Professor Simon Rushton (he/him)

School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations

Professor of International Politics

Co-Director, Institute for Global Sustainable Development

School Lead for Knowledge Exchange & Impact

Simon Rushton Headshot
Profile picture of Simon Rushton Headshot
simon.rushton@sheffield.ac.uk
Elmfield Building

Full contact details

Professor Simon Rushton
School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations
Elmfield Building
Northumberland Road
Sheffield
S10 2TU
Profile

Simon joined the University of Sheffield in January 2013 and was promoted to Professor of International Politics in January 2022. Prior to his move to Sheffield, he was based at Aberystwyth University’s Department of International Politics where he completed his PhD and subsequently held posts as Lecturer and Research Fellow.

Simon's research has been funded by the ESRC, DFID/FCDO, NIHR, AHRC, MRC, MRF, Welcome Trust, and Newton Fund, working with partners in Nepal, Colombia, Bangladesh, Ghana, Uganda and Vietnam. He is a Visiting Professor at the Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences in Kathmandu and a Trustee and Executive Committee member of the British International Studies Association.

Simon is currently the School's lead for Knowledge Exchange & Impact, Co-Director of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development, and Chairs the University's ESRC peer review panel.

Qualifications

LLB (University of Hull); MA (University of Hull); PhD (Aberystwyth University)

Research interests

Simon’s research interests focus on global health politics and policy, peace and conflict, and participatory action research. His work has looked in particular at international responses to infectious diseases; the links between health and national security; the changing architecture of global health governance; healthcare delivery in conflict and other crisis situations; health system reform; and post-conflict peacebuilding.

In 2021, the Improbable Dialogues project team, of which Simon was the UK Principal Investigator, was awarded the ESRC’s prize for .

Publications

Books

  • Jaramillo-Marín J, López-Lizarazo LM, Ruiz-Galvan A, Bishop ML, Díaz-Arévalo JM, Kanai JM, Lombard M, Rushton S, Shesterinina A, Staples H & Turton HL (2023) . Bristol University Press.
  • Rushton S (2019) Security and Public Health. Polity.
  • Davies SE, Kamradt-Scott A & Rushton S (2015) Disease Diplomacy: International Norms and Global Health Security. Baltimore, MA: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • McInnes C, Kamradt-Scott A, Lee K, Roemer-Mahler A, Rushton S & Williams OD (2014) . Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Edited books

  • Roemer-Mahler A & Rushton S (Ed.) (2017) The International Politics of Ebola. Routledge.
  • Rushton S & Youde J (Ed.) (2014) Routledge Handbook of Global Health Security. Routledge.
  • Rushton S & Williams OD (Ed.) (2011) Partnerships and Foundations in Global Health Governance. Palgrave Macmillan.

