different facets around surgery: aspects before, during and after surgery. Our research focuses both on those who access surgery and surgeons who deliver surgery.

Athena SWAN

The Athena Swan Silver Award recognises our commitment to advancing the careers of women in higher education and research.

Athena SWAN

Latest Medical School News

An ivory object, assumed to be of Asian elephant origin, under the microscope inside a Renishaw in Via Raman microspectrometer

Laser technology offers breakthrough in detecting illegal ivory

A new way of quickly distinguishing between illegal elephant ivory and legal mammoth tusk ivory could prove critical to fighting the illegal ivory trade. 
Award winner Dr Steven Hall has also been invited to attend the CSPT annual conference in Ottawa

Award for Lancaster research into repurposed drugs for snakebites

Lancaster researcher Dr Steven Hall has won an award from the Canadian Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics for the best paper of the year.
From left: Vishnu Chandrabalan, Dale Kirkwood, Quinta Ashcroft, Dame Julie Moore of HDR UK and Tim Howcroft

Health Data Research UK Team of the Year Award

Two Lancaster University Professors are among a Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Data Science team which has won an award from Health Data Research UK (HDR UK).
Covid virus

AI in action: predicting hospital outbreaks with statistical precision

Statisticians at Lancaster use cutting-edge AI algorithm to predict outbreaks of infectious diseases within hospitals.
The presentation was titled ‘Evaluating the Nutrition and Body Mass Index Clinical Link Pathway (NBMI CLiP) in Mental Health and Learning Disability Services: A Mixed-Methods Study’

First place for poster presentation at Faculty of Academic Psychiatry Conference

A poster presentation co-authored by a Lancaster medical student has been awarded first place at the Faculty of Academic Psychiatry Conference 2024.
Dr Thomas Keegan

Lancaster epidemiologist on longlist for 2023 Ideas Prize

Dr Thomas Keegan from Lancaster University has been chosen as one of 10 potential authors by the judges of the Profile Books and Alexander Aitken Ideas Prize 2023.

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