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This case study highlights the impact of Leeds Trinity's Cooking Communities Project in promoting intergenerational and multicultural community relations through afterschool cooking clubs. The project established school-based community cooking clubs in 17 schools in disadvantaged areas of West Yorkshire, bringing together children and adults from varying ethnic backgrounds to share cooking and eating experiences. These clubs developed practical cooking skills and knowledge of healthy eating in 250 young people, and helped break down social barriers between individuals from different generational and cultural backgrounds. Educational resources were developed and distrubuted to schools across Yorkshire and Humberside, and the materials dveloped were used in the development of a new Food Specialism Course for Higher Level Teaching Assistants. Furthermore, local economic activity was stimulated through the sourcing of local ingredients.
The University of Southampton's Food Additives and Behaviour in Children (FABIC) study has driven major changes in food processing and labelling policies. As a direct result of the research, the UK's Food Standards Agency recommended six artificial colourings — which have come to be known as the `Southampton Six' — be removed from food. In addition, the European Parliament now requires clear labelling to indicate the use of these colourings, as well as an accompanying warning about their effects on attention and behaviour in children. The risk of youngsters throughout Europe being exposed to potentially harmful additives has thus been significantly reduced.
Research conducted by the University of Liverpool (UoL) has convincingly shown that there are strong links between the exposure of children to food advertising, brand recognition and being overweight or obese. This work consistently informs the policies of regulators and health agencies, nationally and internationally. In this specific example, work by Halford and Boyland to characterize the effects of food advertising on children's diet, food preferences, intake and body weight has had a direct effect on UK and overseas policy development. Notably this includes informing WHO guidelines to national governments on introducing effective regulatory frameworks and for monitoring their effectiveness.
Childhood obesity is an increasing problem in the UK with roughly one in seven school aged children in Scotland and England being classified as obese. The picture is similar in Wales where the prevalence is one in eight. The direct cost of obesity to the NHS is estimated to be £4.2bn a year, with this set to rise if the causes of childhood obesity are not addressed. The contribution of the research described below to tackling this issue is manifold: it has enabled the development and improvement of child health interventions/programmes; it has allowed commissioners and programme leads to make more informed decisions about investment in these interventions/programmes; and it has contributed to the development of regional healthy weight strategies and national guidelines on weight management.
Our research has led to a change in DoH guidelines on maternal consumption of peanut during pregnancy/breastfeeding.
Guidelines until 2009 advocated the avoidance of peanut in allergic families. However evidence base for this advice was poor and the advice was adopted by families regardless of their allergy status leading to significant constraints on their lifestyles. Our research revealed that peanut allergy is not associated with maternal peanut consumption, and that there was no need for pregnant women to avoid peanut during pregnancy. On the basis of our research DoH concluded that previous guidance was inappropriate and it was thus withdrawn.
The Centre for Food Policy (CFP) at City University London uses applied research to develop `public interest' approaches to understanding the relations between food systems and consumers. A key focus is the tension between `food citizenship' and consumerism. Our research has long asked how food policy-makers can address and improve citizenship interests when faced with both `old' social divisions (inequalities, poverty, poor market access) and `new' pressures (energy-water-biodiversity footprints, environmental knowledge deficits, de- and re-skilling). Our impact has been in promoting policies to reshape the conditions for good, low impact consumption through: (a) generating high-level debate about sustainable diets (what to eat) at population and individual levels; (b) identifying and mapping the cultural and spatial realities that shape consumer choices; and (c) foregrounding the challenge of health literacy. CFP proposals have gained traction in food policy locally, regionally and internationally (including Europe, the USA and Australia), helped by our long and close relations with civil society organisations (including the United Nations) and with growing impact on government and companies, including the major supermarkets.
This case study represents the work of the Pyramid research team within the INSTIL Education Research Group (INSTIL ERG). Research at the University of West London is characterised by an ambition to promote `useful knowledge' and this case study, with its focus on providing evidence to inform and direct practice, fits within this approach. The case study describes the first rigorous evaluation of the impact of Pyramid after-school clubs that aim to improve the socio-emotional wellbeing of vulnerable children. The work of the Pyramid research team provides an empirical evidence base to support the work of a range of stakeholders including: practitioners; policy makers and researchers in the field of children's socio-emotional well-being, and the children and their families. Drawing on the evidence base, these impacts include the securing of funding for the continuation of Pyramid clubs in schools and informing future development and extension of the Pyramid club intervention for delivery to other age groups.
EPPSE is a Government-funded, high profile, longitudinal study with a multi-disciplinary design and numerous outputs, almost unprecedented in the UK in terms of its scale and scope. It has become a seminal study of the influence of early education on children's later development. Findings have been used in the UK and internationally for:
The two Principal Investigators at the IOE have taken lead roles in all of the above.
Since 2007, a team of researchers at Northumbria led by Professor Margaret (Greta) Defeyter (employed at Northumbria since Sept 2003) have been investigating the effects of breakfast on children's cognitive performance and social behaviours. The research findings have been translated into an online training programme that has up-skilled the workforce (e.g. teachers, governors, NHS Public Health Advisors and parent volunteers) from across the UK. This training provision has resulted in the start-up of 212 school breakfast clubs across the UK. School staff and public health advisors have reported a significant impact on their knowledge and skills, as well as the training programme having influenced practice and shared learning between colleagues. Following the implementation of school breakfast clubs, teachers have reported gains in terms of school attendance, punctuality and motivation (increased attainment) and quality of life (social deprivation, behaviour and nutrition) of many children involved in the UK.
We have carried out research into children's perception and behaviour around dogs, which has led to the development of an effective safety training programme, as well as improving public understanding of child-dog interactions and risk contexts for dog bite injury in children. The `Blue Dog' (BD — www.thebluedog.org) project has led to changed educational and veterinary practice, public policy change and animal welfare benefits internationally. A key part of the project was the development and validation of an interactive DVD, with training tools that teach children how to be safe around dogs. The results of the research were integrated into the injury prevention messages disseminated by the BD project. The research programme has received publicity worldwide, and over 80,000 copies of the BD DVD have been distributed to 21 different countries, with the accompanying BD booklet translated into 17 different languages. The research was carried out from 2005 onwards, with the impact of the research accruing from 2008 to date.