Dr Duncan Gillespie

PhD

School of Medicine and Population Health

Senior Research Fellow

Duncan Gillespie
Profile picture of Duncan Gillespie
duncan.gillespie@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 4310
Regent Court (ScHARR)

Full contact details

Dr Duncan Gillespie
School of Medicine and Population Health
Regent Court (ScHARR)
30 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 4DA
Profile

I aim to support decision-making to improve population health and reduce inequalities.
I'm interested in how population change results from changes in individuals' lives, and how inequalities in health and socio-economic situation are maintained during the process of population change. This research involves combining theory, qualitative, epidemiological and demographic data, and mathematical modelling to understand the link between individual and population change.

My research focuses on how to support decision makers to implement effective and equitable policy and interventions. This requires predicting their likely health, economic and wider societal effects, and thinking of new ways to present the outputs in terms of uncertainty-laden choices.

My current work in this area is mainly on tobacco and alcohol policy in the UK, where patterns of consumption are changing rapidly. I'm interested in opportunities to develop work in the area of cancer prevention, screening and improvement of outcomes. I'm also interested in developing this research in a global health context.

I am committed to developing open and reproducible code and software. I work primarily in the R environment. I am particularly interested in new ways to engineer mathematical modelling code to make it efficient, communicable and reusable across projects.

Keywords: Demography, ageing, public health modelling, epidemiology, inequality, health economics, population dynamics, R statistics, tobacco, alcohol and diet policy.

Publications

Show: Featured publications All publications

Journal articles

  • Gillespie D, Morris D, Angus C, Wilson LB, Chen RKL, Leeming G, Holmes J & Brennan A (2025) . Tobacco Control.
  • Wilson LB, Angus C, Brennan A, Gillespie D, Shortt NK, Tunstall H, Valiente R & Pearce J (2025) . Tobacco Control.
  • Morris D, Angus C, Gillespie D, Stevely A, Pryce R, Wilson L, Henney M, Meier P, Holmes J & Brennan A (2024) . The Lancet Public Health, 9(10), e719-e728.
  • Morris D, Gillespie D, Dockrell MJ, Cook M, Horton M, Brown J & Langley TE (2024) . Tobacco Control.
  • Hatchard J, Buykx P, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2023) . NIHR Open Research, 3.
  • Brennan A, Angus C, Pryce R, Buykx P, Henney M, Gillespie D, Holmes J & Meier PS (2022) . Addiction, 118(5), 819-833.
  • Opazo Breton M, Gillespie D, Pryce R, Bogdanovica I, Angus C, Hernandez Alava M, Brennan A & Britton J (2022) . Addiction, 117(5), 1392-1403.
  • Langley T, Gillespie D, Lewis S, Eminson K, Brennan A, Docherty G & Young B (2021) . Journal of Public Health, 43(3), 639-646.
  • Brennan A, Angus C, Pryce R, Buykx P, Henney M, Gillespie D, Holmes J & Meier PS (2021) . Public Health Research, 9(4).
  • Wilson LB, Angus C, Pryce R, Holmes J, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2021) . Addiction, 116(9), 2538-2547.
  • Wilson LB, Pryce R, Angus C, Hiscock R, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2021) . The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care, 22(3), 381-392.
  • Gillespie D, Hatchard J, Squires H, Gilmore A & Brennan A (2021) . BMC Public Health, 21.
  • Wilson LB, Pryce R, Hiscock R, Angus C, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2021) . Tobacco Control, 30(e1), e27-e32.
  • Angus C, Pryce R, Holmes J, de Vocht F, Hickman M, Meier P, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2020) . Addiction, 115(12), 2268-2279.
  • Yang F, Angus C, Duarte A, Gillespie D, Walker S & Griffin S (2020) . Medical Decision Making, 40(5), 606-618.
  • Pryce R, Angus C, Holmes J, Gillespie D, Buykx P, Meier P, Hickman M, de Vocht F & Brennan A (2020) . Population Health Metrics, 18(1).
  • Angus C, Brown J, Beard E, Gillespie D, Buykx P, Kaner E, Michie S & Meier P (2019) . BMJ Open, 9(4).
  • Sadler S, Angus C, Gavens L, Gillespie D, Holmes J, Hamilton J, Brennan A & Meier P (2017) . Addiction, 112(5), 808-817.
  • Brown J, West R, Beard E, Brennan A, Drummond C, Gillespie D, Hickman M, Holmes J, Kaner E & Michie S (2016) . BMC Public Health, 16.
  • Allen K, Gillespie DOS, Guzman-Castillo M, Diggle PJ, Capewell S & O'Flaherty M (2016) . International Journal of Cardiology, 203, 290-297.
  • Gillespie DOS, Allen K, Guzman-Castillo M, Bandosz P, Moreira P, McGill R, Anwar E, Lloyd-Williams F, Bromley H, Diggle PJ , Capewell S et al (2015) . Plos One, 10(7).
  • McGill R, Anwar E, Orton L, Bromley H, Lloyd-Williams F, O’Flaherty M, Taylor-Robinson D, Guzman-Castillo M, Gillespie D, Moreira P , Allen K et al (2015) . BMC Public Health, 15(1).
  • Bandosz P, O'Flaherty M, Rutkowski M, Kypridemos C, Guzman-Castillo M, Gillespie DOS, Solnica B, Pencina MJ, Wyrzykowski B, Capewell S & Zdrojewski T (2015) . International Journal of Cardiology, 185, 313-319.
  • Gillespie DOS, Coulson TN & Tuljapurkar SD (2014) . Oral Presentations, A55.2-A56.
  • Guzman Castillo M, Gillespie DOS, Allen K, Bandosz P, Schmid V, Capewell S & O'Flaherty M (2014) . PloS one, 9(6), e99482.
  • Gillespie DOS, Trotter MV & Tuljapurkar SD (2014) . Demography, 51(3), 1003-1017.

