Dr Marcello Bertotti

Biography

I have a background in Economics and Human Geography and have conducted both primary and secondary research in public and community health, urban regeneration and small firm research. I used a range of methods including prospective cohort studies with a matched control, qualitative research, and systematic reviews. I held research grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Netherland Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), Health Foundation (Shine) and have led on other research consultancy projects for Public Health England, and Newham Clinical Commissioning Group and Waltham Forest Borough Council. I am particularly interested in how connectedness between individuals may lead to improvements in health and well-being. I used conceptual insights from social capital to the study of social enterprises and mental health; from governance theories to the examination of social enterprise in South Korea and insights from economic geography to the examination of the impact of creative industries in London, Rotterdam and other European cities. I am also a member of the AHRC sponsored Connected Communities programme for which I led a project on the conceptualisations and meanings of community from different research traditions. I am currently interested in research on asset based approaches to health particularly social prescribing and time banks and their impact on health and well-being. As such, I led a range of evaluations of social prescribing for Newham CCG, City and Hackney CCG and Waltham Forest Borough Council. I am a steering group member of the National Social Prescribing Network. Furthermore, with a group colleagues and a small grant from UEL, I also led on setting up the first university based time bank in the UK. I peer reviewed journal articles for Social Science and Medicine, British Medical Journal, Public Health, Community Development Journal, and grant proposals for the British Academy and the National Institute for Social Care and Health Research (NISCHR).

Research Interest

I have considerable expertise in the development and evaluation of social prescribing and time bank and evaluation methodologies. I am interested in how evidence based research in health can be translated in the most appropriate implementation on the ground to maximise public benefit. I am interested in the use of mixed methods from randomised controlled trials to narrative research.