Dr Steven Cummins, BSc (CGCHE); MSc (London); PhD (Glasgow)
Senior Lecturer and NIHR Fellow

Department of Geography
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
Tel: +44 (0)20 7882 8200
Fax: +44 (0)20 7882 7479
Email: s.c.j.cummins@qmul.ac.uk

Steven, a geographer (BSc) with training in epidemiology (MSc) and public health (PhD), joined the department as MRC Special Fellow in 2003 after spending eight years at the MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow. In October 2007 he was appointed as Senior Lecturer and NIHR Fellow.

Steven has been Academic Visitor at The Pennsylvania State University (2004) and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Social Epidemiology & Population Health, University of Michigan (2005-06). He has served on the committee of the RGS-IBG Geography of Health Research Group and the BSA Sociology of Food Group and, at various times, has undertaken work as an ‘invited expert’ for the Food Standards Agency, Department of Health, IPPR, Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada, Scottish Government, US National Cancer Institute and the US National Academy of Science. He is a full committee member of the Society for Social Medicine (2006–2009), an appointed member of the Food Standards Agency Social Science Research Committee (2008–11) and a member of the NIHR Public Health Research Programme Funding Board (2009–11). In November 2007 he was awarded a Phillip Leverhulme Prize for his work on the socio-environmental determinants of health.

Research interests:

Steven’s primary research interests are in the contextual and socio-environmental determinants of health; the design and evaluation of community social and policy interventions to improve population health; the consumer consequences of food retail restructuring; and the public policy implications of geographical research. His work has been supported by MRC, ESRC, Department of Health, NIHR, Food Standards Agency (Scotland) and the US National Institute of Environmental Health Science.

From October 2007 much of Steven’s current work has been consolidated and extended under a new three-year National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) fellowship which has allowed the establishment of the Healthy Environments Research Programme (HERP). Full details of HERP staff, students, publications and projects can be found on the Healthy Environments Research Programme website.

Postgraduate supervision:

Claire Thompson (2008–11) Environmental determinants of diet: understanding the mediating role of culture. ESRC CASE Studentship (with Sandwell PCT)

Michael Grayer (2007–10) Bayesian estimation of small area life expectancy. ESRC CASE Studentship (with Havering PCT)

Jamie Fagg (2005–08) Contextual determinants of childhood self-esteem over time. MRC/ESRC Joint Studentship

Publications:

Current Publications (2008–09):

A full list of publications can be found on the Healthy Environments Research Programme website

Book Chapters

Cummins S (2009) Improving population health through area-based social interventions: generating evidence in a complex world in: Killoran A, Kelly M (2009) Effectiveness and efficiency in public health: systematic approaches to evidence and practice. NICE/Oxford University Press

Macintyre S, Ellaway A, Cummins S (2008) Place effects on health: how can we conceptualise, operationalise and measure them? (Abridged reprint) in Brown P (Ed) (2008) Perspectives in Medical Sociology (4th Edn). p125–137. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press

Journal Papers (published and in press)

Beaulac J, Kristjansson E, Cummins S (2009) Food deserts. A systematic review,1966–2007. Preventing Chronic Disease

Cummins S, Smith DM, Dawson J, Marshall D, Taylor M, Sparks L, Anderson A (2009). Neighbourhood deprivation and the quality of fresh fruit and vegetables in urban and rural settings. Public Health Nutrition

Story M, Giles-Corti B, Yaroch A, Cummins S, Frank LD, Huang T, Lewis T (2009) Measures of the food and built environments: future directions. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 36(4) Suppl 1 S182–88

Pearce A, Kirk A, Cummins S et al (2009) Gaining children’s perspectives: a multi-method approach to explore environmental influences on healthy eating and physical activity. Health & Place 15; 614–621

Smith DM. Cummins S. (2009) Obese Cities. How our environment shapes overweight Geography Compass 3:1; 518–535

Dawson J, Marshall D, Taylor M, Cummins S, Sparks L, Anderson S (2008) Accessing healthy food: availability and price of a healthy food basket in Scotland. Journal of Marketing Management 24; 893–913

Cummins S, Findlay A, Petticrew M, Sparks L. (2008) Retail-led regeneration and store-switching behaviour. Journal of Retailing & Consumer Services 15; 288–295

Stafford M, Sacker A, Ellaway A, Cummins S, Wiggins D, Macintyre S (2008) Neighbourhood effects on health: a structural equation modelling approach. Journal of Applied Social Science Studies (Schmollers Jahrbuch) 128; 109–120

Cummins S, Findlay A, Petticrew M, Sparks L (2008) Reducing inequalities in health and diet: the impact of food retail development. Environment & Planning A 40:2; 402–422

Undergraduate teaching:

GEG5107: Health, Inequality and Society: from social medicine to global biotechnology
GEG600: Independent Geographical Study