Conference proceedings

  • Tian D, Squires H, Buckley C, Gillespie D, Tattan-Birch H, Shahab L, West R, Brennan A, Brown J & Purshouse R (2025) . 2024 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC) (pp 252-263). Orlando, Florida, 15 December 2024 - 15 December 2024.
  • Hatchard J, Gillespie D & Buykx P (2019) Using framework analysis deductively : a case study from alcohol and tobacco tax policy and modelling research. Myths, Methods and Messiness : Insights for Qualitative Research Analysis: Edited Proceedings of the 5th Annual Qualitative Research Symposium' (pp 30-39). Bath, UK, 30 January 2019 - 30 January 2019.

Preprints

  • Wambiya EOA, Oguta JO, Akparibo R, Gillespie D, Otieno P, Akoth C, Kamano J, Kibe P, Kisaka Y, Onyango E , Gathecha G et al (2024) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

All publications

Journal articles

  • Morris D, Gillespie D, James M, Breeze P & Brennan A (2026) . Addiction.
  • Chen RKL, Morris D, Angus C, Gilmore A, Hiscock R, Holmes J, Langley TE, Pryce R, Wilson LB, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2026) . Tobacco Control.
  • Cherodian R, Franklin M, Baxter S, Chilcott J & Gillespie D (2025) . BMJ Public Health, 3(2), e001659-e001659.
  • Head C, Chanakira E, Gillespie D, Breeze P, Angus C, Thomas C & Brennan A (2025) . European Journal of Public Health, 35(Supplement_4).
  • Squires H, Gillespie D, Kock L, Hock E, Hiscock R, Bogdanovica I, Lewis C, Robson D, Filippidis F, Langley T , Pulsford E et al (2025) . NIHR Open Research.
  • Tunstall H, Wilson LB, Valiente R, Shortt NK, Angus C, Brennan A, Gillespie D & Pearce J (2025) . Tobacco Control.
  • West R, Brown J, Shahab L, Baird H, Webb T, Squires H, Tattan-Birch H, Gillespie D, Purshouse R, Brennan A , Mazumdar S et al (2025) . Wellcome Open Research, 10, 455-455.
  • Wambiya EOA, Oguta JO, Akparibo R, Gillespie D, Otieno P, Akoth C, Kamano J, Kibe P, Kisaka Y, Onyango E , Gathecha G et al (2025) . PLOS Global Public Health, 5(7).
  • Gillespie D, Morris D, Angus C, Wilson LB, Chen RKL, Leeming G, Holmes J & Brennan A (2025) . Tobacco Control.
  • Wilson LB, Angus C, Brennan A, Gillespie D, Shortt NK, Tunstall H, Valiente R & Pearce J (2025) . Tobacco Control.
  • Wambiya EOA, Gillespie D, Akparibo R, Oguta J, Akoth C, Otieno P & Dodd P (2024) . Value in Health, 27(12), S167-S167.
  • Morris D, Angus C, Gillespie D, Stevely A, Pryce R, Wilson L, Henney M, Meier P, Holmes J & Brennan A (2024) . The Lancet Public Health, 9(10), e719-e728.
  • Morris D, Gillespie D, Dockrell MJ, Cook M, Horton M, Brown J & Langley TE (2024) . Tobacco Control.
  • Woodrow N, Gillespie D, Kitchin L, O’Brien M, Chapman S, Chng NR, Passey A, Aquino MRJ, Clarke Z & Goyder E (2024) Reintroducing face-to-face support alongside remote support to form a hybrid stop smoking service in England: a formative mixed methods evaluation. BMC public health, 24(1).
  • Valiente R, Tunstall H, Kong AY, Wilson LB, Gillespie D, Angus C, Brennan A, Shortt NK & Pearce J (2024) . Tobacco Control.
