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Dr Amelia Lake

Contact Dr Amelia Lake

Biography

Dr Amelia A Lake is a dietitian and public health nutritionist.  Amelia works as a Lecturer in Knowledge Exchange in Public Health at Durham University and is a member of FUSE - The Centre for Translational Research.  Her current work is to explore the Obesogenic Environment.  Amelia has a particular interest in the food environment, the environments of young people, the workplace environment and knowledge exchange.  Her research involves transdisciplinary collaborations to examine how the environment interacts with individual behaviours.

Amelia received her first degree from Glasgow Caledonian University and worked in the Health Service before taking up a research post with Newcastle University, where she completed a PhD and held a prestigious NIHR Post-doctoral Fellowship on the topic of Obesogenic Environments. One of the outcomes from this fellowship was the publication of a collected volume on Obesogenic Environments.  Amelia previously worked as Senior Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition at Northumbria University, where in June 2010 she was awarded the Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO) Young Achiever Award for her Obesity research. 

Amelia is a member of the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) Scientific Advisory Panel (Sept 2010), and since March 2010 has worked with the BNF on their European Food Framework Topic Advisory Group on diet.  Amelia is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Task Group on 'Takeaways & Obesity' (Sept 2010) and a member of the Food Standards Agency Register of Specialists for Social Science (April 2009).  Recently Amelia has been an ASO Trustee (2006-2010), a member of Nutrition Society Council (2007-2010) and also a Research Committee member for the British Dietetic Association (BDA) (2000 - 2005). Amelia is a co-founder of the North East Obesogenic Environment Network (NEOeN) www.neoen.org.uk and chairs the North East Obesity Forum (ASO regional group).  Amelia is currently a Beacon for Public Engagement Fellow (www.ncl.ac.uk/beacon) as well as being a regular contributor to her profession's publications. Amelia has extensive experience of working with non-specialist audiences as well as academics, has produced various training programmes and related material.

Amelia enjoys travel, food, cooking, Pilates, cycling and fundraising for The David Ashwell Foundation.   

Research Interests

Obesogenic Environments, Food Environments/ Foodscapes, Measuring the Food Environment, Nutrition, Food Choice, Food and Health in the Workplace, Dietary Change, Behaviour Change, Knowledge Exchange, Intervention Design and Evaluation.

Recent Grants

• Northumberland County Council Exploring uptake of free school meals 2010
• Co-applicant NIHR PHR Evaluation of the change 4 life convenience store programme 2010

• NHS North of Tyne Workplace intervention evaluation 2010 - 2011
• FSA PhD Studentship 09/2009 - 09/2011
• ESRC CASE 1+3 PhD Studentship 09/2009 - 09/2012
• Royal Society Conference Grant 06/2009
• Newcastle-Durham Beacon for Public Engagement Fellowship 01/2009-12/2009
• National Institute for Health Research Post-doctoral Award  01/2006-12/2008
• Rank Fund Vacation Studentship for Summer 2008 06/2008-09/2008
• Royal Society Conference Grant 07/2007
• ESRC Seminar Series 07- 09 Time-Space and Life-Course 12/2007- 12/2009.

Studentships and current PhD Students

I am happy to supervise postgraduate research with a focus on obesogenic environments, obesity, food choice, food environments, the workplace and the development and evaluation of interventions to improve dietary behaviours.

• 2010 - 2012 Rachel Tyrrell Food Standards Agency PhD Studentship (co-supervised with Prof Adamson, Dr Hodgson (Newcastle University) & Dr Wills (University of Hertfordshire). Exploring adolescent food choice using a food environment exposure perspective.
• 2009 - 2012 Rachel Gallo Gonzalez 1+3 ESRC CASE Studentship (co-supervised with Tim Townshend & Dr L Ells) in collaboration with NEPHO Exploring the relationship between prevalence off overweight and obesity in 10-11 year olds and the outdoor physical environment, North East England.
• 2007 - 2011 Thomas Burgoine 1+3 ESRC Quota award student (co-supervised with Dr S Alvanides (Geography, Northumbria University) Predisposed to Obesity? A Study into Environmental Equity and the possible Obesogenic Environment of North East England.

