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Staff Profile

Dr João Greca

Research Associate

  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5276
  • Address: Human Nutrition & Exercise Research Centre
    Room M1.151 - William Leech Building
    Population Health Sciences Institute
    Faculty of Medical Sciences
    Newcastle University
    Newcastle Upon Tyne - NE2 4HH
Background


Dr João Greca was appointed as a Research Associate on the MapMe research project at Newcastle University in July 2021. The MapMe2 study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and aims to improve parental acknowledgement and understanding of childhood overweight and obesity within the National Child Measurement Programme. Dr Greca completed his PhD in Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences in 2019, with a personal scholarship (£150K) awarded from the Ministry of Education of Brazil. His doctoral thesis used a multimethod research design to investigate factors that may hinder physical activity engagement in children with overweight. These factors included joint loading during walking and cycling, associations between physical activity intensities, pain and injuries and barriers to active commuting to school as perceived by parents, which was explored using qualitative methods. His research primarily encompasses the use of wearable technology to assess physical activity and sedentary behaviour, factors influencing physical activity engagement and active travel as a means to tackle overweight and obesity in childhood. He has achieved Level 3 Diplomas in Gym Instructing and Personal Training, Nutrition, Anatomy, and Physiology. He is an associate member of Fuse - The Centre for Translational Research in Public Health. He is also a member of the Faculty of Medical Sciences Research Ethics Committee at Newcastle University.


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Research

Active Travel and Overweight in Children


Research indicates that engaging in active travel to school not only increases daily physical activity but also enhances concentration, diminishes sedentary behaviour, and could promote healthier weight management among children. My research interest includes understanding the efficacy of interventions involving active travel and the mechanisms involved that can promote healthier growth in children.


Research Interests



  • Testing Multimodal Active Travel Interventions to Reduce Sedentary Behaviours and Overweight in Children


  • Using Wearable Technology to Understand The Role of Physical Activity Intensities during Active Travel


  • Developing and Understanding Interventions to Increase Active Travel in Children


Current Research


Can embedding the MapMe intervention, a tool to improve parental acknowledgement and understanding of childhood overweight and obesity, in the National Child Measurement Programme lead to improved child weight outcomes at one year?


Completed research projects


2014 - 2019

Associations between physical activity, pain, injuries and joint loading in children


2010 - 2012

Sedentary behaviour in children and adolescents during school recess


2007 - 2009

Effects of a 24-week resistance training programme on the body composition of elderly women




Teaching

Contributing Lecturer


NUT3011 - Nutritional Epidemiology and Public Health


NUT3002 - Research Project and Thesis, BSc Food and Human Nutrition


Teaching Experience


Dr João Greca has experience teaching physical education classes for adults with special needs and has worked as a physical education teacher for high school students. He has prepared his own lecturing material and has conducted workshops for parents on preventing sedentary behaviour and obesity in childhood. Dr Greca has also volunteered as a mentor at Brunel University London, where he had the opportunity to assist Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences BSc undergraduate students with academic challenges, career goals and professional development.


During his PhD in Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences at Brunel University London, Dr Greca was a member of the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club and had the opportunity to deliver lessons and overall guidance to students who were members of the club.


Dr Greca has held lectures and contributed to teaching modules in the Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences BSc degree at Brunel University London. He has also provided teaching sessions and inductions in a biomechanics laboratory to undergraduate students as well as prepared tutorials and workshops for undergraduate and master's students on using different equipment and software, such as a fully instrumented treadmill (Bertec) with reaction force plates and triaxial accelerometers (ActiGraph) and the software Cortex (motion capture software for biomechanics) and ActiLife (actigraphy data analysis software platform).

Publications