Journal articles

  • Aldawood A, Field B, Rushton S & Hind D (2026) . Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 1-11.
  • Rushton S (2026) . Contemporary Security Policy.
  • Aldawood A, Field B, Rushton S & Hind D (2026) . Disability and rehabilitation. Assistive technology, 1-16.
  • Nunes C, Mckee M, Rushton S & Howard N (2026) . The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 41(1), 59-70.
  • Van Teijlingen E, Balen J, Regmi P, Rushton S, Simkhada P & Aryal N (2025) . Journal of Health Promotion, 13(1), 89-96.
  • de Bengy Puyvallée A, Storeng KT & Rushton S (2025) . Globalization and health, 21(1), 22.
  • de Bengy Puyvallée A, Harman S, Rushton S & Storeng KT (2025) . The Lancet, 405(10477), 514-516.
  • Aldawood A, Hind D, Rushton S & Field B (2024) . BMJ Open, 14(5), e080633-e080633.
  • Koirala B, Rushton S, Adhikary P, Balen J, Basnet S, Joshi S, Karki A, Lee A, Rijal B, Simkhada P , Subedi M et al (2024) . Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 36(5), 513-515.
  • Godziewski C & Rushton S (2024) . Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 49(5), 831-854.
  • Sapkota S, Rushton S, van Teijlingen E, Subedi M, Balen J, Gautam S, Adhikary P, Simkhada P, Wasti SP, Karki JK , Panday S et al (2024) . Health research policy and systems, 22(1), 7.
  • Karki J, Rushton S, Bhattarai S, Norman G, Rakhshanda S & De Witte PL (2024) . Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 19(2), 292-301.
  • Wasti SP, van Teijlingen E, Simkhada P, Rushton S, Balen J, Subedi M, Karki J, Adhikary P, Sapkota S, Gautam S , Marahatta S et al (2023) . WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health, 12(2), 116-119.
  • Sapkota S, Dhakal A, Rushton S, van Teijlingen E, Marahatta SB, Balen J & Lee ACK (2023) . BMJ Global Health, 8(12), e013317-e013317.
  • Wasti SP, van Teijlingen E, Rushton S, Subedi M, Simkhada P, Balen J & Nepal Federal Health System Team (2023) . Health research policy and systems, 21(1), 117.
  • Khadka S, Koirala B, Baidya M, Ferhani A, Karki J, Lee A, Panday S & Rushton S (2023) The health consequences of urbanization in Nepal: perspectives from a participatory photo project with recent rural-urban migrants. The Highlander, 3(1).
  • Joshi S, Karki A, Rushton S, Koirala B, Basnet S, Rijal B, Karki J, Pohl G, Baidya M, Chater T , Green D et al (2023) . BMJ Open, 13(6), e069060-e069060.
  • Karki JK, Rushton S, Karki A, Rijal B, Makai P, Neupane R, Joshi S, Basnet S, Bhattarai S & De Witte PL (2023) . Public Health in Practice, 5, 100377-100377.
  • Karki J, Rushton S, Bhattarai S & De Witte L (2023) . Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 18(1), 8-16.
  • Sapkota S, Panday S, Wasti SP, Lee A, Balen J, van Teijlingen E, Rushton S, Subedi M, Gautam S, Karki J , Adhikary P et al (2022) Health system strengthening: the role of public health in Federal Nepal. Journal of the Nepal Public Health Association, 7(1), 36-42.
  • Shrestha B, Green DJ, Baidya M, Chater T, Karki J, Lee AC, Khadka S, Pohl G, Neupane R & Rushton S (2022) . BMC public health, 22(1), 1948.
  • Rushton S (2022) . Australian Journal of International Affairs, 76(1), 35-39.
  • Rushton S & Voss M (2022) . Australian Journal of International Affairs, 76(1), 1-3.
  • Jaramillo Marín J, Rushton S, Díaz Arévalo JM & Mosquera Camacho D (2022) . Colombia Internacional(109), 59-87.
  • Jung M & Rushton S (2022) . International journal of health policy and management, 11(11), 2765-2768.
  • Rushton S, Balen J, Crane O, Devkota B & Ghimire S (2022) . Disasters, 46(3), 768-790.
  • Rushton S, Pandey S, Van Teijlingen E, Subedi M, Balen J, Karki J & Simkhada P (2021) . Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 7(1), 3-14.
  • Wenham C, Kavanagh M, Phelan A, Rushton S, Voss M, Halabi S, Eccleston-Turner M & Pillinger M (2021) . The Lancet, 397(10287), 1856-1858.
