Overview
Background
A/Prof Stephen Bell is a senior social scientist, advisor and international development research consultant with 23 years’ experience tackling global health challenges in settings across South-East Asia, Africa, Western Pacific and Europe. He works respectfully with not-for-profits, public institutions, businesses and community organisations, using innovative, inclusive, people-centred approaches to identify sustainable solutions to critical health challenges and accelerate health equity.
As Principal Research Fellow and ‘Theme Lead - Social Science and Global Health’ at the Burnet Institute, Steve’s role includes:
- Research on young people's sexual, reproductive and maternal health, including adolescent-responsive health services and systems, contraceptive innovation, safe abortion, enabling socio-structural environments, and the intersections of health and climate change;
- Providing methodological expertise, technical support and mentoring in social science, co-design and community-based, community-led research practice across the Institute’s global health programs and business development across working groups and programs;
- Supporting a growing regional network of youth research, advocacy and thought leadership hubs across Asia and the Pacific;
- Managing and delivering consultancy, advisory and research work for institutional partners.
Steve’s work brings together lived experience, socio-ecological systems thinking and social theory to understand what works (or not) in global health and social development. He has researched and published widely on HIV, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, neglected tropical diseases, TB and Indigenous health. He is particularly interested in understanding the socio-structural determinants of health and social inequities, and injustices associated with marginalisation due to gender, sexuality, age and geography. He has published two edited collections on interpretive and community-led approaches in research, design, monitoring and evaluation: ‘Peer research in health and social development: international perspectives on participatory research’ (2021), and ‘Monitoring and evaluation in health and social development: interpretive and ethnographic perspectives’ (2016). With international colleagues, he is working on a third edited collection called, ‘Lived Experience: Critical Perspectives in a Changing World’. Steve is currently taking on new PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of these areas, so please do reach out to him for a chat!
Steve is Commissioner on The Lancet Global Health Commission on People-Centered Care for Universal Health Coverage, Technical Consultant (Strategy and Insights) with PSI, and Member of the International Editorial Board at Culture, Health & Sexuality. Steve has served as a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, and has worked in senior research and consultancy roles with international governments, NGOs, UNAIDS, UNFPA and WHO.
Availability
- Associate Professor Steve Bell is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Human Geography, University of Leeds
- Masters (Coursework) of Sustainable Development, Royal Holloway, University of London
- Doctor of Philosophy of Social Science (Health Practice), Royal Holloway University of London
Research interests
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Socio-structural determinants of health and wellbeing
Critical qualitative enquiry; lived experiences research; operation of determinants of health; production of health inequities
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Community action, activism and resistance for social justice and health equity
Community-based participatory research; working with community researchers; understanding operations of power; social change; role of community organisations and collectives; theorising agency
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Sexual, reproductive and maternal health of young people
Youth-led co-design of services, programs and policies; qualitative research design; health and social risks; agency and action; sex-positive and rights-based approaches
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Community-based HIV research with key populations
Individual and collective agency; forms of solidarity and action; concepts of agency, vulnerability and social practice; community-led innovation in HIV testing, treatment and care
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Innovation in qualitative, participatory and ethnographic research
Community-led research; working with community researchers; longitudinal research design; photovoice; peer research; participatory video
Works
Search Professor Steve Bell’s works on UQ eSpace
2011
Other Outputs
The Home Front: Parenting and children’s healthy development. A child-centred ethnographic study
Bell, S and Payne, R (2011). The Home Front: Parenting and children’s healthy development. A child-centred ethnographic study. London: Bell & Payne Consulting.
2010
Conference Publication
Complex conversations: new approaches in social marketing research for Tower Hamlets NHS
Bell, S. (2010). Complex conversations: new approaches in social marketing research for Tower Hamlets NHS. Research 2010: The annual conference, London, United Kingdom, 23-24 March 2010.
2009
Journal Article
Young people as agents in development processes: reconsidering perspectives for development geography
Bell, Stephen and Payne, Ruth (2009). Young people as agents in development processes: reconsidering perspectives for development geography. Third World Quarterly, 30 (5), 1027-1044. doi: 10.1080/01436590902959297
2009
Other Outputs
Cervical screening in Tower Hamlets, London, UK.
Bell, S, Clarke, L and Wellings, D (2009). Cervical screening in Tower Hamlets, London, UK.. London: Ipsos MORI.
2009
Conference Publication
Examining the use of peer research and ethnography: understanding the barriers to the uptake of Cervical Screening services in Tower Hamlets, London, UK.
Bell, S. (2009). Examining the use of peer research and ethnography: understanding the barriers to the uptake of Cervical Screening services in Tower Hamlets, London, UK. . The Association for Healthcare Communications and Marketing Annual Conference, and Communicating Health Awards 2009, Cardiff, United Kingdom, 3-4 June 2009.
