Northumbria University’s Healthy Living Lab is one of the leading research groups in the UK focusing on issues relating to public health and food poverty in disadvantaged social groups and under-represented individuals and communities. Areas of focus include school and community breakfast clubs, school meals, holiday activity and food programmes and holiday hunger.
The lab brings together over twenty academic colleagues that develop, inform and evaluate community and school-based interventions through delivery of applied research, training and consultancy.
Expertise is drawn from across disciplines including psychology, sociology, nutritional science, computer sciences, public health and sport to research and address public health issues in a holistic way.
The Healthy Living Lab is situated within the Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing at Northumbria University. Through collaborating with a range of partners and key stakeholders the Lab bridges the gap between scientific research findings, policy and practice. These include government departments, local authorities, schools, charities and businesses.
The Lab specialises in co-designing research projects with stakeholders and user groups, especially young children, and uses a variety of methods to capture the voice of children. Importantly, the Lab ensures that not only are children's voices heard but that they are also included in the dissemination of the research findings and in future discussions.
Please view the video below describing the successes of HAF+ in Gateshead
Please listen to the Podcast below describing benefits of the HAF+ programme on teenagers in the community
Please view the video below illustrating HAF+ with North East Sports
Evaluation of Bring it on Brum (HAF in Birmingham)
HAF+ Design Sprint Final Report and Presentation
They have shown the importance of programmes which support some of our most disadvantaged children, parents and communities. Research from the Healthy Living Lab has led to a national shift in school breakfast programmes and has directly influenced the development and expansion of the Department for Education's Holiday Activities and Food programme in England.
We are delighted to be a founding member of the Holiday Activities and Food Alliance, a brand new coalition of charities and not-for-profit organisations working with communities to research and address inequalities, food poverty and inactivity.
As the only higher education member of the Alliance, we offer extensive expertise and practical knowledge, combined with peer-reviewed research rated as world-leading for its impact in the last review of excellence in research outputs from UK universities.
You can find out more about the work of the Healthy Living Lab across these web pages and in this brochure which outlines our programme of research over the last few years.
The key leads of the Healthy Living Lab are its Director, Professor Greta Defeyter, and Deputy Director, Professor Paul Stretesky. Professor Defeyter speaks more about how her research is 'Taking on Tomorrow' in the video below.
Evaluation of the 'Partnerships for People and Place' Project (May 2023)
The North East Child Poverty Trust (NECPT) - Northumberland Holiday Provision
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