Appetite and Obesity

Our research aims to understand the psychological underpinnings of appetite, eating behaviour and weight gain, and to inform effective interventions to tackle obesity and promote improved dietary health in ways that reduce socioeconomic inequalities.

We study the psychological, behavioural, biological, social, situational, and environmental factors that control our desire to eat, the anticipation and enjoyment of food, and energy intake. We also focus on psychological factors contributing to and resulting from obesity. We conduct and synthesise research to help inform the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions and public health policies related to dietary health, obesity and food-system transformation.  

We have expertise in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research including laboratory studies of appetite, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and experiments, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (including secondary data analysis), ecological momentary assessment, advanced statistics and modelling, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, focus groups, co-production, “citizen science”, and semi-structured interviews. 

For more information, visit the key staff member’s web pages on the links below.