SIG – ISBNPA

Socioeconomic inequalities

quick.jiang — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 09:11:11 +0000

Our aim is to serve ISBNPA members as a ‘community’ with an interest in exchanging and advancing knowledge into the socioeconomic inequalities in nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviours.

This SIG was established to:

Provide a forum for researchers with shared interests and expertise in socioeconomic inequalities in nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviours to exchange views, disseminate information, provide support, promote research, and encourage and organise activities such as symposia or workshops at the annual meeting.

SIG Team (see short bios after the affiliations section)

Lua Perimal-Lewis (CHAIR)

E: lua.perimal-lewis@flinders.edu.au

Focus Area: Newsletter

Dr Lua Perimal-Lewis (PhD, FAIDH)

Associate Professor

Palacký University Olomouc

Full Academic Status, College of Science and Engineering

Full Member, College of Science and Engineering, Medical Device Research Institute

Associate Member, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Caring Futures Institute

Associate Member, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders Digital Health Research Centre

M: +61 413 303 363
W: http://www.flinders.edu.au/digitalhealth/
W: https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/lua.perimal-lewis

Chien Ju Ting (CO-CHAIR)

E: chien.ting@aut.ac.nz

Focus Area: Newsletter

Dr Chien Ju Ting (PhD, MAppLangSt, BA, CELTA)

Research Officer -School of Sport and Recreation, School of Education

Copy editor -Te Kaharoa Journal

Auckland University of Technology

W: https://academics.aut.ac.nz/chien.ting

Salma Musaad (SOCIAL MEDIA)

E: salma.musaad@bcm.edu

Focus Area: Social Media

Dr Salma Musaad, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Pediatrics-Nutrition and Biostatistics
USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center
Baylor College of Medicine
1100 Bates Street
Houston, TX 77030
713-798-7058

Mary Hearst

E: hearst@umn.edu
Focus Area: Workshops

Professor Mary O. Hearst, MPH, PhD

Pronouns: She/her
St. Catherine University | 2004 Randolph Avenue | St. Paul, MN 55105

Lua Perimal-Lewis

My research flagship area is in the area of Digital Health Supporting Our Ageing Society. I am the principal investigator on the Flinders Assistant for Memory Enhancement (FAME) study and project coordinator for the Dementia and Aged Care Services project. My expertise and experience are in the area of Health Informatics, Biostatistics, Data Science, Living lab, Hospital Patient Flow, Process Mining, Modelling and Simulation. I manage a team of junior researchers. As a team we conduct digital health intervention pilots with community dwelling individuals.

Chien Ju Ting

Chien is an early-career researcher who completed her PhD in 2021. Her PhD was related to Indigenous language revitalization and language policy analysis. She thrives on cross-disciplinary research. She grew up in Taiwan and moved to New Zealand in 2004. She is a Research Fellow at the Auckland University of Technology, The School of Sport and Recreation. She hopes to have the opportunity to catch up with the wider ISBNPA community next year.

Salma Musaad

I am currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Biostatistics, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine. After obtaining my M.D. I developed a love for research and completed an NIEHS-funded Ph.D. fellowship in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Department of Environmental Health, with an emphasis on Children’s Environmental Health. I was trained by a mathematical statistician and have amassed extensive expertise in statistical theory, advanced methods, and the skill to tailor or combine methods to solve real-world analytical challenges. I have greater than 13 years of experience conducting clinical research in academia and clinical research organizations (industry). I am establishing an independent line of research in the social, environmental and molecular determinants of childhood obesity. As part of that effort, I plan to use and develop big data analytical methods to advance health equity in obesity research. In addition to my growing interest in the use of AI/ML in the field of obesity, I am interested in understanding the mechanisms that promote change in interventions designed to encourage healthy lifestyle or obesity prevention in minority populations.

Mary Hearst

I am a Professor in the School of Nursing, University of Minnesota. My areas of research are focused on early life integrated interventions to optimize lifelong well-being, community engaged research, and advancing research instruments to be culturally inclusive. My long term goals are to seek health equity for typically marginalized communities and interrupt the structural and social factors that influence health equity.

Early Care and Education

quick.jiang — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 09:13:42 +0000

Scope

The Early Care and Education (ECE) Special Interest Group serves to support existing ECE researchers and researchers with emerging interests in physical activity, sedentary behaviors, sleep and nutrition during the early childhood period.

The focus of this SIG is young children’s engagement in out of home child care whether infant care, nursery school, preschool, kindergarten, child care centers, or family childcare home providers.

Goals

The ECE SIG will serve as a source of communication, information sharing, and collaboration among researchers whose goals are to improve the young child’s health, growth and development through healthy eating, regular physical activity, adequate sleep and minimizing sedentary behaviors.

