Dr Sophia Amenyah

Assistant Professor

School: Sport Exercise and Rehabilitation

Dr Sophia Amenyah is a Vice Chancellor’s Fellow, Assistant Professor in Nutrition and a Dunhill Medical Trust Research Fellow at Northumbria University, UK. Sophia is an interdisciplinary researcher with expertise in both biomedical and social sciences. She has methodological and expert skills in co-production, Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) and Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access (IDEA). As an early career researcher, she has an outstanding funding profile having secured over £756,927 for 7 (5 as PI) competitive research projects from prestigious funders including the Dunhill Medical Trust, the UKRI (BBSRC/MRC) Food4Years Network and Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) in just the past three years. In her previous postdoctoral role, she was the lead on the evaluation team of the European Development funded project, Adding to Social capital and individual Potential In disadvantaged REgions (ASPIRE) (https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/projects/interreg-channel-aspire-project/aspire-project-evaluation).

Sophia has a PhD in Nutrition and Genomics Medicine and is a Registered Nutritionist. She is committed to maximising the impacts of her research and has an established body of published work including 9 (7 first author, 2 corresponding author) peer reviewed full-text publications and 11 published abstracts in top-ranked nutrition and biosciences journals. Please find link of publications: Google Scholar

She is committed to including experts by experience and community development in research. Her research centres on co-production and the use of interdisciplinary methods to understand inequalities in ageing, the biological and social determinants of nutrition and to co-create community-based food models with underserved communities. Her key interests include ageing, community-based food models, personalised nutrition, nutrition assessment, community nutrition and public health nutrition policies. Her current projects include (www.bournemouth.ac.uk/lemonade; https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/projects/healthy-brain-healthy-life). Methodological expertise include mixed methods research, systematic reviews and evaluation, realist synthesis and evaluation, community-based participatory methods including Photovoice, community asset mapping and design of robust scientific research design and implementation using NIHR INCLUDE and MRC frameworks.

Email Sophia

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Co-production, Healthy ageing, nutrition & vascular health, nutrigenomics, global nutrition, nutrition assessment, Community nutrition, food & nutrition policies.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
A scoping review of the impact of community-based food models on health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people. v1, Amenyah, S., Benzimra, A., Murphy, J., Powell, K., Devis-Rosental, C., Fenge, L. 2 Oct 2025
‘Back Us and We’ll Back You’: A Photovoice Study Exploring the Impact of a Community-Based Food Model on the Health, Wellbeing and Social Connectedness of Older People, Amenyah, S., Benzimra, A., Fenge, L., Murphy, J., Devis-Rozental, C. May 2025, In: Current Developments in Nutrition
'BACK US AND WE'LL BACK YOU': The experiences of older adults of impact of a community-based food model on the health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people, Amenyah, S., Benzimra, A., Adjei, J., Murphy, J., Unknown, U., Devis-Rozental, C., Jeff, P., Parker, A., Edmond, R., Cooper, T., Pattenden, R. Jun 2025
Cultural perspectives on ageing and community engagement memories: a celebration of African and Caribbean culture, health and community, Osei-Kwasi, H., Amenyah, S. Mar 2025
Fruit and vegetable intake in minority ethnic groups in the UK: analysis from ‘Understanding Society’ and UK Biobank, Shah, P., Demashkieh, M., Ellahi, B., Osei-Kwasi, H., Amenyah, S., Vijayakumaran, R., Murphy, J., Hardy, R. 27 Aug 2025, In: Public Health Nutrition
Healthy Brain Healthy Life: An innovative and culturally-tailored approach to dementia prevention in minority ethnic communities, Amenyah, S., Heward, M., Bradley, L., Tse, D., Bate, L. 9 Dec 2025, In: Research for All
Impact of community-based food interventions on health, wellbeing, and social connectedness of older adults: A scoping review, Jeff, P., Benzimra, A., Murphy, J., Fenge, L., Devis-Rozental, C., Amenyah, S. 25 Oct 2025, In: Health and Social Care in the Community
LEMONADE Recipe Book - A community-based food model for over 60s, Amenyah, S., Craxton, S., Adjei, J., Benzimra, A., Murphy, J., Fenge, L., Devis-Rozental, C. Jun 2025
Promoting lifestyle medicine research in Ghana: lessons learned from Centre for Lifestyle Medicine and Behaviour (CLiMB) Ghana hybrid workshop, Osei-Kwasi, H., Boateng, D., Zakariah-Akoto, S., Ojwang, A., Agbozo, F., Assasie, E., Addo, P., Blay Adjei, M., Mogre, V., Akparibo, R., Aryeetey, R., Levy, A., Abu, B., Amenyah, S., Obiri, D., Kushitor, S., Varela-Silva, M., Griffiths, P., Daley, A. 3 Sep 2025, In: Frontiers in Public Health
Health Brain, Healthy Life, Our traditional food and our community: Recipe Book, Amenyah, S., Heward, M., Tse, D., Bradley, L. 2023