After completing a PhD on adult physical activity promotion in Dutch general practice in (PACE), Dr Esther van Slujis moved to Cambridge in 2004 to join the newly established MRC Epidemiology Unit as a Career Development Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Here, she led the development of the Unit’s research on children and adolescents’ physical activity with a focus on identifying correlates and determinants to contribute to the development and evaluation of physical activity promotion interventions. In 2012, she was appointed Programme Leader of the newly established ‘Behavioural Epidemiology’ programme at the same university. Esther has been lead and co-investigator on various observational and experimental research projects focussed on young people’s physical activity behaviour. She is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity and has contributed to NICE guidance on “Promoting Physical activity for Children and Young People”, the IOC consensus statement on the “Health and Fitness of Young People Through Physical Activity and Sport”, and the 2018 UK CMO Physical Activity Guidelines Update.
Esther leads the Behavioural Epidemiology and Interventions in Young People programme in the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge. This programme aims to develop and evaluate interventions to promote physical activity and dietary behaviour in young people, and use observational research to further understand where, when and how health promotion interventions in young people may be targeted. Guided by the ecological model of behaviour, various domains of influence are considered in both observational and intervention research. This includes psychological influences, as well as socio-cultural and environmental influences.
She is involved in various projects focussed on assessing personal, socio-cultural and environmental determinants of physical activity behaviour (such as SPEEDY, ICAD, ROOTS, SPACE, Southampton Women’s Survey), as well as intervention trials to promote physical activity (such as FAB, GoActive, CASE, and FRESH) and systematic reviews of the literature.