Joseph is a Lecturer in Global Palliative Care, Fellow in Advanced Higher Education and global palliative care lead for the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre. He leads the delivery Scholarship and Special Interest Programme (SSIP) in the Centre and is module lead for the Global Palliative Care Development (postgraduate) and Global Health and Palliative Care (undergraduate) modules.
Dr Joseph Clark (BA, MA, PhD, FHEA) is a Lecturer in Global Palliative Care at Hull York Medical School and Global Palliative Care Lead at the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre. He is an interdisciplinary mixed-methods researcher whose work addresses global inequities in access to palliative care, with a particular focus on chronic breathlessness, access to opioid medicines, and caregiving in low- and middle-income countries. His recent open-access book chapter is the first to theorise the global development of palliative care within global health frameworks.
Since joining HYMS in 2016, Joseph has established and led a globally focused palliative care research programme, growing this area from unfunded activity into a strategic research priority within the Centre, resulting in his appointment as a Lecturer in 2023. Joseph has played a leading role in securing and delivering national and international funding, including from the Global Challenges Research Fund and Medical Research Council–supporting projects including the BREATHE-INDIA programme, an international collaboration developing culturally tailored breathlessness self-management interventions in India.
Joseph is an invited member of the Global Health Respiratory Network, which works closely with WHO to promote respiratory health globally and a Director of the Board of the Sapporo Conference on Supportive and Palliative Care, Japan. Joseph has published widely in leading global health and palliative care journals and presents his work regularly at international conferences both as a delegate and invited speaker. His research is regularly cited and has informed international policy and advocacy, including contributions to World Health Organization guideline development and high-level discussions on access to essential medicines.
Alongside his research leadership, Joseph is an experienced educator and supervisor. He is module lead for Global Palliative Care Development, part of the MSc programme Palliative Care: Implementing Best Practice. Joseph is postdoctoral academic lead for the Scholarship and Special Interest Programme and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Joseph’s work is characterised by strong international collaboration, capacity-building, and a commitment to translating research into policy and practice at scale. He was appointed as an Honorary Faculty Member at Manipal Academy of Higher Education in 2025, where he contributes to curriculum development and supervision of postgraduate students.
BREATHE-INDIA: BREATHlEssness in INDIA - Development of a breathlessness beliefs and behaviour education intervention for use in the community setting.
Scholarship and Special Interest Programme - Exploring the association between chronic breathlessness and workforce participation, using Australia as an exemplar.
Estimating worldwide needs for morphine for pain in advanced cancer and proportions theoretically met by country estimates of requirements and consumption.
Improving Appropriate Access and Availability of Opioids for Cancer-related Pain Control in India: bridging the gap between policy and practice - a qualitative study.
A cluster Randomised Controlled Trial to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the NAT-C in reducing unmet needs of patients in primary care.
A cluster Randomised Controlled Trial exploring the feasibility of testing the routine use of the Needs Assessment Cancer (NAT-C) in primary care.
Clark J, Fabowale B, Currow D and Johnson M. Are opioids 'medicines' or 'drugs'? A discourse analysis of the annual reports of the International Narcotics Control Board.
Clark J, Ghoshal A and Johnson M. Feasibility testing of self-management techniques appropriate for chronic breathlessness management in India.
Clark J, Murtagh F and Johnson M. Global Challenges Research Fund, Responsive mode funding: £4000 An exploratory project with partners in Nepal, considering the feasibility and appropriateness of a programme of chronic breathlessness research in Nepal.
Joseph is a Fellow in Advanced Higher Education and leads delivery of the Scholarship and Special Interest Program (SSIP). Joseph developed and delivers two global palliative care modules:
He also contributes to marking across several modules within Hull York Medical School.
All of Dr Clark’s publications can be viewed on Orchid.
Johnson M, Clark J, Salins Net al. BREATHE-INDIA: BREATHlEssness in INDIA - Development of a breathlessness beliefs and behaviour education intervention for use in the community setting. Medical Research Council: Public Health Intervention Development scheme. £140,833.31. Start: October 2022 for 18 months
Clark J, Daniel S, Salins N, Currow D, Pearson M and Johnson M. Global Challenges Research Fund. Pump-priming funding. £25, 460. 2021. Improving Appropriate Access and Availability of Opioids for Cancer-related Pain Control in India: bridging the gap between policy and practice - a qualitative study.
Johnson M, Clark J, Daniel S, Salins N, Pearson M, Soyiri I, Hamzah E, Munday D. Bid in preparation for a project entitled: “Opioids for cancer pain: bridging the gap between policy and practice” with collaborators in India, Nepal and Malaysia.
Clark J, Ghoshal A and Johnson M. Feasibility testing of self-management techniques appropriate for chronic breathlessness management in India.
Clark J, Murtagh F and Johnson M. Global Challenges Research Fund, Responsive mode funding: £4000 An exploratory project with partners in Nepal, considering the feasibility and appropriateness of a programme of chronic breathlessness research in Nepal.
Joseph welcomes enquiries from prospective students interested in global palliative care.
Current supervision
- Maddy Bond, PhD candidate – “Roles and experiences of informal carers of adults with HIV/AIDs in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Thesis Advisory Panel member
- Isabel Kate Binnie, PhD candidate – "Safety First: body-mind approaches for breathlessness-related distress in advanced disease – a realist review"
Awarded PhD students
- Dr Helene Elliott-Button, 2023. "Identification and Management of Chronic Breathlessness in Primary Care."