WCRF International Grant panel member

Dr Ashley COOPER, PhD

Reader in Exercise and Health Science
Department of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences
University of Bristol
Bristol, UK

Dr Cooper is Reader in the department of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences at Bristol University. He has been at Bristol for over 12 years, and his specialist area of research is the objective measurement of physical activity, with a particular interest in the contribution of active travel to school to children’s physical activity and fitness.

He is the Principal Investigator for the PEACH project (Personal and Environmental Associations with Children's Health), a study funded by the National Prevention Research Initiative and World Cancer Research Fund to investigate the personal and environmental correlates of physical activity and eating behaviours in children. This study combines objective measurement of physical activity by accelerometers with data from personal GPS receivers to investigate where children go to be physically active outdoors. A range of personal, social and environmental factors are also measured, and the aim of the study is to determine the relative influence of these factors on physical activity.

Dr Cooper is also one of the lead researchers on the International Children’s Accelerometer Database (ICAD) and is involved in a number of physical activity intervention trials including Early-ACTID, a major randomised clinical trial of physical activity and dietary modification in the management of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes in adults.