Public health expert awarded major UK fellowship

 

Public health policy and health security are major topics in academia today, especially because of Covid-19, and one of CityU’s foremost experts in this area has recently been recognised for his global contributions.

Dr Nicholas Thomas, Associate Professor in the Department of Asian and International Studies, has been elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH), one of the oldest public health organisations in the world.

“To be eligible, I needed to demonstrate a sustained track record of research in public health,” explained Dr Thomas. “I have been publishing in this area since SARS in 2003, when I was involved in a consultancy for the Hong Kong government on policy responses to the outbreak.”

Since then he has published on bird flu, health governance, health politics, and most recently on responses to anti-microbial resistance in Asia.

“Since the outbreak of Covid-19, I have also been very busy working with international and local media across print, television, and radio outlets,” he said.

The RSPH Fellowship connects people through a global network of researchers, policymakers, and advocates for public health.

“Through the Fellowship, I am looking forward to feeding the work of the One Health research cluster based in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences into RSPH activities. It is important that the advantages of such fellowships are not one-way but feed back into the field,” he said.

CityU has identified public health and One Health, in particular, as a key strategic area for future teaching and research.

There is a range of exciting new undergraduate and postgraduate courses and minors related to these areas being developed across different colleges, schools and departments.

“As the current pandemic clearly demonstrates, this is an essential area for future activities that cross disciplinary silos and generate new knowledge and understanding,” Dr Thomas said.

For him, personally, the award has created opportunities to be exposed to new research and ideas.

“The RSPH Fellowship provides an external recognition that my publications and contributions to the field are internationally recognised,” he added.