School of Law, Politics and Sociology

Dr Catherine Will

Dr Catherine Will, Lecturer in Sociology, has been awarded a 12-month scholarship by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

Dr Will, an expert in health and social policy and the sociology of health and illness, is one of 10 professionals working in the NHS, social care and public health to be made a NICE scholar for 2012-13.

NICE produces guidance that helps health and social care professionals deliver the best possible care based on the best available evidence.

The positions have been awarded to individuals who support NICE's work and aspire to improve care in their local and professional communities, as part of the Institute's annual recruitment to its Fellows and Scholars Programme.

Dr Will joined the University in 2007 and teaches both sociologists and medical students on a range of courses. She is currently co-convenor of the British Sociological Association's Medical Sociology Group.

In her profile on the NICE website, Dr Will says that she plans to spend her time as a NICE scholar looking at different sites where ordinary people's preferences and values are brought into the work of the Institute. These might be included in discussions of ‘acceptability' in production of guidance of different kinds, and she is interested to understand what kinds of evidence are used to explore this issue. Analysis of the practice of guidance production will be used to map possible opportunities for the Institute to make greater use of evidence from the social sciences, and to stimulate debate among social scientists about such opportunities. In the same vein she intends to relate the Institute's own broader discussion of ‘social value judgements' to emerging work on the ethics and politics of public health.

Val Moore, Programme Director for Implementation at NICE and Mentor to the Fellows and Scholars said: “Our Fellows and Scholars Programme is a unique opportunity for motivated and dynamic individuals across the country to exchange ideas and get support from NICE in driving up the quality of care in their local and professional communities.

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