Awards

• Association for the Study of Obesity Younger Achiever Award 2010
• National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Post-doctoral Fellowship 2006-2008
• Invited to Rank Fund Symposium on Adiposity & awarded presentation prize Sept 2007
• Royal Society Conference Grant for ISBNPA Oslo June 2007 & ICDAM Washington June 2009
• Nutrition Society Travel Award for 10th International Congress on Obesity Sydney 2006
• Runner-up BA Charles Darwin Award Lecture February 2005
• Winner Poster Prize Clinical Medical Sciences Research Day January 2005
• Runner-up BNF Young Scientist Award December 2003
• Selected to attend the European Nutrition Leadership Programme March 2003
• Winner of Van den Bergh Foods Travel Fellowship 2000 May 2000
• Winner of BDA Elizabeth Washington Award 1998 December 1998

Membership of Professional Bodies

• Member of the British Dietetic Association and registered with the Health Professions Council (registration number DT.7605).
• Member of the Nutrition Society, Association for Nutrition and Registered Public Health Nutritionist.
• Member of the British Sociological Association's Food Study Group
• Member of the International Society for Behavioural Nutrition & Physical Activity.
• Member of the Association for the Study of Obesity.

Selected Invited Conference Presentations

• June 2010 ASO Conference Young Achiever Award: Measuring Food Environments
• March 2010 North East Food Partners Event Measuring the Food Environment

• August 2009 CASE Europe Conference Research and the media: A perfect match?
• July 2009 Firefit conference Durham Healthy Eating at Work
• May 2009 North East Physical Activity Forum Gateshead Obesogenic Environments
• April 2009 Chartered Institute of Environmental Health - Royal Town Planning Institute Joint Conference London
• October 2008 National Obesity Forum London Food & the obesogenic environment of young adults
• September 2008 British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) London Keynote Lecture
• June 2008 ASO Obesity & the Built Environment London Measuring the Food Environment
• April 2008 4th National Conference on Obesity and Health Birmingham Exploring the Obesogenic Environment

External activities

Guest Editor for a Special edition of 'Perspectives in Public Health' on Obesity (July 2011)

Associate Editor for BMC Public Health

Associate Editor for the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health

British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) Scientific Advisory Panel (Sept 2010 - present)

Expert on the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Task Group on 'Takeaways & Obesity' (Sept 2010)

European Food Framework Topic Advisory Group on diet co-ordinated by the British Nutrition

Foundation (March 2010- present)

Member of the Food Standards Agency Register of Specialists for Social Science (April 2009- present)

Nominated and elected to The Nutrition Society Council (July 2007- July 2010)

Elected committee member for the Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO) (Oct  2006- present)

Co-organiser of the North East Obesity Forum Meetings (ASO regional Group) (2007 - present)

Founding member of NEOeN (North East Obesogenic Environment Network) http://www.neoen.org.uk/

Editor for a collected volume on Obesogenic Environments (Blackwell Wiley) published in 2010

Selected Publications

Books: edited

• Lake, A.A., Townshend, T & Alvanides, S. (2010). Obesogenic Environments: complexities, perceptions and objective measures. Wiley-Blackwell.

Books: sections

• Lake, A. A. & Midgley, J.L. (2010). Food policy and food governance - changing behaviours. In Obesogenic Environments: complexities, perceptions and objective measures. Lake, A. A., Townshend, T & Alvanides, S. Wiley Blackwell.
• Alvanides, S., Townshend, T & Lake, A. A. (2010). Obesogenic environments: challenges and opportunities. In Obesogenic Environments: complexities, perceptions and objective measures. Lake, A. A., Townshend, T & Alvanides, S. Wiley Blackwell.
• Townshend, T.G., Ells, L., Alvanides, S. & Lake, A. A. (2010). Towards transdisciplinary approaches to tackle obesity. In Obesogenic Environments: complexities, perceptions and objective measures. Lake, Amelia A., Townshend, Tim & Alvanides, S Wiley Blackwell.
• Townshend, T. & Lake, A.A. (2008). Sustainable and Healthy Urban Form: linking well being, obesity and the built environment. In Ecopolis: Conceptualising and Defining Sustainable Design. Babalis, D

