Dear reader,
We are proud to present "Urban renewal and health", the first video with results from the project, based on the case study on the health equity impacts of a renewal plan in Barcelona.

Since last year we have published several articles, some of which have been covered by the local press, and expanded our presence in social networks, where you can also follow us: Twitter, Youtube, Vimeo , Storify and Slideshare

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Lucia Bosáková, Košice

"The biggest challenge, doing research with hard-to-employ groups, is to acquire their trust"

Elena Gelormino, Torino

"Multi-disciplinarity is intrinsic to Public Health"

Lucia Bosáková is PhD in Economics, senior researcher in the Community and Health Research Network (CoHeReNT) and co-leader of the work package on participation and knowledge transfer. She recently published the report A Bottom-up Approach to Employment. An example of good practice.

What has been the main challenge of making research with hard-to-employ groups?
I consider that the biggest challenge has been to acquire their trust. Many of them got tired of many studies that have been usually made "about them but without them" and without bringing to them any benefit or chance of change. Therefore we always try to be very open, honest and fair, and we only promise what we can really fulfil.

Read the full interview here

Elena Gelormino is a public health physician. She collaborates with the University of Turin and SiTI on studies about health in all policies and health inequalities. In SOPHIE, she co-leads the work package on built environment and housing.

You combine the work as public health physician at a Local Health Authority with research with the University of Turin. How difficult it is?
Sometimes I suffer this duality: it means to be permanently in shortage of time. But I am taking a big advantage from the knowledge we are dealing with in SOPHIE. According with the new Italian law about Strategic Environmental Assessment, the Local Health Authority is involved in some phases of the urban planning: these are the best place where to transfer knowledge from the "ivory tower" to the local policy arena, and I am doing it!

Read the full interview here

From the report A Bottom-up Approach to Employment. Fuel poverty is a problem on the rise in many countries due to the increasing costs of energy and decreasing household incomes. In Sophie we are focusing on the health equity impacts of housing retrofitting as a policy to tackle fuel poverty.

We have submitted several abstracts, and we are organising a pre-conference together with Demetriq, Drivers and Silne projects. Programme and inscription information will be available soon.

Through our Twitter account @sophieproject we recommend each week an article on the topics of the project. Find them out here!

Our Links page has also been updated with new relevant documents and maps on health inequalities.