Inaugural Lecture – Professor Rachel Tolhurst

People, Power and Participation: journeying towards social justice in global health

Thuursday 16 April 2026, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Globally we are facing a ‘polycrisis’ of vast and increasing social and economic inequities, anti-progressive forces, closing of civil society spaces, conflict, fragility, human rights abuses, rapid urbanisation and climate crisis. These are all important in shaping the unfair distribution of health and wellbeing globally. What are our roles as researchers and educators in these uncertain times? Rachel will share lessons and reflections from her career as a social scientist in global health focusing on equity and social justice. She will consider health as a social and political process, the roles of qualitative and participatory research methodologies and multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral collaboration. She will discuss the importance of focusing on power and positionalities, share learning from values-based partnerships and reflect on dilemmas facing us in pursuing social justice locally, institutionally and globally.

About the speaker:

Professor Rachel Tolhurst is a social scientist with over 25 years’ experience of research, teaching and partnership on gender equity, health systems and social determinants of health in Africa and Asia. After spending much of her childhood in several African countries and working as a teacher in China, she studied Gender and Development before joining LSTM to work on gender and health. Her research has focused on equity in health and health systems, including intersections between gender equity, poverty, place and disability. Her research has covered a range of health issues, including lung-health, anti-microbial resistance, maternal health and gender-based violence. She currently focuses on equity in urban health, particularly in relation to urban informal settlements and climate change. She specialises in qualitative and participatory research methodologies but also enjoys working in multi-disciplinary teams.

Professor Tolhurst’s lecture will last approximately 45minutes followed by a 15minutes Q&A. Guests will be welcomed to attend a networking reception after the lecture.

Rachel is a Professor of Global Health Equity.

Due to the capacity of the venue, space within the main room is limited and guests will be seated on a first come first served basis.

The event will be live streamed and recorded.