The latest news from the Centre for Diet and Activity Research
In this issue
- New Evidence Brief: School-based physical activity programmes
- Evidence Summaries for NICE and House of Lords Committees
- Online publications database and open access papers
- Supporting Evaluation of Complex Public Health Interventions
- CEDAR working with Centre for Science and Policy
- CEDAR / MRC Epidemiology Unit Seminar Series
- Transport modelling and policy seminar series: 7 December onwards
- 2013 ISBNPA Post-Conference Satellite, Cambridge, May 2013
New Evidence Brief: School-based physical activity programmes
A new CEDAR Evidence Brief is available – the latest in our series of succinct summaries of research findings.
This Brief summarises a lay review commissioned by the Youth Sport Trust. It gives an overview of school based programmes for promoting physical activity in children and adolescents, and examines evidence about whether certain programmes work better for particular groups of children.
- View as a web page
- Download as a pdf
- Order printed copies from Oliver at ocf26@medschl.cam.ac.uk
- More Evidence Briefs here.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us develop the content and format of these documents. Please keep telling us if you think there are ways we can improve them. Contact ocf26@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Evidence Summaries for NICE and House of Lords Committees
Also available are evidence summaries produced by CEDAR researchers:
1. NICE Guidance on Walking and Cycling
- Expert testimony submission from Dr David Ogilvie and Dr Jenna Panter
- More information at NICE (Guidance to be published on 28 November)
2. House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee Behaviour change report
- CEDAR / BHRU Submission: Behaviour change — travel-mode choice interventions to reduce car use in towns and cities
- Full report from the committee (pdf)
- Appendix 5 covering minutes of CEDAR submission
Online publications database and open access papers
You can find all CEDAR publications through our new online database: www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/publications
On it you can search over 110 scientific papers by author, journal, CEDAR study, title and abstract keywords. We’ve also marked more clearly where papers are Open Access. A list of all Open Access publications can be found at: www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/publications/tag/open-access
Please send any comments or suggestions about the database to ocf26@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Recent Open Access publications from CEDAR include:
- Motivations for active commuting: a qualitative investigation of the period of home or work relocation
- The experience of physical activity and the transition to retirement: a systematic review and integrative synthesis of qualitative and quantitative evidence
- Associations of health, physical activity and weight status with motorised travel and transport carbon dioxide emissions: a cross-sectional, observational study
- Correlates of Reported and Recorded Time Spent in Physical Activity in Working Adults: Results from the Commuting and Health in Cambridge Study
Supporting evaluation of complex public health applications – an interactive tool
At CEDAR we are looking to develop an interactive tool to aid effective and appropriate evaluation of complex health interventions. The basis of this tool is the paper Assessing the Evaluability of Complex Public Health Interventions: Five Questions for Researchers, Funders and Policymakers.
You can read an outline proposal for the tool we are developing here (pdf), which invites comments. If you are interested in being more closely involved in the production process, please contact Oliver on ocf26@medschl.cam.ac.uk
In the meantime, if you’re looking for evaluation resources that are currently available, there are some highlighted on our website.
CEDAR working with the Centre for Science and Policy
As part of our contribution to bridging the gap between research and policy, CEDAR is collaborating with the Centre for Science and Policy in Cambridge. We are taking part in its Policy Fellowship programme, which brings decision makers from the policy world to academia as the basis for developing useful and lasting connections with researchers.
Each Fellow is appointed for two years, and starts his or her Fellowship with an intensive residential week of one-to-one meetings with relevant researchers. Fellows return to the University during their two-year tenure to take part in events, and have the opportunity to give lectures, convene groups of researchers for specific discussions, and develop research agendas.
CEDAR researchers have already met with policymakers from the Department for Transport, Local Government Association, Government Office for Science, the Cabinet Office and the European Commission Joint Research Centre.
- Read more about the scheme at: www.csap.cam.ac.uk/people/policy-fellows
CEDAR/ MRC Epidemiology Unit Seminar Series
Together with the MCR Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge, CEDAR organises a series of seminars about epidemiological and public health research, including some with wider relevance to policy and practice.
The next talk is Studying the origins of UK ethnic differences in diabetes and cardiovascular disease – evidence from the CHASE Study. Prof Peter Whincup, St George’s, University of London, 14 November, 1.30pm. Large Seminar Room, 1st Floor, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge.
No need to book, just come along. To give an idea of the topics covered, other recent talks have included:
- Obesity risk genes, eating behaviour and adiposity – Dr Eric Brunner, University College London
- Food Policies to Encourage Healthy Eating – Dr Corinna Hawkes, City University, London
- Protective infant feeding practices – Prof Lynne Daniels, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
If you would like to be emailed directly about these events, please let Oliver know via ocf26@medschl.cam.ac.uk Alternatively, you can follow us on Twitter, or look out for announcements in the news section of our website.
Transport modelling and policy seminar series: 7 December onwards
The Modelling on the Move: Towards transport system transitions? project is holding a series of seminars bringing together researchers and practitioners to discuss innovative ways of responding to pressing policy problems in transport.
The launch event is on 7 December 2012, at St Anne’s College, Oxford, and the seminars will run until November 2013.
About the Modelling on the Move seminar series
Twenty-first century societies face three interlinked energy problems: climate change, obesity, and oil depletion – and the need for change is urgent. All sectors must reduce carbon emissions, and meeting this challenge for transport requires new collaborations and perspectives.
These seminars focus on the changing face of transport models. The way these models work affects our ability to move to a low carbon transport system, and what such a system would look like. The aim of the series is to open up transport modelling to new perspectives; bringing together modellers, social scientists, population health scientists, practitioners and policymakers.
- Find out more and register for the seminars at www.modellingonthemove.org
Pioneering computer model measures health impact of green transport
You can also read about the Integrated Transport and Health Impact Model (ITHIM) from CEDAR researcher James Woodcock. This is a pioneering computer model developed to enable transport planners to measure how greener transport strategies impact on people’s health.
- Full story on the ESRC website and more about ITHIM on the CEDAR website here.
2013 ISBNPA Post-Conference Satellite, Cambridge, 26 – 28 May 2013
Following the main 2013 ISBNPA Conference in Ghent, Belgium, May 22-25, CEDAR will be hosting a satellite conference:
More than the sum of the parts?
Integration of individual and environmental approaches to changing population-level physical activity behaviour
Environmental change may be necessary but not sufficient to increase population levels of physical activity. This satellite conference is for those interested in designing and evaluating interventions that combine environmental and individual perspectives on behaviour change.
It is aimed at public health researchers whose active participation in plenary sessions, case studies and discussions will help develop our understanding of the evidence, methodological challenges and how intervention research can be advanced.
For more information visit www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/isbnpa2013
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Questions and comments to Oliver Francis: ocf26@medschl.cam.ac.uk