  • Rushton S & Ferhani A (2021) The International Health Regulations, COVID-19 and national borders : pursuing health security in a globalized world. Behind the Headlines, 69(3), 1-6.
  • Panday S, Rushton S, Karki J, Balen J & Barnes A (2021) . International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 55, 102112-102112.
  • Adhikary P, Balen J, Gautam S, Ghimire S, Karki JK, Lee A, Marahatta SB, Panday S, Pohl G, Rushton S , Sapkota S et al (2021) COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system. Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences, 3(3), 1-11.
  • Rushton S & Devkota B (2020) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 36(3), 212-231.
  • Ferhani A & Rushton S (2020) . Contemporary Security Policy, 41(3), 458-477.
  • Rushton S, Ghimire S & Marahatta SB (2019) . Journal of the Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 5(1), 1-3.
  • Rushton S (2018) . Global Governance, 24(2), 267-286.
  • Crane O, Balen J, Devkota B, Ghimire S & Rushton S (2017) . Health Policy and Planning, 32(suppl_3), iii48-iii58.
  • Howell A, Mills C & Rushton S (2017) . Globalization and Health, 13(1).
  • Rushton S (2016) . Int J Health Policy Manag, 5(5), 341-344.
  • Davies SE & Rushton S (2016) . Third World Quarterly, 37(3), 419-435.
  • Heymann DL, Chen L, Takemi K, Fidler DP, Tappero JW, Thomas MJ, Kenyon TA, Frieden TR, Yach D, Nishtar S , Kalache A et al (2015) . Lancet, 385(9980), 1884-1901.
  • Rushton S (2015) . Int J Health Policy Manag, 4(5), 311-314.
  • McINNES C & RUSHTON S (2014) . Review of International Studies, 40(5), 835-857.
  • Coates AL, Hill PS, Rushton S & Balen J (2014) . Reproductive Health Matters, 22(44), 114-124.
  • Harman S & Rushton S (2014) Analyzing Leadership in Global Health Governance. Global Health Governance, 1(VII), 1-19.
  • McInnes C & Rushton S (2013) . European Journal of International Relations, 19(1), 115-138.
  • Rushton S (2012) . Global Public Health, 7(sup2), S159-S175.
  • McInnes C, Kamradt-Scott A, Lee K, Reubi D, Roemer-Mahler A, Rushton S, Williams OD & Woodling M (2012) . Global Public Health, 7(sup2), S83-S94.
  • Woodling M, Williams OD & Rushton S (2012) . Global Public Health, 7(sup2), S144-S158.
  • McInnes C & Rushton S (2012) . International Political Sociology, 6(3), 328-331.
  • Rushton S & Williams OD (2012) . Global Society, 26(2), 147-167.
  • Kamradt-Scott A & Rushton S (2012) . Global Change, Peace & Security, 24(1), 57-70.
  • Rushton S (2011) Are the ‘Good Times’ Over? Looking to the Future of Global Health Governance. Global Health Governance, 5(1).
  • Rushton S (2011) . Political Studies, 59(4), 779-796.
  • Rushton S (2010) Framing AIDS: Securitization, Development-ization, Rights-ization. Global Health Governance, 4(1).
  • Rushton S (2010) . Health Policy and Planning, 25(6), 495-504.
  • MCINNES C & RUSHTON S (2010) . International Affairs, 86(1), 225-245.
  • Ingram A, Kett M & Rushton S (2009) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 25(4), 265-266.
  • Rushton S (2008) . Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, 14(1), 95-110.
  • Rushton S & McInnes C (2006) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 22(2), 94-109.
  • Rushton S (2005) . International Relations, 19(4), 441-456.
  • Campo N, Díaz V, Díaz-Arévalo JM, Rebolledo Ulcué CV & Rushton S () Conversas on the territory: Participatory Video and intergenerational dialogue in Buenaventura and Caldono, Colombia. Journal of Dialogue Studies.
  • Alzate García A, Díaz-Arévalo JM, Flórez López JA, Hoyos Buitrón OA, Quintero Marín MI, Rebolledo Ulcué CV & Rushton S () Collective defence of the territorio: Vernacular concepts and practices of security in Colombia’s Pacific South-West. Review of International Studies.