SIG Leadership team

Co-chairs

Dr Penny Love is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian and senior academic within the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University. Her research focuses on the translation, implementation and sustainability of early childhood nutrition intervention at scale to inform the identification of key leverage points within health and education service delivery systems. To contact or read more about Penny’s research, please use the following links: penny.love@deakin.edu.au | University Staff Profile | Google Scholar.

Dr Leigh Vanderloo completed her PhD in health promotion (exercise science) at the University of Western Ontario in 2017, then completed a CIHR Fellowship at SickKids Hospital in Toronto. Her research program focuses on device-measured physical activity and sedentary time among young children. Dr. Vanderloo has published some of the first national and international papers examining the variability in young children’s activity levels across various early learning environments as well as exploring approaches for improving objective measurement in this population. Currently, Dr. Vanderloo is the Scientific Director at ParticipACTION, a national non-profit organization which aims to foster and support active living among all people living in Canada.

lvanderloo@participaction.com

Officers

Dr Avril Johnstone is a Research Fellow at the School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow. She is a public health researcher with methodological expertise in developing and evaluating complex interventions and systematic literature reviews. Avril’s longstanding professional and research interests focus on exploring the role of active outdoor play, physical activity and nature on reducing childhood health inequalities. To contact or read more about Avril’s research, please use the following links: avril.johnstone@glasgow.ac.uk | University Staff Profile | Google Scholar.

Dr Brianne Bruijns is a Post-Doctoral Associate in the Child Health and Physical Activity Lab at Western University and the Report Card Project Manager for ParticipACTION, a physical activity non-profit in Canada. She has expertise in researching movement behaviours in the early years, with a specific interest in the role of early childhood education and caregiver-child interactions in promoting healthy physical activity among young children. At ParticipACTION, Brianne manages the Report Card on Physical Activity for Children & Youth, and for Adults, knowledge products which serve as the most comprehensive assessments of physical activity among people living in Canada. To contact or read more about Brianne’s research, please use the following links: bbruijns@uwo.ca | University Staff Profile | Google Scholar.

Dr Anne Martin is a Research Fellow at the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. She is a Public Health Scientist with mixed-methods expertise in the field of obesity prevention, and physical activity, sleep and mental health promotion. Anne leads work on nature-based play and learning in early childhood education and care settings, and is experienced in participatory and whole-system approaches to intervention development and evaluation. To contact or read more about Anne’s research, please use the following links: anne.martin@glasgow.ac.uk | University staff profile | Google scholar.

Dr Alice Grady is a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle, and a Program Manager at Hunter New England Population Health. Her research aims to prevent chronic disease by putting robust evidence into practice within healthcare and community settings, including early childhood education and care. Alice manages an integrated research–practice team to deliver and evaluate evidence-based healthy eating and physical activity interventions to centre-based and family day care early childhood education and care services. She has a particular interest in using innovative technologies, such as web-based programs, to put evidence into practice in a way that is effective, sustainable and can be scaled up to the benefit of the population. To contact or read more about Alice’s research, please use the following links: alice.grady@health.nsw.gov.au |University Staff Profile |‪Google Scholar.

Dr Audrey Elford submitted her thesis titled “Towards sustainable healthy food provision in Early Childhood Education settings” at the end of 2023. She is currently working as a research fellow for Deakin University, Australia on a number of projects related to food provision in early childhood education settings, sustainable healthy food systems and measuring tools for environmental sustainability and food provision , including research on food waste. She has been involved in a systematic review and scoping reviews, and also has an interest in co-design. To contact or read more about Audrey’s research please use the following links: a.elford@deakin.edu.au|University Staff Profile |‪Google Scholar.

Dr Jaime Barratt is an Assistant Professor at Brock University within the Faculty of Education, and Registered Early Childhood Educator. She has a multidisciplinary background in child health, outdoor play and learning, and education. Her primary focus is on fostering physical literacy in Early Childhood Educators, recognizing the pivotal role they play in promoting young children’s movement valuation and holistic well-being. To contact or read more about Jaime’s research please use the following links: jbarratt@brocku.ca | University Staff Profile | Google Scholar.

Dr Sarah Burkart is an Assistant Professor of Exercise Science in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. She is part of the Arnold Healthy Kids Initiative which is a multidisciplinary group of researchers working on issues related to childhood obesity prevention. Dr. Burkart’s research aims to 1) understand the individual, family, social, and environmental factors that contribute to children’s sleep health 2) examine underlying mechanisms that lead to inconsistent sleep behavior, and 3) develop and test novel intervention strategies to enhance children’s health and well-being. To contact or learn more, please use the following links: sburkart@mailbox.sc.edu | Google Scholar.

