Mirko Winkler, Associate Professor, PhD, DTM&H, MSc

Mirko Winkler is Professor of Urban Public Health and co-Chair of the Department of Public Health (DPH) at the Medical Faculty of the University of Basel. The professorship is hosted at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and focuses on contributing to sustainable development through trans- and interdisciplinary research and strategic health planning.

Trained in Environmental Sciences (MSc ETH), Epidemiology (PhD) and Clinical Tropical Medicine (DTM&H), Prof. Dr. Mirko Winkler leads the Urban Public Health Unit at Swiss TPH. His research, capacity strengthening and consultancy work focus on public health-oriented priority-setting, with a strong emphasis on equity, in urban planning, large-scale infrastructure development, health systems planning and protracted conflict contexts. For example, in Africa, he has researched how the development of large infrastructure projects, such as mining and renewable energy, affects the health of the communities in which they operate (e.g. hia4sd.net). In the Middle East, he applied the health impact assessment (HIA) approach in contexts of protracted conflict to advise humanitarian actors. In cities in different world regions, he investigated the health risks and opportunities of wastewater reuse in urban agriculture. Ongoing research projects range from participatory action research directly linked to urban planning processes to a multi-country clustered randomised control trial testing the effectiveness of decentralised handwashing stations and the development of a novel digital tool for priority-setting in health systems and prevention planning.

Mirko Winkler is a lecturer at Swiss TPH, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Basel and guest lecturer at various universities in Switzerland. At the international level, he has led various HIA teaching and training courses in a variety of interactive formats, targeting practitioners, decision-makers, and academics. Overall, Mirko Winkler’s research, capacity-strengthening and consulting activities are part of the growing field of sustainability science, which seeks to provide data and evidence-based support for projects, programmes and policies, thus contributing to positive social transformations.