Steve Cropper is Professor of Management in the Centre for Health Planning and Management at Keele University.Alison Porter is a researcher at the School of Medicine at Swansea University.Gareth Williams is Professor of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. Sandra Carlisle is currently Research Fellow in the Public Health Section of the University of Glasgow. Robert Moore is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Liverpool. Martin O'Neill Academic Coordinator on the Gates project at Gamorgan University. Chris Roberts is a social researcher in the Public Health and Health Professions Department, Welsh Assembly Government. Helen Snooks is Professor of Health Services Research at Swansea University.

• Health inequalities in their place ~ Gareth Williams; 'Policy experiments': policy making, implementation and learning ~ Steve Cropper and Mark Goodwin; Policy innovation to tackle health inequalities ~ Alison Porter, Chris Roberts and Angela Clements; Action research partnerships: contributing to evidence and intelligent change ~ Steve Cropper, Helen Snooks, Angela Evans, Janet Pinder and Kevin Shales; Engaging with communities ~ Bronwen Bermingham and Alison Porter; The role of the community-based action researcher ~ Martin O'Neill; Evaluation, evidence and learning in community-based action research ~ Sandra Carlisle, Helen Snooks, Angela Evans and David Cohen; Social theory, social policy and sustainable communities ~ Robert Moore; Beyond the experimenting society ~ Gareth Williams, Steve Cropper, Alison Porter and Helen Snooks.

"We understand health inequalities pretty well. We're less clear what to doabout them. This book shows what can be achieved by activists, researchersand policy makers working together. It takes us beyond description toaction for health." Professor Graham Hart, University College London