Physical inactivity and poor diet are driving obesity in the population and pose a major threat to future health globally. This theme focuses on reversing current trends towards excess weight gain in school aged children including the iMprOVE study - an evaluation of school based study school based physical activity interventions such as The Daily Mile during the school years or middle childhood when many health behaviours become embedded and impact of obesity and physical activity on social and emotional health and wellbeing. 

Key research areas

• Uptake, physical activity and equity of The Daily Mile in primary schools in England
• Hierarchical clustering methods to assess health needs and excess weight in the population in England
• Systematic review of active mile initiatives
• Core outcome set development for school based physical activity interventions
• IMprOVE  cohort study; health and wellbeing and educational outcomes of primary school children doing The Daily Mile TDM

 Funding and collaborations

Our research in this theme is funded by NIHR School for Public Health Research, the Nuffield Trust and The Daily Mile Foundation. Collaborations are with the University of Cambridge, UCL and Newcastle.