Feifei Bu

Feifei Bu is a Principal Research Fellow in the Department of Behavioural Science and Health at University College London, focusing on the health impacts of social factors and non-clinical interventions like social prescribing. She leads the ESRC-funded SPIRITED project and contributes to international research on social determinants of health during the pandemic.

• Current affiliation: University College London (Department of Behavioural Science and Health)
• Past affiliation: University of Stirling (2015–2019)
• Education: PhD in Applied Social and Economic Research (University of Essex)

Her research integrates statistical methods (panel data analysis, multilevel modeling, survival analysis) with epidemiological studies on:

• Social prescribing and cardiovascular health
• Mental health trajectories during isolation
• Social determinants of cognitive decline
• Arts engagement as a health behavior
• Adolescent health interventions

Key trends in her recent publications include:

• Longitudinal analysis of pandemic-related mental health
• Epigenetic aging and leisure activity
• Machine learning applications in social connection phenotyping
• Equity implications of social prescribing referrals
• Time-of-day effects on wellbeing

Feifei supervises PhD students and contributes to teaching at UCL, including modules on:

• Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods (MSc Health Psychology)
• Basic Statistics for Medical Sciences (MSc Health and Society)
• Measuring Population Health (BSc Population Health)

She serves as deputy director of the National Centre on Social Prescribing Data and Analysis and guest-edited BMC Public Health in 2023.