HFF In Conversation With…Amrit Kaur Purba, HFF Small Pilot Grant Recipient

Amrit’s educators played a defining role in shaping her career path. Growing up in Glasgow, she recalls the moment her interest in health first ignited: “My biology teacher introduced me to the biomedical model of healthcare – the idea that health is defined by the absence of disease and restored through medical intervention. What struck me was how biology offered a way to understand the mechanisms driving health and disease, and how that knowledge could translate into care.”

She went on to study BA (Honours) in Nursing, where a single optional module changed everything: “I chose ‘Introduction to Public Health’, taught by an incredible nurse leader. Instead of steering me towards a traditional clinical career, she made me believe the sky was the limit. This course introduced me to the social determinants of health, the idea that health is determined not just by biological factors, but by social and environmental contexts, including the inequalities that structure peoples’ lives. That early spark has stayed with me, and it still drives my work today.”

Amrit’s growing interest in public health and health inequalities led her first to a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Glasgow, followed by roles in health protection and research at Public Health England from 2017 to 2019. She later returned to Glasgow to pursue a PhD in Public Health, but only a year into her doctorate, the pandemic struck.“I was invited to return to practice and became a Senior Health Protection Lead for Public Health Scotland’s COVID-19 response. I provided strategic and operational leadership to the national contact-tracing workforce and helped establish the country’s tracing infrastructure, a role that brought together everything I cared about: tackling inequalities, clinical practice, public health surveillance data, technology, and health communication.”

Reflecting on her journey from nursing into research and leadership, she highlights the structural challenges that often go unseen: “Nursing is often seen as a purely clinical profession, but in truth it is the structural barriers within the system that limit nurses’ access to academic and leadership pathways. The scarcity of nurses with PhDs isn’t about capability, it’s about opportunity. Through my work with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, I’m helping to tackle these barriers and open up academic and leadership routes for the next generation.”

After completing her PhD, Amrit worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute (University of Oxford) before moving to the University of Cambridge, where she became a Senior Research Associate and later an Assistant Research Professor: “Studying at the University of Glasgow gave me an incredible foundation. It taught me that science exists to serve people, not profiles, and to lead with clarity and purpose. Those values stayed with me throughout my career and shaped my time at Oxford and Cambridge. They reminded me that excellence comes in many forms, and that strong research culture is defined by its values and integrity.”

Amrit is one of 11 early career researchers to have been awarded an HFF pilot grant of c. £25,000 to conduct research on the Impact of Digital Technology on Brain Development, Social Behaviours and Mental Health in Young People. Her research project is entitled Unlocking Adolescent Insights: Evaluating TikTok Data Recruitment Through Data Download Packages and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for Enhanced Social Media Research. Amrit explains: “We’re aiming to understand whether young people would feel comfortable donating their TikTok data for research. Working with the UK Smart Data Donation Service (SDDS) we built a simulated version of the API and piloted it with adolescents, then ran a larger study capturing the views of 400 young people to assess their willingness to donate their data. We’re now analysing the findings, which will feed into SDDS, helping to strengthen the national consent, ethics, and onboarding frameworks that underpin safe and ethical large-scale data-donation collection.”

Amrit co-designed the prototype simulation and study with extensive input from her Policy Advisory Group, which includes senior stakeholders from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ofcom, the Department for Education, the NHS, and organisations such as ADHD UK, as well as guidance from her Youth Advisory Group to ensure adolescent voices shaped the design. Their involvement helped ensure the system was clear, transparent, and appropriate for young people. “One of the things I feel strongly about is that data donation must be underpinned by robust ethical and governance frameworks.”

Reflecting on her experience of working closely with youth, Amrit notes: “They were clear about wanting to be treated as adults and asked exactly how their data would be used, where it would be stored, and why it was needed. It reaffirmed something fundamental: we need young people involved at every stage, from design to delivery.”

The Foundation’s grant has played a pivotal role in shaping Amrit’s research. “It enabled me to ensure that the work we’re doing, and the work that will follow, is not only ethically robust but grounded in scientific integrity. The pilot grant laid essential groundwork, not just for my project but for future studies to build on with the same commitment to rigour and transparency. It was a major step in leading my own research agenda, and it gave me the confidence to pursue more ambitious funding.”

Following the HFF funding, Amrit has been awarded a prestigious 5-year fellowship from Wellcome, which will launch the new Digital Determinants of Health Hub – a major research, policy, and youth-engagement programme she will lead. When asked what she is most excited about, she notes: “The best part is having the freedom to shape the research in the direction I believe will make the greatest difference, especially for young people and for policy.”