MRC Epidemiology Unit
Programme Leader – Dr Søren Brage
Programme news
Read news and blogs about this programme’s research.
Objectives
This programme serves the following Unit Objectives as a main focus:
- To investigate the causes of obesity, diabetes and related metabolic disorders
- To inform, develop and evaluate population-based approaches to improving health
- To develop new methods, resources and tools for epidemiological and public health research
- To investigate approaches to improving global health, particularly in low and middle income countries
It serves the following Unit Objectives as an element of the programme:
- To build capacity for conducting, understanding and using local, national, and international epidemiology and public health research
- To contribute to the translation of research evidence into policy and practice
Research
Physical activity and fitness are key factors in obesity and metabolic disease, as well as in many other chronic diseases. However, these associations are still not completely clear. A major reason for this is that physical activity is difficult to measure accurately, particularly in large scale epidemiological studies.
The overall aims of the physical activity programme are to:
- develop and evaluate methods for reliable and valid measurement of physical activity and fitness in free-living populations
- describe the variation in physical activity, sedentary behaviours, and fitness in different populations, across different locations, and how activity and fitness has changed over time
- understand the role of physical activity, sedentary behaviours, and fitness in the development and prevention of disease
- understand how genes and other biological factors influence physical activity and sedentary behaviour
Our work has resulted in detailed evaluations of objective and self-report methods for measuring physical activity, which we have implemented in large-scale epidemiological studies. This allows us to study differences in activity behaviours between different populations, locations, and over time. We also contribute to the Unit’s work on examining the environmental, personal and social influences that determine physical activity levels in different populations.
We collaborate with other Unit programmes to study the genetic determinants of activity and fitness. Within the Unit we lead the work on investigating how non-genetic biological factors relate to activity, such as the influence of birth weight, early growth and development during infancy on physical activity levels and obesity in later life.
We investigate the relationships between physical activity and fitness with obesity and metabolic disorders across the life course and ultimately how this impacts on hard disease endpoints, including mortality. We also collaborate with others, both within the Unit and externally, to study activity behaviours and their relationship with health in specific populations or patient groups, and in evaluating the effect of interventions aimed at increasing physical activity.
Scientific resources for physical activity assessment
Diet, Anthropometry and Physical Activity (DAPA) Measurement Toolkit – www.measurement-toolkit.org
Programme members
- Abdulwahab Alshallal – PhD Student
- Soren Brage – Programme Leader
- Paddy Dempsey – Visiting Scientist
- Tomas Gonzales – Research Associate
- Lewis Griffiths – Technical Manager
- Stefanie Hollidge – Physical Activity Research Assistant
- Justin Jeon – Visiting Scientist
- Elsa Kobeissi – PhD Student
- Matthew Pearce – Data Scientist
- Qiaoxin Shi – PhD Student
- Tessa Strain – Visiting Scientist
Programme alumni
- Katrin Berkemeyer – Ph.D. Student
- Hervé Besson – Senior Investigator Scientist
- Philip Cameron – Data Scientist
- Dirk Lund Cristensen – Senior Investigator Scientist
- Paul Collings – Ph.D. Student
- Ulf Ekelund – Senior Investigator Scientist
- Rajna Golubic – Ph.D. Student
- Robert Koivula – Visiting Ph.D. Student
- Youngwon Kim – Career Development Fellow
- Timothy Lindsay – PhD Student
- Alexander Mok – PhD Student
- Bente Morseth – Visiting Researcher
- Ignacio Perez-Pozuelo – PhD Student
- Alessandra Prioreschi – Visiting Scientist
- Antonia Smith – Physical Activity Support Assistant
- Kate Westgate – Physical Activity Specialist
- Simon Wheeler – Investigator Scientist
- Tom White – PhD Student
- Katrien Wijndaele – Senior Investigator Scientist
Publications
See all Physical Activity Epidemiology publications on the MRC Epidemiology Unit Publications Database.