Professor Stephani Hatch was conferred to the Fellowship of the Academy in spring 2025. She is Professor of Sociology and Epidemiology, leading the Health Inequities Research Group at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, at King’s College London.
Professor Stephani HatchFAcSS
Stephani works across sectors to deliver interdisciplinary research and action on inequalities and inequities in health and health services. Her work utilises inclusive research practices, qualitative and quantitative methodologies, as well as creative and digital technologies that integrate collaborative approaches to knowledge production, training, dissemination, policymaking and action. Since 2010, her group has contributed to the development of new models of participatory public engagement and training through the Health Inequalities Research Network (HERON). Stephani currently leads the Wellcome-funded Collective Action for Race Equity in Health and Social Care (CARE-HSC), building and expanding her work on the Wellcome and ESRC-funded Tackling Inequalities and Discrimination Experiences in Health Services (TIDES) study and the Health and Social Equity Collective. She also co-leads the Marginalised Communities programme within the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health and the Narrowing Inequalities Platform within the UKRI Population Health Improvement (PHI-UK), Population Mental Health Consortium.
Stephani holds national and international advisory roles including: member of the MQ Mental Health Sciences Council; the NHS Race and Health Observatory Board (and Chair of the RHO Academic Reference Group); the NHS England and Improvement Advancing Mental Health Equalities Taskforce (Chair, Mental Health Equalities Expert Reference Group); and advisor for the NHSE Anti-Racism Project Engagement and Oversight group with the Deputy Chief Nursing Officer for England, Nursing and Midwifery Council and NHS Confederation.
Why do the social sciences matter?
The social sciences help us to understand and tackle issues impacting every aspect of our social world. Through these disciplines, we can unravel how the social is dynamically formed and contextually (geographically, economically and historically) dependent and how our interactions, organisations, structures and systems function and impact our lives, including our mental and physical health.
The social is in interactions, experiences, practices, and behaviours that are shaped by and shaping individual social statuses and identities, as well as structural factors – all of which are constructed, formed and reinforced by groups, communities and within institutions. For me, the social is the key process to be explored, a reciprocal relationship between people, groups, and social institutions. It is a set of multilevel influences and systems that can generate and perpetuate both protective qualities or unnecessarily expose individuals and groups to adversities that result in inequalities and inequities.
The social sciences provide social theories to not only describe and explain the distribution, patterning and clustering of factors influencing social and health outcomes but also methodological tools to identify actions needed to address tractable social issues, especially those overlooked and discounted that have pervasive impacts on people’s lives.
What inspires you about your work?
In my work, I remain most inspired by the people and communities who are most affected by social and health related inequities. I am also inspired by those that work in service of these groups with emphasis and vision rooted in social justice and equity. These are the roots of my inspiration in my work. Joy and meaning comes to me through opportunities to serve my community and my students, to learn continuously, to be creative and to think with others and share knowledge.
What is the most urgent issue social scientists need to tackle today and within the next three years?
Inequities in health and social care are among the most urgent issues that social scientists need to tackle. Underlying many of these inequities are tractable social problems. Across the life course, people are unnecessarily exposed to intersecting systems of oppression, such as racism, homophobia and ableism, that are often enacted through behaviours such as harassment and discrimination. The consequences are costly – for population health, life chances and opportunities, the economy and society.
We need more interdisciplinary, cross sector, systems level theories, approaches and solutions that centre lived experiences of communities and service users, as well as those who deliver care, both among the workforce and informally (unpaid) carers. We should be envisioning and taking action to achieve a health and social care system that equitably supports, protects, and values service users and carers of all backgrounds and provides reliable mechanisms for change when inequities arise.
What does being a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences mean to you?
Being a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences is a great honour; it provides me with an opportunity to promote the social sciences more widely and share its importance for all aspects of our lives. Ultimately, I want to use this platform to engage with other social scientists and inspire the next generation of social scientists to be innovative, creative, interdisciplinary, collaborative, and challenging through the development of new theories, methods and action-oriented research.