Dr Sophie Phillips is a Post-Doctoral Associate in the Child Health and Physical Activity Lab at Western University. Her research interests and expertise centre on improving child health and development from the earliest years through healthy movement behaviours. She has a specific interest in examining the 24-hour movement behaviour paradigm, including measurement of these behaviours, associations with health and development outcomes, and interventions to improve these behaviours, particularly in early childhood education settings. To contact or read more about Sophie’s research, please use the following links: sphil@uwo.ca | University Staff Profile | Google Scholar.

Dr Divya Patel is a postdoctoral researcher at Case Western Reserve University, USA. She is a public health researcher with current focus on improving diet quality and food waste among food-insecure families. Divya has a strong interest in developing effective strategies and interventions to improve health and well-being of disadvantaged populations including children and families. To contact or read more about Divya’s research, please use the following links: dxp555@case.edu | LinkedIn | Google Scholar.

What's New
Read, Listen, Watch

What's New

Read, Listen, Watch

ECEActivities

May 14, 2024 (1100 UTC). ISBNPA ECE SIG Webinar: Reducing food waste where children live, learn and play: Future directions for policy and practice in high and middle-income countries

Please join ISBNPA. ECE SIG Webinar Title: Reducing food waste where children live, learn and play: Future directions for policy and practice in high and

March 25, 2024 No Comments

ECEActivities

March 30, 2023 (8 PM UTC) Early Care and Education SIG Webinar: Outdoor and Nature Play; a global look at research, policy and practice

Title: Outdoor and Nature Play; a global look at research, policy and practice Webinar Recording click [HERE]: When: March 30, 2023, 20:00 GMT Who: Speakers:

February 27, 2023 No Comments

ECE

Early Care and Education SIG @ISBNPA & WHO Joint Webinar

Topic The WHO Early Childhood Education and Care Standards and Toolkit: A global view When March 23, 2022 2000-2130 GMT Registration https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ArkG1rXgS0qJQ0fAiEm7wQ Reference material to support

February 15, 2022 No Comments

Policies and environments

quick.jiang — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 11:30:01 +0000

The goal of this SIG is to facilitate a network of ISBNPA members that are working in the area of environment and policy research to improve diet and physical activity.

By creating a platform by which researchers in ISBNPA across the globe can share their work in this area, the SIG hopes to promote collaboration across measurement, monitoring, evaluation, stimulation of action and advocacy efforts, definition, dissemination and translation of current and future research in this area.

For the purposes of the SIG, “environments” are defined broadly to include the collective physical, economic, policy and socio-cultural surroundings, opportunities and conditions that influence people’s food and beverage choices, nutritional status, sedentary behavior and physical activity.

Policy is defined broadly to include local, state and national and/or international laws and policies. Programs may be included, if specified by a law. In this SIG, environment and policy are viewed as two levers that often overlap and may be utilized to promote population change in health and behavior. These levers offer potential to make the environments where we live, work and play more health promotive and supportive of healthier behaviors that can be integrated easily into lifestyles.

SIG Co-chairs

Professor Catherine Woods, University of Limerick

Dr. Janas Harrington, University College of Cork

Others members of the ‘Leadership team’

Dr Sarah Forberger, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS

Dr Liam Kelly, University of Limerick

Dr Nicole R. den Braver, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam

Dr. Jack Benton,University of Manchester

Mr. Kevin Wolf ,University of Limerick

Alumni

Dr Elizabeth Ablah

Dr Elizabeth Racine

Dr. Jeroen Lakerveld, Senior Researcher, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam

Dr. Rebecca Lee, Professor, Arizona State University

Joreintje Mackenbach, Researcher, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam

Dr. April Oh, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute

Dr. Daniel Taber, Assistant Professor, University of Texas School of Public Health

Dr. Stefanie Vandevijvere, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Auckland, New Zealand

Dr. Wilma Waterlander, Postdoctoral researcher, The University of Auckland, New Zealand

Interviews with SIG members

Follow the links below to watch a series of short-interviews organized by the Policies and Environments SIG

Interview with Jeroen Lakerveld
https://isbnpa.org/index.php?r=media/view&id=163

Interview with Joreintje Mackenbach
https://isbnpa.org/index.php?r=media/view&id=165

Interview with Liesbeth Velema
https://isbnpa.org/index.php?r=media/view&id=166

Interview with Jean Adams
https://isbnpa.org/index.php?r=media/view&id=167

Attachments

e- & mHealth

quick.jiang — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 12:24:24 +0000

The purpose of the SIG is to build a community of interested ISBNPA members to advance e- & mHealth related research specifically related to physical activity, dietary and sedentary behaviours.

Scope

The eletronic- & mobile (e-&m) Health Special Interest Group (SIG) will provide a platform to address e- & mHealth related research within the framework provided by the International Society for Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA). ISBNPA addresses behavioural research in nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviour.

Within the ISBNPA and SIG context, e- & mHealth are defined as the use of electronic & mobile technologies (e.g. the Internet, mobile devices and apps) to expand, assist or enhance health and health care delivery.