Book chapters

  • Rushton S (2025) , De Gruyter Handbook of Conflict and Health (pp. 803-816). De Gruyter
  • Rushton S (2023) Health In Phillips N (Ed.), Global Political Economy Oxford University Press
  • Rushton S (2020) , The Oxford Handbook of Global Health Politics (pp. 121-141). Oxford University Press (OUP)
  • Rushton S (2018) , Global Health and Security Critical Feminist Perspectives (pp. 131-147).
  • Rushton S & Kittelsen S (2016) , Routledge Handbook of Security Studies Second Edition (pp. 224-234).
  • Rushton S (2016) Health Security In Caballero-Anthony M (Ed.), An Introduction to Non-Traditional Security Studies: A Transnational Approach (pp. 174-192). London: Sage.
  • Rushton S & Duten AJ (2016) , Politische Theorie im Film (pp. 195-211). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
  • Rushton S & Kamradt-Scott A (2016) , Politics of Surveillance and Response to Disease Outbreaks the New Frontier for States and Non State Actors (pp. 23-40).
  • Rushton S (2015) Who will lead? In Frenk J & Hoffman S (Ed.), "To Save Humanity" What Matters Most for a Healthy Future (pp. 301-304). Oxford University Press, USA
  • Youde J & Rushton S (2015) ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY INTRODUCTION, ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY (pp. 1-+).
  • Rushton S (2014) (pp. 287-303). Wiley
  • McInnes C & Rushton S (2011) Health interventions for Political Ends: Medical Initiatives in Conflict and Peacebuilding In Novotny TE & Kickbusch I (Ed.), 21st Century Global Health Diplomacy World Scientific Publishing Company
  • Williams OD & Rushton S (2011) The end of one era and the start of another: Partnerships, foundations and the shifting political economy of global health In Rushton S & Williams OD (Ed.), Partnerships and Foundations in Global Health Governance Palgrave Macmillan
  • Williams OD & Rushton S (2011) , Partnerships and Foundations in Global Health Governance (pp. 1-25). Palgrave Macmillan UK
  • Williams OD & Rushton S (2011) , Partnerships and Foundations in Global Health Governance (pp. 253-267). Palgrave Macmillan UK
  • Rushton S (2009) Global Governance Capacities in Health: WHO and Infectious Diseases, GLOBAL HEALTH GOVERNANCE - CRISIS, INSTITUTIONS AND POLITICAL ECONOMY (pp. 60-80).
  • Rushton S (2008) A History of Peace through Health In Arya N & Barbara JS (Ed.), Peace Through Health Kumarian Press

Book reviews

  • Rushton S (2026) . Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.
  • Rushton S (2025) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 41(2), 254-256.
  • Rushton S (2024) . Medicine Conflict & Survival, 40(2), 208-210.
  • Rushton S (2021) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 37(4), 330-332.
  • Rushton S (2013) South African AIDS activism and global health politics.. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, 89(6), 1498-1499.
  • Rushton S (2008) Groove Armada: Rafa Benítez, Anfield and the New Spanish Fury. Soccer and Society, 1(9), 151-153.
  • Rushton S (2008) The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American Power. Intelligence and National Security, 4(23), 586-588.

Digital content

  • Davies SE & Rushton S (2015) Healing or Harming? United Nations Peacekeeping and Health.
  • Rushton S (2011) AIDS: Five Neglected Questions for Global Health Strategies.
  • Rushton S '‘The Public’, Participation, and the Ethics of Engaging with Communities' in Kate Dommett and Nikki Soo (eds.), Who and What are the Public?.
  • Elbe S & Rushton S Antimicrobial Resistance and International Relations: Research Brief.

Datasets

  • Rushton S (2021) .
  • Rushton S, Baidya M, Chater T, Green D, Karki J, Lee A & Pohl G (2021) .
  • Godziewski C & Rushton S .

