Shona Hilton

I’m a Professor of Health Policy and Social Innovation working to address health disparities and create evidence-based solutions that drive real-world change. I'm interested in building meaningful partnerships that nurture innovative thinking and drive evidence into public policy and service improvement, with the goal of creating a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable society.

Over the years, I’ve contributed more than 140 scientific papers and several book chapters to the field of social and public health. My most recent book chapter explores policy networks and how commercial industries shape public policy discourses, contributing to the rising burden of non-communicable diseases.  I currently serve on editorial boards for leading journals including the International Journal for Qualitative Methods, BMC Public Health and PLOS One.  I also sit as a member of the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group Improving Scotland's Health and contribute as a panel member for various national and international grant funders.

My research spans both local and global health policy challenges. Here in Scotland, I play a leading role in the Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC-Glasgow), a six-year initiative funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (£5.3m). This project is focused on embedding a culture of evidence-informed policymaking across Glasgow City Council to address health inequalities. On a global scale, I led the SNAP-AMR project in Tanzania, funded by the MRC (£3.2m) which helped shape the country’s National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance. Building on this work, I’m now involved in the ARRIVe project, funded by the British Academy. This interdisciplinary project aims to address the high rates of neonatal hospital-acquired infections in Tanzania by developing, implementing and evaluating an AMR Information Toolkit for national roll-out.

Throughout my career collaboration has always been at the heart of my work, and I value connecting with others who share a commitment to improving health equity and fostering social innovation. If you’d like to learn more about my research, recent awards, or publications, please get in contact.

I'm an experienced qualitative researcher whose expertise lie in interdisciplinary research, working across policy systems, sectors and organisations to co-develop real-world interventions.  I have have strong capabilities in strategic management and academic leadership having served as Deputy Director of the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at the University of Glasgow for 9 years and having successfully won and led three 5-year MRC-funded research programmes.  

I enjoy working with students to support their learning and research journeys.  Over the years I've had the privilege of supervising MSc and PhD students, guiding them through the challenges and discoveries of their dissertations.  So far I have successfully supervised 12 PhD students to completion on a diverse range of health-related projects.  I also regularly mentor early-mid career researchers, helping them to navigate their academic and professional growth and serve as as a PhD examiner for top quality universities across the UK.