Profile
Biography
Paul is an internationally recognised Professor of Men’s Health dedicated to improving the way healthcare supports men by developing practical, evidence-based solutions that enhance engagement with health services. His research, spanning over two decades, examines how masculinity influences health behaviours and works to break down the barriers that prevent men from seeking support, driving real-world, policy-relevant interventions.
Prof Galdas's work is applied and impact-driven, shaping public health policy and service design to better meet men's needs. His current research focuses on improving access to proactive, early mental health interventions, ensuring men receive support before crises emerge. He leads major projects developing gender-responsive approaches to mental health, workplace wellbeing, and long-term conditions. His work influences health systems, workplace strategies, and elite sporting environments, ensuring interventions are both effective and accessible.
Paul began his career as a Registered Nurse in Coronary Care before transitioning into research, earning a PhD at the University of Leeds in 2006. He held academic positions in the UK and Canada, including at the University of British Columbia and the University of Sheffield, before joining the University of York in 2011.
Teaching
Undergraduate
- Contributions across a range of modules in pre-registration nursing and midwifery programmes.
Postgraduate
Paul is able to supervise Masters projects with a broad focus on men’s health and those which relate to nursing or nurse education. Specific areas of interest include help-seeking behaviour (e.g. access to and uptake of health services) and self-management of long term conditions. Favoured approaches for Masters projects are qualitative evidence synthesis (particularly meta-ethnography) and scoping reviews.
- Contributions to Qualitiative Health Research
- Contributions to Health and Social Behaviour
- Supervision of PhD students:
- Helen Recchia (née Joyce)
- Cheryl Lythgoe
- Bev Waterhouse
- John Ratcliffe
- Sara Ma
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Research
Overview
Paul is an applied health researcher with an interest in the field of men's health, particularly in identifying ways to integrate understandings of masculinity into the design and delivery of health services in order to make them more effective, accessible and acceptable to men. He has used a range of research methodologies, with particular expertise in applied qualitative research.
Paul welcomes enquries for Masters and Doctoral student supervision or external examining (both PhD and taught Doctorate) in the fields of men's health, nursing, nursing education and qualitative research.
Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) Nursing
- PGcert Health Professional Education
- PhD
Projects
Current Projects
- Behavioural Activation for Low mood and anxiety in Male NHS frontline workers: The BALM programme, Movember Foundation (2021-2023); principal investigator
- Exploring General Practice Nurses’ experiences of changing care delivery and implementing new ways of working during and after the COVID-19 19 Pandemic - Implications for future practice, The General Nursing Council for England & Wales Trust; (2021-2022); Co-Investigator
- E-cigarettes for Smoking Cessation And reduction in People with mEntal illness (ESCAPE trial), Yorkshire Cancer Research (2020 – 2024); co-investigator
- Promoting Smoking CEssation and PrevenTing RElapse to tobacco use following a smokefree mental health inpatient stay: the SCEPTRE programme’, NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research (2019 – 2023); co-investigator.
Previous projects
- E-cigarettes for Smoking Cessation And reduction in People with mEntal illness (ESCAPE trial), Yorkshire Cancer Research (2020 – 2024)
- Promoting Smoking CEssation and PrevenTing RElapse to tobacco use following a smokefree mental health inpatient stay: the SCEPTRE programme’, NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research (2019 – 2023); co-investigator.
- Experiences, coping styles, self-management and support preferences of men with Systemic Sclerosis, World Scleroderma Foundation (2018-19)
- Complete smokefree policies in mental health inpatient settings: exploring the impact on smoking behaviour and the role of electronic cigarettes’, Cancer Research UK, (2018-2020)
- Development of a toolbox to aid therapeutic patient education in psoriasis, European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) (2016-18)
- Identifying and managing perinatal mental health in male partners using the Born and Bred in Yorkshire (BaBY) cohort: A White Rose Collaboration in Gender and Perinatal Mental Health. White Rose Collaboration Fund (2015-16)
- How effective, accessible and acceptable are self-management interventions for men with long-term conditions? NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research Programme (2014-15)
- Review of the National Men’s Health Policy and Action Plan (NMHPAP); The Health Service Executive (HSE), Republic of Ireland (2014)
- Unpacking the effects of gender and ethnicity on healthcare utilization: The cardiac rehabilitation experiences of Indo-Canadian men. CIHR - Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2008 – 2011)
- The health care experiences and needs of sudden cardiac arrest survivors following discharge from hospital: pilot study. Lyle Creelman Endowment Fund (2009 – 2010)
- Gender and Ethnic Differences in Treatment Seeking for Acute Coronary Syndromes. CIHR - Canadian Institutes for Health Research (2008 - 2010)
- Masculinities and Depression: The perspectives of men and their partners. CIHR - Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2008 - 2010)
- The experiences and cardiac rehabilitation needs of South Asian myocardial infarction patients: pilot study. Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (2007 – 2008)
Research group(s)
Supervision
Paul is interested in supervising PhD projects in the following areas: men's health; masculinities; nursing research; self-management of long term conditions; cardiovascular disease; qualitative research.
