Innovative new gaming-based research officially launched

A new programme aimed at encouraging young people to eat healthily and get active using a gaming platform has been officially launched in Southampton.

The EACH-B project is built on the existing LifeLab programme which aims to help young people understand how the decisions they make now could have health implications in later life.

EACH-B involves teenagers who visit LifeLab helping to produce a digital game, alongside health researchers and scientists.

Those ideas are then sent to in-game designers at Glasgow Caledonian University who will create the game before it is tested out by students at LifeLab.

The aim is to educate young people about the impact their lifestyle choices will have on their health and the health of their future children and encourage them to improve their diet and exercise habits.

The £2.2m EACH-B project, led by the University of Southampton, is being funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme. Representatives from the organisation were invited to Monday’s official launch to see how the project will to deliver on its aims.

Associate Professor Mary Barker, who is leading the project, said:

“The fact that NIHR is prepared to fund research into a public health problem using innovative methods like gaming, is a mark of just how seriously they are taking this area of research and their faith in University and its partners to deliver it.”

LifeLab is part of the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre a unique teaching laboratory at University Hospital Southampton, dedicated to improving adolescent health by giving school students opportunities to learn first-hand the science behind health messages.