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Staff Profile

Dr Laura Basterfield

Senior Research Associate

  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5276
  • Address: Population Health Sciences Institute
    Faculty of Medical Sciences
    Newcastle University
    M1.151, William Leech Building
    Framlington Place
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE2 4HH
Background

Background

I graduated from Newcastle University in 1999 with a BSc (Hons) in Physiological Sciences. After spending 5 months in Australia I returned to the UK and began working as a Respiratory Physiologist at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne. In 2002 I started my PhD back at Newcastle University investigating the effects of exercise on a mouse model of intestinal cancer. My interest in exercise and physical activity for health led to my first post-doctoral research post on the Gateshead Millennium Study (http://research.ncl.ac.uk/gms).

I am currently a Senior Research Associate, investigating physical activity in childhood and adolescence, and the associations between physical fitness and mental wellbeing.

Area of expertise

  • Physical activity
  • Fitness
  • Body measurements in children

Qualifications

  • PhD Newcastle University
  • BSc (Hons) Physiological Sciences, Newcastle University


Potential PhD supervision

If you are a funded student interested in completing a PhD in the areas of children's physical activity, physical fitness, or sport participation, please get in touch.


Google Scholar: Click here.

ResearchGate: Click here

Twitter: @LauraB_PhD

Research

Research Interests

My main research interests lie with physical activity and physical fitness in children, but I also have a general interest in the effect of activity and exercise on health.

Current Work 

My current focus is investigating the associations between physical fitness, mental wellbeing and body composition in children. I have been working in local primary schools to complete fitness testing, body measurements and questionnaires on their quality of life and sport participation. We don't know much about the fitness of contemporary children in the UK, and particularly North East children. We are finding important associations between how physically fit they are and how they feel about themselves. Sports participation in these children is showing important social as well as physical benefits. 

Previous Work

From 2006 I have been involved with the Gateshead Millennium Study (http://research.ncl.ac.uk/gms), a longitudinal birth cohort of over one thousand children that started in 1999. At ages 7, 9, 12 and 15 years we have visited the children at their schools and administered questionnaires and measured their body composition, diet and physical activity.  I was responsible for analysing the physical activity measurements which are recorded using accelerometers - a small, portable device which measures changes in acceleration. I also looked at the associations between physical activity, sedentary behaviour and body composition in the children.

I have also provided expertise to other research projects measuring physical activity in their participants.  

Other Expertise

I am a qualified gym instructor, allowing me to supervise and instruct adults in the gym, and I am also qualified to take activity classes with children.
My involvement in the Gateshead Millennium Study involved taking skinfold and bony frame measures on 6-8 year old children and I am a Level 1 ISAK anthropometrist.
I am a qualified Respiratory Physiologist.


 


Teaching

I contribute to teaching the BSc (Hons) Food and Human Nutrition final year students, in the Sport and Exercise Nutrition module. I give lectures on Exercise and Cancer, and Exercise and Sport in Children.

I supervise undergraduate students from the BSc (Hons) Food and Human Nutrition and BSc (Hons) Sports and Exercise Science degree programmes. 

Publications