1. Faculty of Environment
  2. People
  3. Profile
Emma Wilkins

Emma Wilkins

  • Position: Research Fellow in Nutrition and Lifestyle Analytics
  • Areas of expertise: Healthy & sustainable food and places; sport and public heath nutrition; consumer data; research methods; obesity
  • Email: E.L.Wilkins@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: 7.61 EC Stoner
  • Website: ORCID

Profile

I am currently a Research Fellow in Nutrition and Lifestyle Analytics within the School of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds. I work on the FIO-Food project, supporting Work Package 2, which seeks to understand the interplay between healthiness, sustainability and cost of foods, using large data from a major UK food retailer. 


I have a strong interest in quantitative research and data analysis, particularly of large secondary datasets relating to the interplay between health, place and lifestyle behaviours. My knowledge of quantitative analysis techniques is underpinned by my undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Oxford, and expended upon through my PhD, which used big data to understand the relationship between the retail food environment and obesity. My PhD was particularly concerned with understanding the impact of different measurement methods for quantifying spatial access to foods; and methodologically-focussed research is another interest of mine. Following my PhD I undertook a 6-month research associate position at the University of Leeds, where I supported a project investigating dietary behaviours of students living in catered halls of accommodation, using individual-level transaction data from university catering facilities.


I also have a keen interest in endurance sports, particularly running and cycling; having a Masters in Sport and Exercise Nutrition. In 2019 I founded and have since grown a successful coaching and physiological consulting company – High North Performance – of which I am company director. I have authored three books and numerous other resources, which cover different aspects of cycling nutrition and training science, and continue to coach athletes and create resources and products for the company. 

Research interests

My particular reseach interests include:

  • Healthy and sustainable places
  • Healthy and sustainable lifestyle behaviours
  • Obesogenic environments
  • Nutrition
  • Consumer data
  • Research methods
  • Obesity
  • Sport and exercise physiology for endurance sports
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Qualifications

  • PhD in Big Data & Obesogenic Environments (Leeds Beckett University)
  • MSc in Sport and Exercise Nutrition (Leeds Beckett University)
  • BSc in Physics (University of Oxford)