Luke is interested in applying econometric and statistical methods to existing secondary data to investigate the wider determinants of health (determinants outside of the health care sector) and to investigate the consequences of health inequalities.

Luke co-leads the “Health in a wider context” research theme within the Centre for Primary Care and Health Services Research and is the module leader for two modules within the Economics discipline area.

Between September 2016 and August 2019, he held an MRC Skills Development Fellowship, won in an open national competition.

Current research projects include examining the relationships between:

• Health and wider economic outcomes at small area level, particularly around the definition of ‘place’ in place-based health;
• Health and wealth inequalities, with a particular focus on geographic inequalities within England;
• Community assets and health and well-being;
• Commuting mode and health;
• Political ideology and voting and subjective well-being;
• The responses of family doctors in England and financial incentives.

Luke graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2009 with a first class honours in Economics and Mathematics (including being awarded the Rensburg Shephards Prize for Financial and Quantitative Economics). After that he was funded by the NIHR/ESRC/MRC to study for an MSc in Economics and Health Economics, also at Sheffield, which he obtained in 2010. Luke’s dissertation examined the role that the provision of informal care played on subjective well-being.

After this Luke began studying for a PhD in Economics in November 2010. His PhD was funded through the ESRC, the Department for Transport, and Government Scotland.  The main aim of Luke’s PhD research was to elicit the impact that commuting time and distance have on an individual’s levels of well-being, health, income, and social capital by employing various microeconometric techniques to a number of longitudinal data sets.

Luke joined the University of Manchester as a Research Associate in December 2013. He was then appointed to Research Fellow in November 2015, Lecturer in August 2019, and promoted to Senior Lecturer in August 2021. 

Applied health economics and microeconometrics.

Professor Matt Sutton

Anna Wilding

Member of:

• Health Economists' Study Group (HESG)
• International Health Economics Association (iHEA)
• American Society of Health Economists (ASHEcon)
• European Health Economics Association (EuHEA)
• Royal Economic Society (RES)

Organisational Responsibilities:

• EuHEA PhD Early Career Researcher Committee member
• EuHEA PhD Student-Supervisor and Early Career Researcher (ECR) conference organising committee (Manchester, 2014)
• Coordinator of New Researcher Network (NRN) - part of Policy@Manchester

BSc Economics and Mathematics (Uni. of Sheffield, 2009)

MSc Economics and Health Economics (Uni. of Sheffield, 2010)

PhD Economics (Uni. of Sheffield, 2014)

I am currently Module Director for two modules that are based in the Economics discipline area:

ECON32202 Health Economics

ECON60441 Economics of Health