Background

With increasing prevalence of unhealthy dietary practices, physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour, effective and low cost approaches that can improve these health behaviours in large populations are needed to improve health and well-being and reduce health care costs. Interactive electronic & mobile technologies have potential to expand, assist and/or enhance delivery of health promotion initiatives and thus improve health behaviour outcomes. Though a sizeable body of literature is developing in this area, the science of using e- and mHealth technologies is still relatively young and large gaps remain. For example, more work needs to be done to improve the (long-term) effectiveness and reach of behavioural e- and mHealth interventions, and many questions remain around optimal implementation and dissemination.

Aim

The purpose of the SIG is to build a community of interested ISBNPA members to advance e- & mHealth related research specifically related to physical activity, dietary and sedentary behaviours. The SIG will provide a forum to discuss new evidence, underlying mechanisms and specific components of e- &mHealth-based interventions that may lead to enhanced behavioural outcomes.

Newsletters

The e- & mHealth newsletters are sent regularly to SIG mailing list. You can join this mailing list by updating your membership profile and adding the SIG to your preferences; by sending an email to executivedirector@isbnpa.org or by accessing one of the newsletters and hitting subscribe on the footer of the newsletter.

SIG Chair

Claire Gough

Chair: Dr. Claire Gough, PhD.

Flinders University, Australia

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Bio: Claire is an experienced physiotherapist with a background in musculoskeletal and neurological rehabilitation. She has a passion for working with older people and combining progressive technologies to promote independence and community participation. Claire is driven to improve the care and quality of life of older people and has a Postdoctoral research fellowship with Aged Care Research & Industry Innovation Australia’s Knowledge and Implementation Hub.

Past-Chair: Dr. Amanda Staiano, PhD, MPP, MS.

Associate Professor, Population and Public Health Services

Director, Pediatric Obesity & Health Behavior Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, USA

Bio: Amanda Staiano, PhD, MPP, MS, is associate professor and director of the Pediatric Obesity & Health Behavior Laboratory at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center. She earned her doctorate in developmental psychology and Master of Public Policy at Georgetown University, followed by a Master of Science in Clinical Research at Tulane University. Her primary interest is developing and testing family-based healthy lifestyle interventions that utilize innovative technology to decrease pediatric obesity and its comorbidities. Her research has involved more than 2,500 children and adolescents, including randomized controlled trials and prospective cohorts, to examine body weight reduction and the influence of physical activity and sedentary behavior on body composition and cardiometabolic risk factors. She also served on the clinical practice guidelines committee on child obesity treatment for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Immediate Past Chair: Dr. Mavra Ahmed, PhD.

University of Toronto, Canada

Research Associate at the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Joannah and Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition

Bio: Dr. Mavra Ahmed is a research associate at the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Joannah and Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition, University of Toronto and an Adjunct Professor at York University and Ontario Tech University. With expertise in food and nutrition policy, Dr. Ahmed’s research focuses on driving equity-focused policy shifts by determining the relationships between determinants of health, dietary patterns/intakes, food environments and nutrition-related behaviors and knowledge to improve the health of children and adolescents. She is fronting the Feeding Kids, Nourishing Minds school nutrition research initiative that aims to provide a comprehensive overview of school food programs in Canada and identify best practices in relation to the design, delivery, and measurement of school food programs. She obtained her PhD from the University of Toronto, specializing in characterization of diets of Canadian Armed Forces and evaluation of novel technologies for dietary assessments. She holds a CIHR Fellowship in the Strategic Training Program in Public Health Policy and in Artificial Intelligence for Public Health from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Fellow: Dr. Carol Maher, PhD.

University of South Australia, Australia

Research Professor and Director of the Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA)

Bio: Dr. Maher is a Research Professor and Director of ARENA at the University of South Australia, focusing on improving health through physical activity, sleep, and sedentary behavior. She integrates technology like wearables, social networking, apps, and AI to promote healthier lifestyles. Carol’s research is well-funded, with support from ARC, NHMRC, MRFF, and the National Heart Foundation, totaling over $24M. She has led multiple NHMRC and MRFF projects and published over 220 journal articles. Recognized a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2020-2022), Carol also serves as Senior Editor for BMC Public Health and Chief Specialty Editor for Frontiers in Digital Health. Carol is on the Executive Committee of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity and co-convenes the SA researcher-practitioner network, Healthy Development Adelaide.

Fellow: Dr. Corneel Vandelanotte, PhD.