Other

  • Lee ACK & Rushton S (2025) . Public Health, 242, 101-102.
  • Rushton S & Kett M (2019) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 35(4), 294-294.
  • Kett M & Rushton S (2017) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 33(3), 167-167.
  • Kett M & Rushton S (2017) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 33(1), 1-2.
  • Rushton S & Kett M (2016) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 32(4), 253-254.
  • Roemer-Mahler A & Rushton S (2016) . Third World Quarterly, 37(3), 373-379.
  • Rushton S & Kett M (2015) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 31(3-4), 141-143.
  • Arya N, Birch M, Boulton F, Hodgson S, Holdstock M, Ingram A, Karamoskos P, Kett M, McCoy D, Pountney M , Rushton S et al (2015) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 31(2), 81-87.
  • Kett M & Rushton S (2015) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 31(1), 1-3.
  • Rushton S & Kett M (2014) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 30(3), 143-145.
  • Rushton S & Kett M (2014) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 30(3), 165-165.
  • Kett M & Rushton S (2014) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 30(2), 73-74.
  • Rushton S & Kett M (2014) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 30(1), 1-3.
  • Kett M & Rushton S (2013) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 29(4), 267-269.
  • Kett M & Rushton S (2013) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 29(2), 89-92.
  • Rushton S & Kett M (2013) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 29(3), 165-168.
  • Rushton S & Kett M (2012) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 28(4), 275-277.
  • Kett M & Rushton S (2012) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 28(3), 191-194.
  • Ingram A, Rushton S & Kett M (2012) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 28(2), 107-109.
  • Ingram A, Rushton S & Kett M (2012) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 28(2), 111-112.
  • Rushton S, Ingram A & Kett M (2011) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 27(4), 187-190.
  • Kett M, Rushton S & Ingram A (2011) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 27(3), 139-140.
  • Ingram A, Kett M & Rushton S (2011) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 27(2), 73-76.
  • Rushton S, Ingram A & Kett M (2011) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 27(1), 1-4.
  • Kett M, Ingram A & Rushton S (2010) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 26(4), 247-251.
  • Kett M & Rushton S (2010) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 26(3), 185-189.
  • Kett M, Rushton S & Ingram A (2010) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 26(2), v-vii.
  • Kett M, Rushton S & Ingram A (2010) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 26(1), 1-3.
  • Rushton S, Kett M & Ingram A (2009) . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 25(3), 187-190.
  • Kett M & Rushton S () . Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 1-3.
Research group

International Relations
Institute for Global Sustainable Development (Co-Director)

Grants

Externally funded research projects

  • Awarding body: Medical Research Foundation
  • Title of Research: ‘Strengthening local government capacities for health service management, procurement and service planning: Maximising impact from the Nepal Federalisation of Health project’
  • Principal Investigator: Simon Rushton
  • Co-Investigators: Julie Balen (Canterbury Christ Church University); Jiban Karki (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine); Barsha Rijal (PHASE Nepal); Amshu Dhakal (Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences)
  • Duration: 12 months (2026-7)
  • Total award: £29,576
  • Awarding body: EPSRC
  • Title of Research: ‘Building Disaster Resilience to Seismic Hazards in Uganda’.
  • Principal Investigator: Zuhal Ozdemir (Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield)
  • Co-Investigator: Simon Rushton
  • Duration: 24 months (2024-6)
  • Total award: £165,372
  • Awarding body: Medical Research Foundation
  • Title of Research: ‘Health systems, policy and politics in federal Nepal: A Participatory Dissemination Programme’
  • Principal Investigator: Julie Balen (Canterbury Christ Church University)
  • Co-Investigators: Simon Rushton; Sujan Marahatta (Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences); Padam Simkhada (University of Huddersfield); Rudra Neupane (PHASE Nepal).
  • Duration: 12 months (2024-5)

