The Scottish Centre for Work and Health held its inaugural meeting on Friday 12 June, with 40 members coming together to discuss and develop the initial work of the Centre.
The centre, funded by the Colt Foundation, and under the directorship of Professor Gary Macfarlane, brings together the Universities of Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Stirling, Glasgow Caledonian University, The Institute of Occupational Medicine and staff from several NHS Boards.
The United Kingdom is experiencing high levels of economic inactivity with increases particularly affecting young people and older workers. Currently there are almost 1 million young people who are not in employment, education and training, one of the highest rates amongst industrialised countries. The UK government has commissioned two recent reviews to understand the problem and identify possible solutions: the Mayfield Report “Keep Britain Working” and the Millburn report “Young people and work”.
A major influence on someone being economically inactive is ill-health, particularly mental ill-health and in older workers also musculoskeletal conditions.
The new Centre will focus on research areas including: understanding the changing nature of work and implications for health (the types of jobs people have, where we work, the influence of artificial intelligence); how we support people with health conditions to remain working; and preventing ill-health at work.
The Centre will work with employers, clinicians and workers in order to undertake research which addresses these important societal issues.