Central Queensland University, Australia

Research Professor

Bio: Dr. Vandelanotte completed his PhD in Physical Education at the Ghent University in Belgium 2004. In 2005, he started working at the University of Queensland and moved there in 2009. Dr. Vandelanotte’s research takes a population-based approach to health behavior change and is focused on the development, evaluation and implementation of innovative and web, app, tracker, computer-tailored and machine learning based physical activity interventions. Dr. Vandelanotte leads the Physical Activity research Group and the 10,000 steps program at the Central Queensland University. The 10,000 Steps Australia is a world-renowned program that has attracted over 666,000 members, 22,000 organizations, and over 404 billion steps logged onto the website and app. He is an author on 297 peer-reviewed journal publications and his work has been cited over 11,000 times according to Scopus (h-index=51) and over 20,000 times according to Google Scholar (h-index= 69). In 2022 and 2023 he was named a “Highly Cited Researcher” (top 0.1% of his field) by Clarivate (i.e., Web of Science). Dr. Vandelanotte has been awarded over $16 million of competitive research funds from NHMRC, ARC, NHF, AND MRFF. He is the Founding Executive Committee member and Chair of the Abstract Committee for the Asia-Pacific Society for Physical Activity, the Founding Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of

Dr. Zenong Yin, PhD.

Loretta J. Lowak Clarke Distinguished Professor in Health and Kinesiology

Professor, Public Health

The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA

College for Health, Community and Policy

Department of Public Health

Bio: Dr. Yin earned his BEd-Physical Education at Beijing Sports University and received his MA in Physical Education with a specialization in the administration of physical education and sports and PhD in Physical Education with a specialization in sports psychology from the University of Southern California. Dr. Yin teaches both undergraduate and graduate classes in health and kinesiology and conducts school-and community-based physical activity and nutrition interventions for the prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes in low-income and minority children and adults. Dr. Yin’s recent work has focused on the application of digital technologies to promote physical activity in adults and manage chronic diseases in older adults living in underserved communities. He has published more than 130 peer reviewed articles since 1991. Prior to joining UTSA, Dr. Yin was a Professor of Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics-Georgia Prevention Institute, the Medical College of Georgia from 2001 to 2005.

Dr. Maria Vasiloglou, MSc, PhD

Nestle Institute of Health Sciences, Switzerland

Department of Nutritional Sciences

Specialist in Nutritional & Digital Health

Bio: Dr. Maria Vasiloglou works as a Specialist of Nutrition & Digital Health in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at Nestlé Research Center, Switzerland. In this position, Maria collaborates closely with the Digital Health group on developing and validating digital dietary assessment tools at clinical and consumer settings. Maria holds a BSc in Nutrition and Dietetics from ATEI Thessalonikis, Greece and a M(med)Sc in Human Nutrition with specialization in Clinical Nutrition from the University of Glasgow. Maria obtained her PhD from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bern, with a focus on user requirement collection and analysis of AI-based approaches for dietary monitoring and assessment and their validation. Prior to her PhD, she conducted research on endocrinology and nutrition, worked as a clinical dietitian for children with T1D, eating disorders and obesity, and developed science-based nutrition policy options at the European Commission. She is (co-)author of several publications (h-index:18). Finally, Maria is a board member of the e-& m-health SIG of ISBNPA, lead of EFAD ESDN Diabetes and has sat as advisory board of Digital Communication Program of EFAD as well as PROTEIN Horizon 2020.

Dr. Bridve Sivakumar, PhD

Ontario Tech University, Canada

Bridve is a 3rd year PhD Candidate in Health Sciences at Ontario Tech University. Her research and area of work focuses on eHealth/mHealth, behavioural science, and cardiovascular disease management and prevention. As part of her PhD, she has worked on the development and evaluation of mHealth interventions to support dietary adherence in patients with chronic heart failure – a clinically challenging area of heart failure management. Through her research thus far, she has identified patient and clinician readiness to use mHealth apps, relevant mHealth intervention characteristics, and barriers and facilitators to adopt mHealth apps. She has also led an interdisciplinary team of Registered Dietitians, patients, and an industry partner in co-producing Sodium NavigatorHF, the first mHealth app to support nutrition education among the heart failure population. She has also collaborated on numerous research projects focused on cardiovascular disease prevention, including working on a multi-country research in Latin America to evaluate dietary salt reduction policies and contributing to a regularly updated systematic review on emerging studies related to sodium and health outcomes as part of the World Hypertension League Science of Salt Advisory group.

Dr. Jasmine Petersen

Flinders University, Australia

College of Nursing and Health Sciences

Research Fellow

Bio: Dr. Petersen is a research fellow at the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University. She is involved in research and has contributed to various studies, particularly in the fields of physical activity, health psychology, and public health. Some of her research interests include the psychological mechanisms underlying physical activity engagement and the use of mobile apps to promote physical activity. She has also been recognized for her work on mental health promotion in youth sporting clubs and has a notable presence in academic publications, with a solid h-index and i10-index reflecting her contributions to her field.

Dr. Ben Singh, PhD.

