Meet our Research Team
The study is a collaboration between the Centre for Food Policy, City University of London and Researchers at Durham University and University College London.
Professor Christina Vogel
Principal Investigator – City University
Christina provides intellectual oversight to the whole project and has ultimate responsibility for the outputs, dissemination and impact of the study. She leads on stakeholder engagement and analysis of the policies and interventions. She is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Food Policy.
Professor Tessa Pollard
Tessa is a medical anthropologist and leads our work exploring the impact of interventions on the eating practices of families using go-along interviews.
Professor Carolyn Summerbell
Co-Investigator – Durham University
Carolyn will lead on the public involvement strategy and implementation for the study. She will chair the Care Giver Advisory Panel which will provide valuable insights from parents and care givers into the development of different aspects of the research.
Dr Natalie Savona
Natalie leads the Group Model Building (GMB) workshops to represent the views of local stakeholders and study participants on the barriers to engagement with child weight and diet interventions in a system map. She plays a key role in embedding the whole study in systems thinking.
Dr Mark Spires
Mark will lead on the development of food environment mapping in tandem with the work on Go-along interviews led by Tessa Pollard. In addition, he will lead on interviews with local, regional and national stakeholders involved in policy decision making with regard to child weight and diet interventions.
Dr Kyriaki Giorgakoudi
Kyriaki will undertake the health economic analysis under the oversight of Dr. Stavropoulou. She will cost the existing interventions and at the end of the study calculate the cost of new actions to provide an assessment of their affordability to each Local Authority.
Dr Andrea Smith
Andrea is responsible for the design of the quantitative household survey and will oversee the recruitment strategy in collaboration with Natcen and Dr Llewellyn. She will ensure the data collection process proceeds in accordance with plans and will oversee the data analysis.
Dr Anna Isaacs
Anna is an experienced health ethnographer at the Centre for Food Policy who was involved in designing the method for the Go-along interviews in the study protocol. She will work with Prof. Pollard and other co-investigators as a research adviser for the Go-along interviews.
Dr Clare Llewellyn
Clare will lead the quantitative element of the research which involves a household survey conducted by Natcen. She will oversee the data collection process, and design and oversee the data analysis working closely with Dr. Smith and Natcen.
Dr Charitini Stavropoulou
Charitini has an academic background in health economics and policy, and has provided health economics expertise to other NIHR awarded projects. She will provide oversight over the economic analysis which will be conducted by Dr. Kyriaki Giordkoudi.
Dr Sabine Parrish
Sabine supports multiple areas of the study, including the Caregiver Advisory Panel (CGAP), Group Model Building (GMB), and the quantitative survey. She will conduct the go-along interviews.
Professor Corinna Hawkes
Former Principal Investigator – City University
Corinna led the study as Principal Investigator from October 2020 to January 2023. Prior to becoming FAO Director Food Systems and Food Safety Division.
Dr Kristiane Tommerup
Co-Investigator – City University
Kristiane’s PhD research focuses on exploring genetic, social, and behavioural risk factors for weight development across infancy. Her work has focused whether self-reported awareness of these types of local childhood obesity interventions that target healthy eating and drinking moderate the relationship between neighbourhood deprivation (IMD) and child BMI.
Dr Daisy Bradbury
Co-Investigator – City University
Daisy supported multiple areas of the study, including the Caregiver Advisory Panel (CGAP), Group Model Building (GMB), and the quantitative survey. She was a Research Assistant on the stdy from October 2020 until June 2021.
Dr Alice Kininmonth
Alice will lead the analysis of the household survey data set which will characterise the home family food environment, feeding practices, eating styles, food preference and food security. These analyses will establish any associations with family income and deprivation.
Contact Us
Centre for Food Policy,
City, University of London,
Northampton Square,
London EC1V 0HB
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The Centre for Food Policy is part of City, University of London.
Family food experience study | Household Food Simulation | Healthy start evaluation