Real-world solutions to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour in the community.
This domain focuses on real-world solutions to increase population levels of physical activity and consists of three research groups:
Researchers in this domain come from a wide range of disciplines including: health promotion, education, public health, psychology, epidemiology, human movement and sports science, physiology and endocrinology of stress, musculoskeletal health, motor development, geography, and implementation science.
From pregnancy and early childhood to adulthood, researchers have expertise in:
A better understanding of the combined effect of children's movement behaviours throughout the day will lead to the development of new and effective ways to optimise their health.
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Dr Susan Paudel aims to discover more about mothers’ and children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour practices in South Asian communities.
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Professor Kylie Hesketh is using an early childhood family-based intervention to promote physical activity and active play, and to reduce sedentary behaviour, in children aged 0-3 years.
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Dr Lauren Arundell's research aims to understand the impact that time spent using a variety of screen devices has on children’s wellbeing.
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Associate Professor Megan Teychenne is developing a home-based health behaviour program, with the aim of reducing symptoms of postnatal depression.
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Let’s Grow aims to improve child levels of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep using a newly-developed interactive mobile web app.
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Dr Venurs Loh is exploring how to get adolescents moving more each day by choosing active travel options for short trips.
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Scalability of the TransformUs program to promote children’s physical activity and reduce prolonged sitting in Victorian primary schools.
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IPAN’s Associate Professor Jenny Veitch’s project, funded by the National Heart Foundation of Australia via a Future Leader Fellowship, is examining how parks can be designed to encourage physical activity for the prevention of heart disease.
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Group leader: Dr Lauren Arundell
Group members: Alfred Deakin Professor Jo Salmon, Alfred Deakin Professor Anna Timperio, Professor Lisa Barnett, Professor Kylie Hesketh, Associate Professor Jenny Veitch, Dr Ana Maria Contardo Ayala, Dr Paddy Dempsey, Dr Katherine Downing, Dr Harriet Koorts, Dr Natalie Lander, Dr Venurs Loh, Dr Emiliano Mazzoli, Dr Susan Paudel, Dr Shannon Sahlqvist, Dr Claudia Strugnell, Dr Simone Verswijveren, Dr Michael Wheeler
The Physical activity and sedentary behaviour from infancy to young adulthood group focuses on understanding and influencing physical activity (including fundamental motor skills and physical literacy) and sedentary behaviour in the early years of life from infancy through to young adulthood. Health and wellbeing outcomes associated with these behaviours are also a priority, including cognitive development, musculoskeletal health, obesity, and other cardiometabolic risk factors. In particular, we focus on the key transitions during early childhood, into primary school, secondary school and school leavers.
We design and test ‘real world interventions’ using cost-effective strategies that can be adopted by health, education, or other systems at scale. We work extensively with key stakeholders who represent all levels of government, non-government organisations, education sector, and parent groups. Our group has expertise in health promotion, public health, psychology, implementation science, behavioural epidemiology, human movement sciences, and musculoskeletal health.
This group covers:
Group leader: Alfred Deakin Professor Anna Timperio
Group members: Alfred Deakin Professor Jo Salmon, Professor Lisa Barnett, Associate Professor Jenny Veitch, Dr Kristy Bolton, Dr Venurs Loh, Dr Susan Paudel, Dr Shannon Sahlqvist, Dr Anne Turner, Dr Anthony Walsh
The Built and natural environments for healthy living group focuses on understanding how the built and natural environments in which people live, work, learn and play can be designed to support opportunities for physical activity via incidental activity, active play, active transport, sport and recreational physical activity, and to shape individual food decisions.
Elements of the built and natural environment we focus on include urban design and accessibility, community and retail food environments, streetscapes, park design, school grounds and play spaces.
This group covers:
Group leader: Dr Luana Main
Group members: Professor Brad Aisbett, Professor David Dunstan, Dr Natalie Lander, Dr Clint Miller, Dr Patrick Owen, Dr Jamie Tait, Dr Anne Turner, Dr Anthony Walsh
The Worker health and stress group focuses on understanding the behavioural, physiological, physical and psychological factors that contribute to workers’ physical and mental health and wellbeing, and activity, both within and beyond their job.
For many people, a particular challenge to their health is sedentary behaviour at work, or the impact that their work has on their physical activity outside their working hours. For these reasons, our research also focusses on workers’ physical activity and sedentary behaviour (including incidental activity), physically demanding tasks, formal exercise training, and engagement with leisure time activity including sport.
This group covers:
