Professor Jane South

Professor Leeds Beckett University

  • Leeds West Yorkshire

Jane South is Professor of Healthy Communities working in the field of community engagement and public health.

Contact

Leeds Beckett

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Biography

Professor South is Professor of Healthy Communities working in the field of community engagement and public health. Her research focuses on how community life and volunteering contribute to good health.

As an academic leader, Jane has been at the forefront of establishing an evidence base for integrating community-centred approaches into public health. She has published widely on community-based prevention and is an expert on volunteer and peer interventions. From 2014-2023, she worked as a national adviser on communities for Public Health England (later the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities). She authored the PHE & NHS England (2015) Guide to community centred approaches for health and wellbeing, which has had considerable impact in policy and practice.

Passionate about research that makes a difference, Jane established CommUNIty - an innovative community-campus partnership for health initiative aimed at strengthening university links with local communities. She is also a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health.

Industry Expertise

Writing and Editing
Education/Learning
Health and Wellness
Research

Areas of Expertise

Volunteering
Community Health
Public Health
Health
Health Promotion
Community
Active Citizenship

Languages

  • English

Event Appearances

Peers in Prison Settings (PiPS) Expert Symposium

Peers in Prison Settings (PiPS) Expert Symposium  Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Leeds Metropolitan University

Articles

Sustaining and strengthening community resilience throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

Perspectives in Public Health

2020

The scale of community action in the UK since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has been significant. Community-based organisations, national charities, mutual aid groups and thousands of individual volunteers, including the 750,000 NHS volunteer responders, have stepped forward to support those made more vulnerable by the pandemic.

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Community engagement in deprived neighbourhoods during the COVID-19 crisis: perspectives for more resilient and healthier communities

Health Promotion International

2021

The current COVID-19 pandemic confines people to their homes, disrupting the fragile social fabric of deprived neighbourhoods and citizen’s participation options. In deprived neighbourhoods, community engagement is central in building community resilience, an important resource for health and a prerequisite for effective health promotion programmes.

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An evidence-based framework on community-centred approaches for health: England, UK

Health Promotion International

2017

Community participation is a central concept for health promotion, covering a breadth of approaches, purposes and activities. This paper reports on a national knowledge translation project in England, UK, which resulted in a conceptual framework and typology of community-based approaches, published as national guidance.

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