This paper notes that inequalities in health arise at a number of levels: in the economic, social and environmental determinants of health, in the policies that influence the distribution of these determinants and in the political and economic interests that shape these policies. It argues that these conditions are being powerfully transformed by a process of globalization in which the interests of transnational capital dominate public health and national authority. Any research process that seeks to explain and understand the sources and drivers of this inequality would need to take account of these determinants, and of the policies, interests and imperatives that influence them. More importantly, a research process driven by values of equity and goals of justice, would need to generate knowledge that can be used to confront these trends and promote public, population health interests in a way that preferentially benefits the worst off members of society. This has implications for both the type of research questions we ask, and the way we seek to address them. In this paper we propose some research priorities and also discuss the need for such questions to be addressed in ways that strengthen social action for health equity and reinforce policy actors promoting health equity. The global community has set itself targets such as the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. In the coming year we may see a great deal of research that describes the gap between these targets and the current lives of many people in the world. This is necessary but not sufficient in the face of a growing unmet demand for health equity and justice. We need to do more with our research. We need to choose the questions and generate the knowledge and analysis that explains the drivers of unacceptable gaps between our social aspirations and our economic and social practice. More importantly, we need to generate the knowledge and analysis that informs public policy-making and the economic and social processes that influence it.