Professor of Sociology in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), co-director of the Johns Hopkins-UPF Centre for Public Policy and director of the Research Group on Inequalities in Health, Environment, Employment Conditions Network (GRES-EMCONET). He directed the first Spanish Black Report on health inequalities, co-chaired the EMCONET Network of the World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health, and is currently coordinator of the Spanish Commission on Precarious Employment and Mental Health.

Benach's research focuses on the social determinants of health inequalities, precarious employment and labour relations, the intersections between class, gender, migration and geography, health policy analysis and complex political and environmental issues linked to health equity.