Journal papers: academic

• Lake AA & Townshend TG. (2012). Exploring the built environment, physical activity and related behaviours of young people attending school, college and those not in employment. Journal of Public Health
• Lake, Amelia, Burgoine, Thomas, Stamp, Elaine & Grieve, Rachael (2012). The foodscape: classification and field validation of secondary data sources across urban/rural and socio-economic classifications in England. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 9: 37.
• Burgoine, Thomas, Alvanides, Seraphim & Lake, Amelia A. (2011). Assessing the obesogenic environment of North East England. Health and Place 17(3): 738-747.
• Briggs, L & Lake, AA (2011). Exploring school and home food environments: perceptions of 8–10-year-olds and their parents in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Public Health Nutrition 14(12): 2227.
• Lake, AA (2011). Guest editorial. Perspectives in Public Health 131(4): 154.
• Townshend, TG & Lake, AA (2011). Relationships between ‘Wellness Centre’ Use, the Surrounding Built Environment and Obesogenic Behaviours, Sunderland, UK. Journal of Urban Design 16(03): 351.
• Craigie, Angela M., Lake, Amelia A., Kelly, Sarah A., Adamson, Ashley J. & Mathers, John C. (2011). Tracking of obesity-related behaviours from childhood to adulthood: a systematic review. Maturitas 70(3): 266-284.
• Speed, C., Heaven, B., Adamson, A., Bond, J., Corbett, S, Lake, A.A., May, C., Vanoli, A., McMeekin, P., Moynihan, P., Rubin, G., Steen, I. N. & McColl, E. (2010). LIFELAX - diet and LIFEstyle versus LAXatives in the management of chronic constipation in older people: randomised controlled trial. Health Technology Assessment 14(52).
• Lake, A. A., Burgoine, T, Greenhalgh, F., Stamp, E. & Tyrrell, R (2010). The Foodscape: classification and field validation of secondary data sources. Health & Place 16(4): 666.
• Burgoine, Thomas, Lake, Amelia A., Stamp, Elaine, Alvanides, Seraphim, Mathers, John C. & Adamson, Ashley J. (2009). Changing foodscapes 1980-2000, using the ASH30 Study. Appetite 53(2): 157-165.
• Lake, A.A., Hyland, R.M., Rugg-Gunn, A., Mathers, J. C. & Adamson, A. J. (2009). Combining social and nutritional perspectives: from adolescence to adulthood (The ASH30 Study). British Food Journal 111(11): 1200.
• Lake, A.A., Alvanides, S., Adamson, A.J. Townshend, T. & Stamp, E. (2009). Diet, physical activity, sedentary behaviour and perceptions of the environment in young adults. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics 22(5): 444-54.
• Townshend, TG & Lake, AA (2009). Obesogenic urban form: Theory, policy and practice. Health & Place 15(4): 909.
• Craigie, A. M. Matthews, J. N. S. Rugg-Gunn, A.J. Lake, A.A., Mathers, J.C. & Adamson, A. J. (2009). Raised adolescent body mass index predicts the development of adiposity and a central distribution of body fat in adulthood: a longitudinal study. Obesity Facts 2(3): 150.
• Lake, A.A., Adamson, A. J., Craigie, A. M., Rugg-Gunn, A.J. & Mathers, J.C. (2009). Tracking of dietary intake and factors associated with dietary change from early adolescence to adulthood: The ASH30 Study. Obesity Facts 2(3): 157.
• Lake, A.A. & Townshend, T. (2008). Planning joins the obesity fightback. Planning: The Journal of the Royal Town Planning Institute 1779: 27.
• Lake, Amelia, Speed, Chris, Brookes, Anna, Heaven, Ben, Adamson, Ashley, Moynihan, Paula, Corbett, Sally & McColl, Elaine (2007). Development of a series of patient information leaflets for constipation using a range of cognitive interview techniques: LIFELAX. BMC Health Services Research 7(1): 3.
• Lake, Amelia A., Hyland, Robert M., Rugg-Gunn, Andrew J., Wood, Charlotte E., Mathers, John C. & Adamson, Ashley J. (2007). Healthy eating: Perceptions and practice (The ASH30 study). Appetite 48(2): 176.
• Townshend, T. & Lake, A.A. (2007). Warning Sloburbia! Does where you live affect your waistline and your health? Town and Country Planning 76(2): 62-63.
• Lake, A.A. (2006). Changing dietary behavior. Quintessence International 37(10): 788-791.
• Lake, A.A., Hyland, R.M., Rugg-Gunn, A.J., Wood, C.E., Mathers, J.C. & Adamson, A.J. (2006). Food shopping and preparation among the thirty-somethings: whose job is it? (The ASH30 study). British Food Journal 108(6): 475.
• Lake, A. A., Mathers, J. C., Rugg-Gunn, A. J. & Adamson, A. J. (2006). Longitudinal change in food habits between adolescence (11-12 years) and adulthood (32-33 years): the ASH30 Study. Journal of Public Health 28(1): 10.
• Lake, AA & Townshend, TG (2006). Obesogenic environments: exploring the built and food environments. The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health 126(6): 262.
• Lake,A. A., Adamson,A. J., Hyland,R. M. & Mathers,J. C. (2004). Dietary change and perceptions of change over time. Nutrition Bulletin 29(3): 199.
• Lake, Amelia A., Rugg-Gunn, Andrew J., Hyland, Rob M., Wood, Charlotte E., Mathers, John C. & Adamson, Ashley J. (2004). Longitudinal dietary change from adolescence to adulthood: perceptions, attributions and evidence. Appetite 42(3): 255.

Journal papers: professional

• Townshend, T. & Lake, A. (2006). Sector targets obesity level. Planning: The Journal of the Royal Town Planning Institute 16.

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