The role of new forms of data in obesity research

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• Michelle Morris
• Wednesday 20 February 2019, 12:00-13:00
• Centre for Computational Biology (Y2 Haworth Building).

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr Christopher Yau.

Obesity continues to persist as a global health challenge. It is now widely accepted that obesity is more complex than energy imbalance, with a whole systems approach heralded as a part of the solution to the problem [1]. Traditionally, obtaining data to investigate the obesity system would be expensive and time consuming, even near to impossible. However, with the rapidly evolving data landscape in the developed world, it is now possible to obtain a wealth of data and apply data science methods to better understand the whole obesity system.

This talk will outline lessons learned and key messages from an international, interdisciplinary and multi sector network established to better understand the role of data in a whole systems approach to obesity [2]. These include: recommendations for clearer data reporting; the requirement for an infrastructure to engage business partners and facilitate data sharing; engagement with the public to increase confidence regarding use of their data; and the development and application of new skills, across business, academia and policy, highlighted through bespoke training courses and demonstrator projects. Results from two demonstrator projects, using novel lifestyle behaviour datasets, will be presented.

References:

FORESIGHT (2007). Tackling Obesities: Future Choices – Project report.

Morris MA, Birkin M. (2018) The ESRC Strategic Network for Obesity: Tackling Obesity with Big Data. International Journal of Obesity. 42 (12) 1948-1950.

This talk is part of the Centre for Computational Biology Seminar Series series.

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• Centre for Computational Biology (Y2 Haworth Building)
• Centre for Computational Biology Seminar Series

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