University of South Australia, Australia

Allied Health and Human Performance

Research Fellow

Bio: Dr. Sing is a Research Fellow at the University of South Australia, working within the UniSA Allied Health & Human Performance. His research focuses on several areas including Human Movement and Sports Science, Medical and Health Sciences, Education, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, and Public Health and Health Services. Dr. Singh has a notable academic background, having obtained a Bachelor of Clinical Exercise Physiology, a Master’s Degree in Research, and a PhD from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane. His Master’s and PhD research explored the role of exercise in improving health outcomes among women with breast cancer. He has been involved in various projects and has several publications in his name, including works on the evaluation of workplace health and wellbeing programs, insights in digital health communication, and the impact of cardiorespiratory fitness on morbidity and mortality.

Dr. Janis Fiedler, PhD.

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Postdoctoral Researcher

Bio: Dr. Janis Fiedler is a postdoctoral researcher at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. He completed his PhD on the topic of mHealth interventions to enhance physical activity at the end of 2022. Since then, he has broadened his research focus to include performance diagnostics, fitness, and body composition as the foundation for individualized physical activity interventions. Dr. Fiedler enjoys creating plots in R and is working towards fostering a culture of open science.

Dr. Hannes Baumann, PhD.

German Sport University Cologne, Germany

Institute for Movement Therapy and Movement-oriented Prevention and Rehabilitation

Postdoctoral Researcher

Bio: Dr. Baumann holds a PhD in Sport Science from the University of Hamburg, where his dissertation explored the effectiveness of mHealth interventions in promoting physical activity among children and adolescents. He is a postdoctoral researcher specializing in digital health interventions at German Sport University Cologne. Dr. Baumann has an extensive academic background, including positions at Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Medical School Hamburg and the Technical University Berlin. His research focuses on developing innovative, evidence-based digital interventions to enhance physical and psychological well-being in educational and healthcare settings.

Irina Timm

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Institute of Sports and Sports Science, Germany

PhD Student

Bio: Irina Timm is a PhD student at the Mental mHealth Lab at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on exploring the complex relationship between physical activity, sedentary behavior and affective well-being. Her research investigates how environmental factors, such as weather conditions and social contact, influence and moderate these relationships. She employs advanced methodologies, including Ecological Momentary Assessment, to examine these phenomena. Additionally, she is involved in research on micro-interventions to reduce sedentary behavior and in the validation of wearable devices.

Dr. Joan Dallinga

The Hague University of Applied Sciences

Senior Researcher, Netherlands

Bio: Dr. Dallinga is a Senior Researcher at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. She is involved with the Team Assistive Technology for Mobility and Sports and the Team Healthy Lifestyle in a Supporting Environment. Her research focuses on improving lifestyle in various target groups using technology. Dr. Dallinga’s work is pivotal in areas such as Assistive Technology for Mobility and Sports and fostering a Healthy Lifestyle in a Supportive Environment.

Xin Chen

University of Kansas Medical Center, USA

PhD Candidate in Medical Nutrition Science

Bio: Xin is a PhD candidate in Medical Nutrition Science at Kansas University Medical Center (KUMC). She earned a degree in medicine with a minor in Clinical Pathology from Southern Medical University and an MS in Food Science and Human Nutrition from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Xin’s current research focuses on nutritional interventions for head and neck cancer survivors and their care partners. She is also interested in researching the effectiveness and potential of Information and Communication Technology in assisting dietary therapy. She aims to continue exploring the role of medical nutrition in cancer prevention and treatment, expanding and combining her study with solid medical practice in order to effectively help as many people as possible.

Shariwa Oke

Cornell University, USA

Division of Nutritional Sciences

PhD Candidate

Bio: Shariwa Oke is a doctoral candidate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. Her current work focuses on the design, development, and implementation of a digital behavioral intervention focused on nutrition, physical activity, and mindful parenting for parents of preschoolers in low-income and rural areas of the U.S. Her broader research interests lie in developing, implementing, and sustaining interventions for improving health behaviors through the appropriate and personal use of communication, technology, and behavioral theory.

Dr. Katherine (Katie) Spring, PhD

Pennington Biomedical Research Center, USA

Pediatric Obesity & Health Behavior Laboratory

Postdoctoral Researcher

Bio: Katie joined the Pediatric & Obesity Health Behavior lab as a postdoctoral research fellow Summer 2023. After attending Holmes Community College to play tennis and obtain her Associate of Arts degree, she then went on to receive her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Kinesiology from Mississippi State University. In the Fall of 2019, she began her doctorate work at Auburn University. Her research primarily focuses on the effects of physical activity and play on young children’s physical, behavioral, and learning outcomes. She is especially interested in school-based approaches that incorporate movement into learning objectives.

**Camille Short (Past Chair)** is a behavioural scientist and Senior Research Fellow jointly appointed between the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences and Melbourne School of Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Her research aims to develop, evaluate and disseminate innovative allied health interventions and behaviour change technologies that can help bridge the gap between what is available in clinic and what is available at home. Supported by the Victoria Cancer Agency and the National Breast Cancer Foundation she is currently leading a program of work focused on the co-design of digitally-supported exercise interventions to support cancer patients recover from treatment.

