Research projects
I've been involved in two major EU-funded research projects on children's health, the IDEFICS and I.Family studies. I am currently working on a short book on food systems, business corporations, and public health that stems from this work. 
I have also been involved in two projects with colleagues at Lancaster University, one on media representations of obesity (on-going) and one on co-designing ways to improve dialogue between people and organisations (Leapfrog, now complete). I also advise on some other health-related projects, 

​​Writings on bioethics
​& public health

The IDEFICS & I.Family studies (2006-11 / 2012-17)

The IDEFICS study created a cohort of over 16.000 children and their families across eight European countries, as well as piloting an intervention study to encourage healthier living. It was funded by the European Union (FP6 Integrated Project), and coordinated by Wolfgang Ahrens, Bremen University. I was responsible for the ethics and policy components. Our book, Childhood Obesity: Ethical and Policy Aspects (OUP, 2014) originated in this project.
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The I.Family study followed the IDEFICS cohort of children into their teenage years, to study the effects of different environments, socio-economic factors, diets and behaviours on health and development. It was funded by the European Union (FP7 Collaborative Project), and again coordinated by Wolfgang Ahrens, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS) & Bremen University. I was responsible for ethical aspects, policy implications and stakeholder involvement throughout the project.

Projects at Lancaster University

Media representations of obesity (2018-2020) – a project in the Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science, funded by the ESRC. Led by Paul Baker, we are looking at stigmatising aspects of obesity discourse in British newspapers and online reader responses.
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​Leapfrog - transforming public sector consultation by design (2015-18). This was a 3 year Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project, led by Leon Cruickshank and collaborating with Glasgow School of Art. We worked with public sector and community partners to design and evaluate new approaches to public engagement.

Scientific advisory boards

I am (or have recently been) an advisor on the following projects:
  • Leibniz Science Campus in Digital Public Health, University of Bremen – this will commence in January 2020
  • Policy Evaluation Network on the effectiveness of existing policies for lifestyle interventions (part of the Joint Programming Initiative on a Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life, commenced 2019), coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS)
  • MyNewGut (EU FP7, 2013-18) examined the effects of the human gut microbiome on the metabolism and absorption of macronutrients, the influence of lifestyle factors on the gut microbiome, and how the gut microbiome affects the gut-brain axis