Exercise, Medicine and Health

What we do

The Exercise, Medicine and Health (EMH) research group is part of A-STEM, a high performing research centre that was ranked 5th for research impact in REF 2014. We strive to address the major health challenges of the 21st century, improving people’s lives through exercise science. Our group is renowned for its work in exercise physiology and physical activity and health, across the lifespan and health conditions. Our work focusses mainly on pre-natal, paediatric, older adult and clinical populations, including Type I and Type II diabetes, kidney disease, cystic fibrosis and asthma. Working in close collaboration with research students, partners, health boards and charities, our research has directly influenced national and international public health policies and clinical practices.

We have benefited from our unique position within a Faculty of Science and Engineering, enabling us to capitalise on the technology revolution. We are at the forefront of implementing novel technological approaches to health promotion and clinical care, including advanced data analysis and data science methods. In summary, our work seeks to transform health behaviour and outcomes across the age, geographic and socio-economic range to create a healthier population.

Paediatric Work Physiology (PWP) Conference, 2023

Research Projects

Project Name	EMH Lead(s)	Other EMH Staff Involved	Funder	Amount Awarded	Description
Physical Exercise and Cardiovascular Adaptation Monitoring in Pregnancy (PECAMP) Study	Olga Roldan-Reoyo	Michael J Lewis, Kelly Mackintosh and Melitta Mcnarry	European Comission and Welsh Government (MSCA-COFUND)	162339	Research project aiming to investigate the possible effects of exercise during pregnancy in the maternal and foetal cardiovascular adaptations.
Anti-Carcinogenenic Effects of Exercise Conditioned Serum	Richard Metcalfe	Rachel Churm	Welsh Crucible	3991	Examining the serological effects of acute exercise and their effect of cancer cell behaviour
Effect of physical activity on ghrelin mediated adiposity	Rachel Churm	Richard Bracken & Richard Metacalfe	St Davids Medical Foundation	6000	This study aims to evaluate the implications of community based high intensity interval training (HIIT) exercise on adiposity via the ghrelin axis, and its effects on improving insulin resistance and glucose homeostasis amongst postmenopausal women.
2D:4D work	John Manning (honorary)	Laura Mason			Research around 2D:4D and lung function, BMI, Klinefelter's syndrome, CVD risk.
Physical activity levels, mental health and wellbeing in children and young people in Wales during COVID-19	Kelly Mackintosh	Liezel Hurter, Melitta Mcnarry, Gareth Stratton, Denise Hill	Welsh Government	106790.53	Research project aiming to ascertain the effects of COVID-19 on children and young peoples’ physical activity levels, its reciprocal relationship with mental health and wellbeing, and how these change over time.
Inspiration for the future: Using inspiratory muscle training in post-COVID-19 rehabilitation	Melitta McNarry	Kelly Mackintosh, James Shelley, Joanne Hudson	Welsh Government	£275,327.86	Project to investigate the potential role of inspiratory muscle training as a rehabilitation tool for those experiencing long COVID.
Developing individualised, air quality specific, nudges to promote physical activity in youth with asthma to reduce asthma attacks	Melitta McNarry	Kelly Mackintosh	Asthma UK	£86,000	Investigating children's understanding of air pollution and the physical activity patterns of youth with asthma.
Location, location, location: identifying the trade-off between being active and being exposed to air pollution for children with asthma	Melitta McNarry	Kelly Mackintosh	Asthma UK	£86,000	Project to explore the relationship between air pollution, lung function and physical activity levels in youth, including those with asthma, to identify optimal intervention windows.
Novel approaches to data visualisation and presentation to increase understanding of movement behaviours	Kelly Mackintosh	Melitta McNarry	Polar Electro	£46,000
Exploring sex differences in the growth trajectories of youth and young adults with Cystic Fibrosis using CF Trust Registry data	Melitta McNarry	Kelly Mackintosh, Mark Waldron			This project is using CF Trust Registry data to explore sex differences in growth trajectories, seeking to identify when sex differences are manifest and their progression according to additional factors.
Relationship of pancreatic enzyme therapy dosage with BMI and longitudinal clinical outcomes in children and adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis	Melitta McNarry	Kelly Mackintosh			This project is using CF Trust Registry data to explore sex differences in pancreatic enzyme therapy and its relationship with health markers in children and adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis.
Longitudinal physiological and mental health monitoring in youth athletes	Melitta McNarry	Kelly Mackintosh			This study has been running for over seven years and is aiming to collect a longitudinal data set that allows us to investigate the effect of training and its interaction with maturity and sex on physiological and mental health.
Kenyalinx	Gareth Stratton/Nils Swindell	Huw Summers, Sinead Brophy, Vincent Onywera, Joy Wachira, Viktor, Okoth et al	British Academy	£299k	Building Physial Activity and Healthy Schools Infrastrcutures in Kenya.
Kenyalinx	Gareth Stratton/Nils Swindell	Huw Summers, Sinead Brophy, Grace Otinwa et al.	British Academy and SU GCRF	£10k
Nigerialinx	Gareth Stratton/Nils Swindell	Huw Summers, Sinead Brophy, Grace Otinwa et al.	SU GCRF	£10k	Building Physial Activity and Healthy Schools Infrastrcutures in Nigeria.
BEACHES	Gareth Stratton/Richard Fry/Lucy Griffiths, Hayley Christian/Bryan Boruff, Jasper Schiperlijn et al.		MRC/NHMRC	£400k (MRC) ($800k NHMRC)	Investigating the effect of the built environment on childhood obesity using linked data.
HomeSPACE COVID	Gareth Stratton	Michael Sheldrick, Nils Swindell, Mas Minou, Amie Richards, Michael Rosenberg, Clover Maitland, Lucy Griffiths, Richard Fry		£92k	The Home environment, physical activity and sedentary behaviour as a result of COVID 19.
AHK-Wales 2022	Gareth Stratton/Amie Richards	Kelly Mackintosh and Wales Wide Network			Part of Global AHK Alliance work (60 countries).
NCD-Risc	Gareth Stratton				International multi-partner group providing data for and tracking risk for a healthy weight across the globe.
EU InterReg Healthy Oats	Richard Bracken		EU	£2.1M	Ireland Wales collaborative EU InterReg Programme
Efficacy of Tresiba use around exercise in type 1 diabetes	Richard Bracken		Novo Nordisk A/S	£163,000	This project examines the extent and prevalence of hypoglycaemia in people with type 1 diabetes
Efficacy of Fiasp use around exercise in type 1 diabetes	Richard Bracken		Novo Nordisk A/S	£360,000	This project examines the extent and prevalence of post-prandial hyperglycaemia in people with type 1 diabetes
Physiological and glycemic responses to cycling in professional athletes with type 1 diabetes	Richard Bracken		Novo Nordisk A/S	£35,000	This project explores the glycaemic management of athletes with type 1 diabetes