  • Pryce R, Wilson LB, Gillespie D, Angus C, Morris D & Brennan A (2024) . Drug and Alcohol Review, 43(1), 315-324.
  • Hatchard J, Buykx P, Wilson L, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2023) . International Journal of Drug Policy, 122.
  • Hatchard J, Buykx P, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2023) . NIHR Open Research, 3(26).
  • Hatchard J, Buykx P, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2023) . NIHR Open Research, 3(26).
  • Hock ES, Franklin M, Baxter S, Clowes M, Chilcott J & Gillespie D (2023) . NIHR Open Research, 3(28).
  • Hatchard J, Buykx P, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2023) . NIHR Open Research, 3.
  • Valiente R, Tunstall H, Kong A, Wilson L, Gillespie D, Angus C, Brennan A, Shortt N & Pearce J (2023) . Tobacco Prevention & Cessation, 9(Supplement), 57-57.
  • Brennan A, Angus C, Pryce R, Buykx P, Henney M, Gillespie D, Holmes J & Meier PS (2022) . Addiction, 118(5), 819-833.
  • Opazo Breton M, Gillespie D, Pryce R, Bogdanovica I, Angus C, Hernandez Alava M, Brennan A & Britton J (2022) . Addiction, 117(5), 1392-1403.
  • Langley T, Gillespie D, Lewis S, Eminson K, Brennan A, Docherty G & Young B (2021) . Journal of Public Health, 43(3), 639-646.
  • Brennan A, Angus C, Pryce R, Buykx P, Henney M, Gillespie D, Holmes J & Meier PS (2021) . Public Health Research, 9(4).
  • Wilson LB, Angus C, Pryce R, Holmes J, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2021) . Addiction, 116(9), 2538-2547.
  • Wilson LB, Pryce R, Angus C, Hiscock R, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2021) . The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care, 22(3), 381-392.
  • Horton M, Perman-Howe P, Angus C, Bishop J, Bogdanovica I, Brennan A, Britton J, Brose L, Brown J, Collin J , Dockrell M et al (2021) .
  • Gillespie D, Hatchard J, Squires H, Gilmore A & Brennan A (2021) . BMC Public Health, 21.
  • Wilson LB, Pryce R, Hiscock R, Angus C, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2021) . Tobacco Control, 30(e1), e27-e32.
  • Angus C, Pryce R, Holmes J, de Vocht F, Hickman M, Meier P, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2020) . Addiction, 115(12), 2268-2279.
  • Yang F, Angus C, Duarte A, Gillespie D, Walker S & Griffin S (2020) . Medical Decision Making, 40(5), 606-618.
  • Pryce R, Angus C, Holmes J, Gillespie D, Buykx P, Meier P, Hickman M, de Vocht F & Brennan A (2020) . Population Health Metrics, 18(1).
  • Holmes J, Beard E, Brennan A, Brown J, Gillespie D, Meier PS, Michie S, Stevely AK, Webster L & Buykx P (2019) . The Lancet, 394, S54-S54.
  • Yang F, Duarte A, Walker S, Angus C, Gillespie D & Griffin S (2019) . Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 73(Suppl 1).
  • Angus C, Gillespie D, Yang F, Duarte A, Walker S & Griffin S (2019) . Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 73(Suppl 1).
  • Angus C, Brown J, Beard E, Gillespie D, Buykx P, Kaner E, Michie S & Meier P (2019) . BMJ Open, 9(4).
  • Sadler S, Angus C, Gavens L, Gillespie D, Holmes J, Hamilton J, Brennan A & Meier P (2017) . Addiction, 112(5), 808-817.