  • Total award: £30,000

  • Awarding Body: AHRC-GCRF Creating Safer Space Network
  • Title of Research: 'Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia: local experiences and lessons learned’
  • Principal Investigator: Juan Mario Diaz Arevalo Co-Investigators: Adrián Alzate (Universidad Autónoma de Occidente); Natalia Campo (Universidad Autónoma de Occidente); Jesús Alfonso Flórez López (Universidad Autónoma de Occidente); Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield); Arlene Tickner (Universidad del Rosario)
  • Duration: 12 months (2022-2023)
  • Total Award: £88,176
  • Awarding Body: NIHR Global Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) Programme
  • Title of Research: â€˜Living in the city: Building collaborations to strengthen health systems to respond to the needs of newly urbanised populations in Africa and Asia.'
  • Principal Investigators: Simon Rushton and Manish Baidya (PHASE Nepal, Nepal)
  • Co-Investigators: Genevieve Aryeetey (University of Ghana), Helen Elsey (University of York), Rumana Huque (ARK Foundation, Bangladesh), Jiban Karki (ScHARR, University of Sheffield), Andrew Lee (ScHARR, University of Sheffield), Sarita Panday (Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield),
  • Duration: 9 months (2020)
  • Total Award:&²Ô²ú²õ±è;£99,650
  • Awarding Body: DFID/ESRC/MRC/Wellcome Health Systems Research Initiative
  • Title of Research: â€˜The impact of federalisation on Nepal's health system: a longitudinal analysis’.
  • Principal Investigators: Simon Rushton and Julie Balen (ScHARR, University of Sheffield).
  • Co-Investigators: Shiva Adhikari (INEHD, Nepal), Jiban Karki (ScHARR, University of Sheffield), Andrew Lee (ScHARR, University of Sheffield), Sujan Marahatta (Tribhuvan University, Nepal), Sarita Panday (Politics, University of Sheffield), Padam Simkhada (University of Huddersfield), Madhusudan Subedi (Tribhuvan University, Nepal), Edwin van Teijlingen (Bournemouth University).
  • Duration: 36 months (2020-2023)
  • Total Award:&²Ô²ú²õ±è;£984,175
  • Awarding Body: UKRI GCRF NGO Secondary Data Analysis Scheme
  • Title of Research: ‘Determinants of health in rural Nepal: Utilising PHASE Nepal data to investigate social inequalities in health and healthcare amongst under-5s’
  • Principal Investigator: Simon Rushton
  • Co-Investigators: Manish Baidya (PHASE Nepal), Tim Chater (ScHARR, University of Sheffield), Dan Green (ScHARR, University of Sheffield), Jiban Karki (ScHARR, University of Sheffield), Andrew Lee (ScHARR, University of Sheffield), Gerda Pohl (PHASE Nepal).
  • Duration: 16 months (2019-2021)
  • Total Award:&²Ô²ú²õ±è;£171,520
  • Awarding Body: Newton RCUK-Colciencias Research Partnership
  • Title of Research: Improbable Dialogues: Participatory Research as a Strategy for Reconciliation
  • Principal Investigators: Simon Rushton and Jefferson Jaramillo (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia)
  • Co-Investigators: Matthew Bishop (Politics, UoS), Jackie Harrison (Journalism, UoS), Jaime Hernandez-Garcia (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia), Juan Miguel Kanai (Geography, UoS), Melanie Lombard (Urban Studies, UoS); Stefanie Pukallus (Journalism, UoS), Jose Manuel Salamanca (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia), Fernando Sarmiento (CINEP, Colombia), Helen Turton (Politics, UoS), Juan Pablo Vera (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia), Maria Zapata (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia).
  • Duration: 24 months (2018-2020)
  • Total Award: £502,763 (£392,763 UK; £110,000 Colombia).
  • Awarding Body: ESRC-DFID Development Frontiers Research Scheme.
  • Title of Research: Resilience Policymaking in Nepal: giving voice to communities
  • Principal Investigator: Simon Rushton
  • Co-Investigators: Julie Balen (ScHARR, University of Sheffield), Bhimsen Devkota (Bikas Shrot Kendra, Nepal), Jonathan Joseph (Politics, University of Sheffield), Jiban Karki (Politics, University of Sheffield), Andrew Lee (ScHARR, University of Sheffield), Martina McGuinness (Management School, University of Sheffield), Sarita Panday (Politics, University of Sheffield)
  • Duration: 12 months (2017-2018)
  • Total Award: £297,906
  • Awarding Body: Wellcome Trust
  • Title of Research: Healthcare Anatomy of Conflict
  • Principal Investigator: Louis Lilywhite (Chatham House)
  • Collaborators: Karl Blanchet (LSHTM); Stuart Gordon (LSE); Simon Rushton.
  • Duration: 12 months (2015-2016)
  • Total Award: £50,000
Teaching activities