Our Staff

Our academic staff:

Our research staff:

Dr Liezel Hurter
Dr Rachel Knight
Dr Olivia McCarthy
Dr Olga Roldan Reoyo
Dr Catherine Sharp
Dr Michael Sheldrick
Dr Nils Swindell

Research Networks

British Psychological Society (BPS) https://www.bps.org.uk/. Dr Hudson is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the BPS.

Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) https://www.hcpc-uk.org/. Dr Hudson is an HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologist (Sport and Exercise Psychology)

European Register for exercise professionals https://www.ereps.eu/. Dr Roldan-Reoyo is a registered member of the EREP with the status of Advanced Health and Exercise Specialist. Level 6.

Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA) https://www.cimspa.co.uk/. Dr Roldan-Reoyo is a registered member of the CIMSPA with the status of Exercise Referral Practitioner.

NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health https://www.nnedpro.org.uk/. Dr Rachel Churm is a member of the UK & Ireland NNEdPro Regional Network group from NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health.

Education and Research in medical Nutrition Network (ERimNN) A bit about us | ERImNN (brighton.ac.uk). Dr Rachel Churm is a member of Education and Research in medical Nutrition Network (ERimNN) linked to NNEdPro.

Association of the Study of Obesity Home - Association for the Study of Obesity (aso.org.uk). Dr Rachel Churm is a member.

British Renal Society - Rehabilitation Network Special Interest Groups (britishrenal.org). Dr Laura Mason is a member

British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine Home - BASEM. Dr Melitta McNarry is a member.

Physiological Society Homepage - The Physiological Society (physoc.org). Dr Melitta McNarry is a member.

Royal Society. Prof Stratton is a fellow.

BASES www.bases.org.uk. Prof Stratton is a fellow.

ECSS. Prof Stratton is a fellow.

NICE www.nice.org.uk. Prof Stratton is on the Expert Panel Pool of Chairs.

EASD https://www.easd.org/expas.html#section-about. Dr Bracken is Co-Chair of the Exercise and Physical Activity study group of the EASD.

Association of the Study of Obesity Home - Association for the Study of Obesity (aso.org.uk) Dr Bracken is a member.

Diabetes UK https://www.diabetes.org.uk/. Dr Bracken is a member, and Steering Group member of the Ageing Well with Diabetes Section.

Competitive cycling with diabetes

Recovery from long COVID

Rise and Recharge feasibility project

The impact of COVID 19 on children's physical activity - Podcast

Physical activity levels, mental health and wellbeing in youth in Wales during COVID - Webinar

Investigating the effect of the home environment on children's activity during COVID

Research Case Study

Physical activity and health in children

The Welsh Institute of Physical Activity, Health and Sport