Motivation and Behavior Change

quick.jiang — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 12:25:39 +0000

The SIG on Motivation and Behavior Change creates a ‘community’ of ISBNPA members with an interest in exchanging and advancing knowledge on motivational dynamics (SDT, motivational interviewing,…) in relation to behavioral change with a focus on nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviors.

Motivational processes are critical to health behavior change and central to theory development, intervention research (with individuals and groups), and even policy initiatives aimed at population behavior change.

The Motivation and Behavior Change SIG creates a ‘community’ of ISBNPA members with an interest in exchanging and advancing knowledge on motivational dynamics in relation to behavioral change, with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behaviors. For the purpose of this SIG, motivation is broadly defined, but it should involve implicit or explicit psychological (i.e. intrapsychic) phenomena energizing or directing behavior, which can be modeled and measured in research. Aspects of identity, efficacy, goals, perceived control, autonomy, expectancies, affect, attitudes, values, and perceived interpersonal dynamics are some illustrative examples. Also, the SIG is especially interested in how theory informs the study of motivational factors and motivated behavior change, including aspects such as theory selection, theory comparison, translation (and testing) of theory via applied methodologies (e.g. motivational interviewing, standardized behavior change techniques).

SIG Chairs

Crystal Smit

SIG Team

Jorge Encantado
Marta Marques
Karin Weman

Children and families

quick.jiang — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 12:38:13 +0000

The Children and Families SIG aims to build a community of ISBNPA members who share an interest in conducting research with children and families around nutrition behaviors, physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and sleep.

Scope

The key focus of this SIG is with children aged 0-18 years and their families, across a range of different settings, including schools, homes and neighborhoods.
Within this SIG, the term ‘families’ is broadly defined to include parents, caregivers, siblings and extended family.
Research includes, but is not limited to, nutrition behaviors, physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and sleep in the context of children, their families, and parenting/ caregiver practices

Please note: ISBNPA members who focus specifically on research relating to policies and practices centre-based child care or family day care homes, should consider joining the Early Care and Education (ECE) SIG.

Goals

The Children and Families Special Interest Group (SIG) will provide a platform for members to:

Share and discuss recent evidence and developments relating to children and families’ behavioral nutrition, physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep as well as discuss future directions for research, policy and practice.
Connect and form collaborations with other researchers globally with similar research interests.
Create a community of researchers to address critical research gaps in order to enhance the health and wellbeing of children and families.

Communication with members

The Children and Families SIG will connect and communicate with SIG members through webinars, social media, newsletters, and face-to-face meetings and social events at the Annual ISBNPA conference.

Co-Chairs

Alissa Burnett <a.burnett@deakin.edu.au>

Taniya Nagpal <tnagpal@ualberta.ca>

Officers of the Leadership Team

Andrea Smith <andrea.smith@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk>

Richard Tyler <Tylerr@edgehill.ac.uk>

Lynne Lafave <llafave@mtroyal.ca>

Aging

quick.jiang — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 00:23:23 +0000

The Ageing SIG brings together researchers interested in how physical activity, sedentary behaviour and nutrition impact on the health of older people. This SIG recognises that the impacts of these behaviours may start before old age (traditionally defined as aged 60 or 65 years and older) which is also reflected in the name of the SIG.

One of the great public health successes of the 20^th Century was the increase in life expectancy in populations around the world. One of the key challenges of the 21^st Century will be to ensure that these extra years are healthy. As people age they may undergo transitions in employment, housing and social networks. These may impact health behaviours resulting in sarcopenia and declines in physical and cognitive functioning leading to disablement, dependence and reduced quality of life. However, regular physical activity, low levels of sedentary behaviour and optimal nutrition can help to prevent these declines and are crucial to maintaining independent living, something older adults themselves rate as very highly important to them.

The proposed Ageing SIG will take a multidisciplinary approach to focus on how physical activity, sedentary behaviour and nutrition are important for healthy ageing.

AIMS

The Ageing SIG aims to build a community of ISBNPA members interested in promoting optimal sedentary behaviour, physical activity and nutrition to ensure healthy ageing. This SIG will provide a platform to disseminate evidence and to promote networking and collaboration.

GOALS

Develop a network of clinicians, policy makers and researchers interested in Ageing;
Facilitate discussion and action;
Encourage collaboration and networking;
Provide professional support through exchanging information about relevant conferences, seminars and workshops and offering professional development opportunities;
Map activities of members;
Engage with other SIGs and societies related to Ageing, e.g. Society of Behavioral Medicine, International Association of Geriatrics and Gerontology.

AWARDS AND FUNDING

The Ageing SIG is proud to introduce three new SIG awards for 2023-2024. Nominations are due April 1, 2024.