  • Brown J, West R, Beard E, Brennan A, Drummond C, Gillespie D, Hickman M, Holmes J, Kaner E & Michie S (2016) . BMC Public Health, 16.
  • Allen K, Gillespie DOS, Guzman-Castillo M, Diggle PJ, Capewell S & O'Flaherty M (2016) . International Journal of Cardiology, 203, 290-297.
  • Gillespie DOS, Allen K, Guzman-Castillo M, Bandosz P, Moreira P, McGill R, Anwar E, Lloyd-Williams F, Bromley H, Diggle PJ , Capewell S et al (2015) . Plos One, 10(7).
  • McGill R, Anwar E, Orton L, Bromley H, Lloyd-Williams F, O’Flaherty M, Taylor-Robinson D, Guzman-Castillo M, Gillespie D, Moreira P , Allen K et al (2015) . BMC Public Health, 15(1).
  • Bandosz P, O'Flaherty M, Rutkowski M, Kypridemos C, Guzman-Castillo M, Gillespie DOS, Solnica B, Pencina MJ, Wyrzykowski B, Capewell S & Zdrojewski T (2015) . International Journal of Cardiology, 185, 313-319.
  • Bandosz P, O’Flaherty M, Capewell S, Rutkowski M, Kypridemos C, Guzman-Castillo M, Gillespie D, Moreira P & Zdrojewski T (2014) . Oral Presentations, A49.1-A49.
  • Guzman Castillo M, O’Flaherty M, Couch P, Sperrin M, Lloyd S, Soiland-Reyes C, Green B, Kypridemos C, Gillespie DOS, Allen A , Buchan I et al (2014) . Oral Presentations, A35.2-A36.
  • Gillespie DOS, Coulson TN & Tuljapurkar SD (2014) . Oral Presentations, A55.2-A56.
  • Gillespie DOS, Allen K, Guzman-Castillo M, Bandosz P, Moreira P, McGill R, Lloyd-Williams F, Bromley H, Diggle P, O’Flaherty M & Capewell S (2014) . Oral Presentations, A53.1-A53.
  • Guzman Castillo M, Gillespie DOS, Allen K, Bandosz P, Schmid V, Capewell S & O'Flaherty M (2014) . PloS one, 9(6), e99482.
  • Gillespie DOS, Trotter MV & Tuljapurkar SD (2014) . Demography, 51(3), 1003-1017.
  • Guzman Castillo M, Gillespie D, Allen K, Bandosz P, Schmid V, Capewell S & O'Flaherty M (2014) . Circulation, 129(suppl_1).
  • Gillespie DOS, Trotter MV, Krishna-Kumar S & Tuljapurkar SD (2014) . Evolution, 68(3), 886-892.
  • Gillespie DOS, Russell AF & Lummaa V (2013) . Evolution, 67(7), 1964-1974.
  • Lahdenperä M, Gillespie DOS, Lummaa V & Russell AF (2012) . Ecology Letters, 15(11), 1283-1290.
  • Nakagawa S, Ockendon N, Gillespie DOS, Hatchwell BJ & Burke T (2011) . Behavioral Ecology, 22(2), 445-446.
  • CLEASBY IR, NAKAGAWA S, GILLESPIE DOS & BURKE T (2010) . Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 101(3), 680-688.
  • Gillespie DOS, Lahdenperä M, Russell AF & Lummaa V (2010) . The American Naturalist, 176(2), 159-169.
  • Gillespie DOS, Russell AF & Lummaa V (2008) . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 275(1635), 713-722.
  • NAKAGAWA S, GILLESPIE DOS, HATCHWELL BJ & BURKE T (2007) . Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 20(5), 1674-1681.
  • Nakagawa S, Ockendon N, Gillespie DOS, Hatchwell BJ & Burke T (2007) . Oecologia, 153(3), 749-760.
  • Valiente R, Tunstall H, Wilson LB, Gillespie D, Pearce J & Shortt NK () . Addiction.
  • Lewis C, Gallagher C, Fairbrother H & Gillespie D () . BMC Public Health.
  • Holmes J, Morris D, Gillespie D, Brennan A, Leeming G, Chen RKL, Wilson L & Angus C () . PLOS Medicine, 23(1), e1004792-e1004792.
  • Buykx P & Hatchard J () .