2009
Other Outputs
Raising awareness of cancer symptoms for early presentation and diagnosis in Tower Hamlets, London, UK
Bell, S, Clarke, L and Wellings, D (2009). Raising awareness of cancer symptoms for early presentation and diagnosis in Tower Hamlets, London, UK. London: Ipsos MORI.
2007
Book Chapter
Conceptualizing agency in the lives and actions of rural young people
Robson, Elsbeth, Bell, Stephen and Klocker, Natascha (2007). Conceptualizing agency in the lives and actions of rural young people. Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth. (pp. 135-148) edited by Ruth Panelli, Samantha Punch and Elsbeth Robson. New York, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203942222-20
2007
Book Chapter
Power and place for rural young people
Punch, Samantha, Bell, Stephen, Costello, Lauren and Panelli, Ruth (2007). Power and place for rural young people. Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth: Young Rural Lives. (pp. 205-218) edited by Ruth Panelli, Samantha Punch and Elsbeth Robson. New York, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203942222-26
2007
Book Chapter
'The child drums and the elder dances'?: Girlfriends and boyfriends negotiating power relations in rural Uganda
Bell, Stephen (2007). 'The child drums and the elder dances'?: Girlfriends and boyfriends negotiating power relations in rural Uganda. Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth: Young Rural Lives. (pp. 179-192) New York, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203942222
2007
Journal Article
'The child drums and the elder dances'? Girlfriends and boyfriends negotiating power relations in rural Uganda
Bell, Stephen (2007). 'The child drums and the elder dances'? Girlfriends and boyfriends negotiating power relations in rural Uganda. Global Perspectives On Rural Childhood and Youth: Young Rural Lives, 179-191.
2007
Journal Article
Power and place for rural young people
Punch, Samantha, Bell, Stephen, Costello, Lauren and Panelli, Ruth (2007). Power and place for rural young people. Global Perspectives On Rural Childhood and Youth: Young Rural Lives, 205-218.
2007
Journal Article
Conceptualizing agency in the lives and actions of rural young people
Robson, Elsbeth, Bell, Stephen and Klocker, Natascha (2007). Conceptualizing agency in the lives and actions of rural young people. Global Perspectives On Rural Childhood and Youth: Young Rural Lives, 135-148.
2006
Conference Publication
Young people’s experiences of societal vulnerability: Linking gender, age and sexual norms with sexual health
Bell, S. (2006). Young people’s experiences of societal vulnerability: Linking gender, age and sexual norms with sexual health. Postgraduate Symposium, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, London, United Kingdom, 27 September 2006.
2005
Conference Publication
‘The child drums and the elder dances?’ Girlfriends and boyfriends negotiating power relations in rural Uganda.
Bell, S. (2005). ‘The child drums and the elder dances?’ Girlfriends and boyfriends negotiating power relations in rural Uganda. . Royal Geographical Society Conference 2005, London, United Kingdom, 1 September 2005.
2005
Conference Publication
Young Rural Lives: Reflections on Agency, and Power Relations and Processes
Bell, S. (2005). Young Rural Lives: Reflections on Agency, and Power Relations and Processes. Royal Geographical Society Conference 2005, London, United Kingdom, 1 September 2005.
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Steve Bell is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Available projects
-
Young people and global health across Asia and the Pacific
Steve’s work brings together lived experience, socio-ecological systems thinking and social theory to understand what works (or not) in global health and social development. He has researched and published widely on HIV, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, neglected tropical diseases, TB and Indigenous health. He is particularly interested in understanding the socio-structural determinants of health and social inequities, and injustices associated with marginalisation due to gender, sexuality, age and geography. He has also published two books on interpretive and community-led approaches in research, design, monitoring and evaluation: ‘Peer research in health and social development: international perspectives on participatory research’ (2021), and ‘Monitoring and evaluation in health and social development: interpretive and ethnographic perspectives’ (2016). He is currently taking on new PhD students in these areas, with particular interest examining young people's experiences of global health across Asia and the Pacific. Please reach out for a chat if you're interested in any of the following topics:
- Solutions-oriented approaches, led by young people – as researchers, advocates, health experts and agents of change – that will enable a step-change in youth-centred health care
- Understanding and tackling the broad array of socio-structural determinants of health and wellbeing
- Design, implementation and evaluation of adolescent-responsive health services
- Innovation in community-located, community-led models of health care and support, including self-care approaches
- Understanding the impacts of climate on young people’s health and health service provision, and young people’s work to adapt to or mitigate the effects of climate change on their lives, families and communities
Media
Enquiries
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