At Undergraduate level, Simon teaches the Level Three module POL3139 Pandemics and Panics: Health, Security and Global Politics. At Master’s level, he teaches POL6604 Global Health and Global Politics.

In 2017, Simon received a Teaching Excellence in Social Sciences award for Outstanding Practice in Learning and Teaching. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

“I view students taking my modules as emerging scholars with something to contribute to our knowledge and understanding, not as passive recipients of truths handed down from on high. The balance I try to strike in my teaching is between conveying knowledge and at the same time helping students to develop the conceptual and critical tools that allow them to challenge conventional wisdoms and re-think common assumptions.

I always enjoy working with students from different backgrounds and with varied life experiences who can engage critically with big political issues, look at things in different ways, and ask new questions. I invariably learn something new from each group of students that I teach.â€

Professional activities and memberships

Simon is an elected Trustee and Executive Committee member of the British International Studies Association. He is the Programme Chair of the BISA Conference for 2026 and 2027.

PhD Supervision

I am happy to hear from students considering a PhD in any area of global health politics or post-conflict peacebuilding.


Current and completed PhD students:     

  • Chiara Rambaldi, ‘Understanding the Institutional Barriers to Access to Medical Narcotics Within the International Drug Regime’.
  • Jingyu Wei, ‘Care as Governance: Gendered Labour, Institutional Power, and the Politics of Visibility in Chinese Hospitals
  • Naweed Ahmad Moez, ‘Government Collapse in Civil War: Centre-Periphery Relations and Government Collapse in Afghanistan’.  
  • Kieran Collins, ‘Securitization, COVID-19 and the role of the public: how the UK public played a significant role in the processes of securitization of COVID-19’
  • Mohamed Ali,  â€˜Developing strategy for effective health workforce management in conflict-affected Somalia’.
  • Ka Chun Ho, ‘The Collaborative Governance of Health and Wellbeing before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A case study of the Sheffield Health and Wellbeing Board’.
  •  Asma Aldawood, ‘Barriers to the provision of mobility assistive technologies and associated services in Saudi Arabia’.
  • Jean-Claude Kayumba, ‘The role of radio in post-conflict society: The example of Radio Okapi in DR Congo and its coverage of the first three democratic elections in the country (2006, 2011 and 2018)’.
  • Minju Jung, ‘The Political Dynamics of Decision-Making in Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI): Decision-making in the GAVI board on COVAX’.
  • Chishimba Mulambia, ‘Health sector decentralization in Zambia’.
  • Adam Ferhani, ‘Health Security as Practice: A Praxiographic Study of Routine Health Security at the UK Border’.
  • Charlotte Godziewski, ‘Health in All Policies at EU level: A Critical Analysis’.
  • Maëlle de Seze, ‘Health policymaking between West Africa and WHO: The construction of viral hepatitis as a global problem and the responses to hepatitis B in Senegal and the Gambia’.
  • Remi Adekoya, 'Between the Ethnic and the National: A discourse analysis of how Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello constructed sub-national identities in Nigeria between the years 1945 to 1967'
  • Jonathan Webb, ‘Promoting the rule of law through EU enlargement? Ascertaining the substance of the EU’s ‘new approach’ through an analysis of Serbia’s rule of law reforms’.
  • Herman Salton, ‘Dangerous Diplomacy: Anatomy of the UN Failure in Rwanda’.
  • Sonja Kittelsen, ‘The EU and the Securitization of pandemic influenza’.