Dr Faraz Ahmed

Lecturer in Health Inequalities

Profile

Faraz Ahmed is a Lecturer in Health Inequalities in the Division of Health Research at Lancaster University. His research focuses on inequalities in access to health and care, particularly in relation to ethnicity and minoritised communities, mental health, learning disability, ageing and dementia.His work uses quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods approaches to understand how health and care systems can better respond to populations experiencing inequalities in access, experience and outcomes. A particular strand of his research concerns the inclusion of minoritised ethnic communities in health research and the development of sustained relationships with communities, voluntary-sector organisations and people with lived experience.Faraz is a Co-Investigator on the NIHR Mental Health Research Group infrastructure programme at Lancaster University, where his contribution spans the Voice with Impact and Physical Activity streams. He leads the South Asian contribution to Voice with Impact and works with South Asian and refugee communities, co-researchers and voluntary-sector partners to strengthen the involvement of minoritised communities within mental health research.He is also co-Investigator on a programme of research at the intersection of learning disability, self-harm and inequalities through two linked NIHR Three Schools Prevention Programme awards. This includes research examining suicide and self-harm among adults with learning disabilities and a subsequent mixed-methods study of peer support as a preventive approach, for which he leads the quantitative workstream.Other recent work includes research on access to social farms for people living with dementia, including people from South Asian communities, and inequalities in ageing. In 2025, he was invited by the Northern Health Science Alliance/Health Equity North to lead the ethnicity analysis and chapter of Ageing in the North. The report was launched at Westminster and subsequently informed wider policy-facing discussion. Alongside his funded research, Faraz has a substantial role in postgraduate researcher development and supervision. His research and supervision span health inequalities, health services, mental health, ageing and related areas.

Research Overview

My research focuses on inequalities in access to health and care, with particular interests in ethnicity and minoritised communities, mental health, learning disability, ageing and dementia. I use quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods approaches to examine how health and care systems respond to populations experiencing inequalities in access, experience and outcomes. Increasingly, my research involves collaborative programmes combining methodological research with sustained involvement of communities, voluntary-sector organisations and people with lived experience. Current work includes mental health inequalities, suicide and self-harm among people with learning disabilities, peer support, and the inclusion of South Asian and refugee communities within health research.

Additional Information

My work combines health-inequalities and health-services perspectives with quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods and evidence-synthesis approaches. I have particular expertise in research involving ethnicity and minoritised communities and in developing approaches that enable community and lived-experience perspectives to inform research design, interpretation and dissemination.

My current collaborative research spans mental health inequalities, learning disability and self-harm, ageing and dementia, and inequalities in access to health and care. Across these areas, I am particularly interested in how evidence can be developed with communities and translated into research priorities, policy discussion and health and care practice.