Miss Sarah C Shaw BSc

Senior Research Assistant, PhD Student

Sarah Shaw is Registered Associate Nutritionist, Senior Research Assistant and PhD Student at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit.

Since 2017, I have held the role of senior research assistant on the Engaging Adolescents in Changing Healthy Behaviour (EACH-B) Study. EACH-B is a complex intervention study which aims to improve adolescents’ diet and physical activity through engagement with LifeLab at the Southampton General Hospital, teacher training, and a mobile app. On this study, I have been involved in developing brief dietary assessment and primary outcome measures to assess adolescent dietary quality and physical activity levels. My work has also involved conducting and analysing qualitative research to understand the values that underpin adolescents’ health behaviours.

My PhD project uses a mixed-methods approach to investigate how adolescents’ social and physical environmental influence their food purchasing and dietary behaviours. My project involves the development of a mobile Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) tool which will aim to collect real-time food purchasing data from adolescent participants. This EMA data will be combined with personalised GPS-generated activity spaces and social network data in order to understand how adolescents interact with their physical food and social environments, and how these interactions are related to the quality of their diet.

Prior to my current role, I was the research assistant on the Hertfordshire Cohort Study. This work was focused primarily on musculoskeletal health including sarcopenia and osteoporosis.

Qualifications

BSc, Nutrition, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2013

Appointments held:

PhD Student (part-time), MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton. (2018- present)

Senior Research Assistant, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton. (2017- present)

Research Assistant, Hertfordshire Cohort Study. MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton. (2013-2017)