Learn more and apply to this initiative [HERE]

SIG Co-chairs

Marina de Barros Pinheiro and Corey Linton.

Reach out via this [EMAIL – ageing_sig@isbnpa.org].

SIG leadership team

Trynke Hoekstra – Webinars

Neha P. Gothe and Cathie Sherrington – Awards

Natália Gomes Gonçalves – Communication Officers

Dr. Marina De Barros Pinheiro is a senior lecturer and physiotherapist at the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, School of Public Health at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on investigating the cost-effectiveness of physical activity programs and implementing solutions to improve physical activity promotion by health professionals within routine care.

Dr. Corey Linton is a Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics at Charles Darwin University, whose research focuses on healthy ageing, sarcopenia, dietary patterns, and community-based health interventions, particularly in rural and regional settings. Dr. Linton has contributed to key studies on the Dietary Inflammatory Index, musculoskeletal health, and the role of diet in cancer survivorship and mental health. His work spans both clinical and community contexts, aiming to improve health outcomes for older adults through evidence-based nutrition strategies and accessible exercise programs.

Dr. Trynke Hoekstra is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Science at VU Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Her research concerns healthy lifestyle promotion among people with mental or physical disabilities as well as broader healthy aging topics. She also enjoys working on global public health projects related to access to care, specifically in rural areas. Additionally, her more methodologically oriented research projects focus on the unraveling of (patient) heterogeneity across the life course.

Dr. Neha P. Gothe is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, USA. Her research examines physical activity and yoga based interventions to promote health among middle aged and older adults.

Dr. Cathie Sherrington is a Professor and Senior Principal Research Fellow at the University of Sydney School of Public Health. Professor Sherrington’s research focuses on the promotion of physical activity and the prevention of falls in older people and people with chronic disabling conditions.

Natalia Gomes Gonçalves is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of São Paulo Medical School. She earned her PhD in Pathology from the same institution. Her research interests involve nutrition and physical activity and their association with cognitive aging. She is particularly interested in sociodemographic barriers to achieving a healthy lifestyle that protects brain health.

Implementation, Translation, Scale-up and Sustainability

quick.jiang — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 18:24:42 +0000

Scope

In the last few decades, governmental and other funding agencies have prioritized the development, piloting and evaluation of evidence-based public health programs, including those focused on healthy nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Despite evidence for the positive impact of such programs, and the increasing recognition of the importance of robust process evaluations within trials, there is less evidence for program effectiveness at scale and little evidence about successful scale-ups and sustained implementation.

There appears to be a gap between the development of efficacious interventions and their wide scale uptake and sustainability in practice. With the public health impact of these programs dependent on implementation on a wider scale, it is timely to develop multi-disciplinary, international and collaborative forum for researchers which combines the expertise of relevant behavioural, physical activity, nutrition, policy and sociological disciplines. Implementation science in the field of physical activity, nutrition and sedentary behaviours is relatively new and set to grow as the need to understand how implementation, scalability and sustainability can be promoted and evaluated.

Goals

The SIG aims to build a multidisciplinary community of ISBNPA members interested in Implementation Science related to nutrition, promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour.

This SIG will:

provide a platform to discuss, disseminate evidence and promote networking and collaboration on issues related to implementation and translation research;
support efforts which aim to assist translation of research into practice and policy by moving from research ideas, through feasibility/piloting and randomised controlled trials to widespread real world implementation and translation trials;
support efforts which aim to assist more standardized implementation evaluation and how to measure degree of implementation and sustainability;
offer professional support through exchanging information about relevant conferences, seminars and workshops.

The SIG will communicate with members via email, through the ISBNPA newsletters, social media and also via a face-to-face meeting at the ISBNPA Annual Scientific Meeting. Documentation will be exchanged through a Dropbox communications folder (key references, funding calls, members interested in collaborations).

SIG Team

Dr. Rachel Sutherland (Chair)

Health Promotion Research Practitioner, Hunter New England Population Health; Medical Research Future Fund Investigator Fellow at the University of Newcastle, Australia

Implementation and scalability research interest
Rachel’s work focuses on preventing chronic disease, particularly preventing excessive weight gain and obesity through implementing nutrition and physical activity interventions in primary and secondary school settings and evaluating methods of implementing evidence-based programs at scale.

Contact: rachel.sutherland@newcastle.edu.au

Dr Chris Pfledderer (Deputy Chair)

Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, USA.

Implementation and scalability research interest
Chris’ expertise relates to school-based physical activity promotion, optimization and scale-up of childhood obesity-related interventions, and rural health promotion.

Contact: christopher.d.pfledderer@uth.tmc.edu; @chrispfledderer

Dr Femke van Nassau (SIG Founder and Past-Chair)

Researcher, Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health research institute at the Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, The Netherlands.