Conference proceedings

  • Tian D, Squires H, Buckley C, Gillespie D, Tattan-Birch H, Shahab L, West R, Brennan A, Brown J & Purshouse R (2025) . 2024 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC) (pp 252-263). Orlando, Florida, 15 December 2024 - 15 December 2024.
  • Woodrow N, Gillespie D, Kitchin L, O’Brien M, Chapman S, Chng NR, Passey A, Raisa Jessica Aquino M, Clarke Z & Goyder E (2024) . SSM Annual Scientific Meeting (pp A89.1-A89)
  • Wambiya E, Gillespie D, Akparibo R, Oguta J, Akoth C, Otieno P & Dodd P (2024) DECISION-ANALYTIC MODEL-BASED ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS OF INTEGRATED CARE INTERVENTIONS FOR CARDIOMETABOLIC MULTIMORBIDITY: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW. VALUE IN HEALTH, Vol. 27(12) (pp S167-S167)
  • Needham KJ, Tappenden P, Gillespie D & Whyte S (2023) Model-based Evaluations of the Cost-effectiveness of Interventions for Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review. JOURNAL OF THORACIC ONCOLOGY, Vol. 18(11) (pp S134-S134)
  • Amy J-YC, Latimer NR, Gillespie D & Chilcott J (2020) PREVALENCE, CHARACTERISTICS AND KEY ISSUES OF MODELLING TREATMENT SEQUENCES IN HEALTH ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF NICE TECHNOLOGY APPRAISALS. VALUE IN HEALTH, Vol. 23 (pp S606-S606)
  • Hatchard J, Buykx P, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2019) . The Lancet, Vol. 394(Suppl 2) (pp S51-S51). London, UK, 29 November 2019 - 29 November 2019.
  • Hatchard J, Gillespie D & Buykx P (2019) Using framework analysis deductively : a case study from alcohol and tobacco tax policy and modelling research. Myths, Methods and Messiness : Insights for Qualitative Research Analysis: Edited Proceedings of the 5th Annual Qualitative Research Symposium' (pp 30-39). Bath, UK, 30 January 2019 - 30 January 2019.

Reports

  • Webster L, Angus C, Brennan A & Gillespie D (2018)
  • Angus C, Henney M, Webster L & Gillespie D (2018)
  • Webster L, Angus C, Holmes J, Brennan A & Gillespie D ()
  • Webster L, Angus C, Brennan A & Gillespie D ()
  • Brennan A, Buykx P, Pryce RE, Jones A, Hill-McManus D, Stone T, Ally A, Gillespie D, Meier P, Alston R , Cairns D et al () An evidence-based model for estimating requirements for specialist alcohol treatment capacity in England: The Specialist Treatment for Alcohol Model (STreAM) Version 1.0

Posters

  • Sadler S, Angus C, Gell L, Gillespie D, Holmes J, Brennan A & Meier P Comparing socioeconomic gradients in alcohol-related harm between the four UK countries (PHE Applied Epidemiology Scientific Meeting 18-19 March 2015).

Datasets

  • Gillespie D, Hatchard J, Squires H, Gilmore A & Brennan A .

Other

  • Gillespie D, Webster L & Brennan A () .

Preprints

  • Wambiya EOA, Oguta JO, Akparibo R, Gillespie D, Otieno P, Akoth C, Kamano J, Kibe P, Kisaka Y, Onyango E , Gathecha G et al (2024) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
  • Wambiya EOA, Gillespie D, Akparibo R, Oguta JO, Akoth C, Otieno P & Dodd PJ (2024) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
  • Cherodian R, Franklin M, Baxter S, Chilcott J & Gillespie D (2024) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
  • Hock ES, Franklin M, Baxter S, Clowes M, Chilcott J & Gillespie D (2023) .
  • Hock ES, Franklin M, Baxter S, Clowes M, Chilcott J & Gillespie D (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
  • Gillespie DOS, Trotter MV & Tuljapurkar SD (2013) , arXiv.
Research group

I currently work mainly with the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group and the  to develop the health and economic modelling of the effects of tobacco and alcohol policies and interventions.


Main current research themes



Alcohol, tobacco and e-cigarette pricing policy
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Stop smoking service evaluations
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Professional activities and memberships
  • ±¬ÁÏTV representative (with Dr Emma Hock) on Sheffield City Council's Tobacco Control Board
     
  • Deputy editor for the journal