A centre promoting and researching health and wellbeing will be launched at Leeds Metropolitan University in November.

The Institute for Health & Wellbeing will undertake research into the health status of individuals and communities and will investigate issues including men's health, healthy communities, health promotion and nutrition and childhood obesity.

The Institute has six distinct research themes: healthy communities; health promotion; men's health; men, gender and wellbeing; nutrition and childhood obesity; and pain science and management.

The different faculties will be housed in a single unit as part of promoting innovation and collaboration.

The institute's director, professor Richard Hogston said: "One of our key strengths is that our research is rooted in finding solutions that will have real impact on communities and businesses.

"Creating the Institute will bring together a range of related disciplines and make it easier for us all to work together, generate and apply our research to even higher levels of excellence."

The university's existing Centre for Men's Health recently completed a report which highlighted the state of men's health in Europe as a serious public health concern.

Patterns emerging from data taken from 34 European countries show marked differences in health outcomes amongst men both between and within countries.

Poor lifestyles and preventable risk factors account for a high share of premature death and illness in men, illustrating that their health disadvantage is not necessarily written in the genes but can be remedied in part by targeted policies and actions.