Funding for new research group at Bielefeld University

The German Research Foundation (DFG) is providing a research group at Bielefeld University with around three million euros in funding to investigate health inequalities as exemplified by the health of refugees. Their findings should help to improve the health system for other disadvantaged groups as well. The group’s spokesperson is Professor Dr Oliver Razum, his deputy is Professor Dr Kayvan Bozorgmehr; both are from the School of Public Health.

“Forced migration and the resulting challenges relating to refugee health are often considered an exceptional phenomenon,” says Oliver Razum, Professor of Epidemiology and International Public Health. “This is a missed opportunity. Because in view of the diversity in Germany’s society today, we can learn a lot from these challenges, just like under a magnifying glass, so as to improve healthcare for other population groups. Ultimately, we could help all members of society in Germany.”

The new research group is called: “Refugee migration to Germany: a magnifying glass for broader public health challenges”. Razum and Bozorgmehr will be working with nine scientists to examine diversity-related challenges to the health system and small-scale influences on health, such as an unfavourable housing situation. “Health inequalities can emanate from the health system itself, for example if access to necessary treatment is denied,” says Bozorgmehr, Professor of Population Medicine and Health Services Research. “They are also related to contextual influences, though, such as accommodation and surrounding care structures.”
Razum adds: “We pay particular attention to how certain groups are defined as ‘different’ and are thus disadvantaged. Of course, this by no means applies only to refugees. However, social rejection is often particularly pronounced among this group.”

The new research group aims to determine how health inequalities arise or are reinforced on the basis of categorisation and social classification. After the analysis, the group will formulate concepts and strategies to reduce health inequalities.

Three other researchers from Bielefeld University are involved in the research group: Dr Odile Sauzet, lecturer at the School of Public Health, Professor Dr Andreas Zick from the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG), and Professor Dr Frank Neuner from the Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science. Further project partners are the German Insti-tute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin, the Alice Salomon University Berlin, the Charité University Hospital Berlin, the University Hospital Heidelberg, the Ludwig Maximilians Universi-ty Munich, and the Technical University Dresden.

Oliver Razum and Kayvan Bozorgmehr are experts on refugee and migrant health. In June 2018, a project led by Razum published an online database with representative studies and statistics on the health situation of refugees and people with a migrant background in Germany.

The research groups funded by the DFG are close collaborative alliances of several distinguished scientists working together on one research assignment. This year, the DFG is funding three research groups on public health for the first time, including the group at the Bielefeld University. Research groups frequently contribute to establishing new research priorities. DFG funding for research groups is limited to a maximum of two three-year periods.

Further information is available online at:

• “Newly approved: ten research groups, two clinical research groups and one centre for advanced studies” (Press release of the German Research Foundation (DFG) dated 4 July 2019 (in German): https://bit.ly/2LvBd6q
• “New database: Health of refugees and migrants” (Bielefeld University press release dated 15 June 2018 (in German): https://bit.ly/32ehi1V

Contact:
Professor Dr Oliver Razum, Bielefeld University
School of Public Health
Telephone: 0049 521 106-2825
Email: oliver.razum@uni-bielefeld.de