Currently, I am Co-Investigator and Work Package Lead in the following research projects:

• Community-engaged and data-informed systems transformation of urban green and blue space for population health (GroundsWell): this £7.1-million, 5-year UKPRP Consortium aims to drive community innovation applying complex systems science to maximise the contribution of green and blue spaces to the primary prevention of, and reduction of inequalities in, non-communicable diseases in urban settings. I lead the Work Package that is developing agent-based models to simulate and explore how urban green and blue spaces transformations can reduce levels and inequalities in non-communicable diseases. I am also involved in the co-development of a systems-oriented framework of how urban green and blue spaces impacts non-communicable diseases. Find more about the project here.
• Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team (PHIRST Fusion): Fusion is one of the six academic teams appointed by NIHR to work with local and national government, public health practitioners and communities to undertake research that can provide evidence needed to support policies and programmes to improve the health of populations and reduce health inequalities across communities. Find more about the project here.
• ReImagining the Supply Chains Network Plus (RiSC+): This is a £6.25m project funded by UK Research and Innovation as part of its 'Building a Secure and Resilient World' strategic theme, to model and reimagine supply chains across the UK in food, critical minerals and fashion. The RiSC+ project will offer evidence that exposes vulnerabilities, remedies current risks and demonstrates future potential, ultimately helping to empower the UK to move towards more resilient and secure supply chains. I lead the Work Package that will use systems thinking approaches to map, conceptualize and investigate supply chain systems and their dynamic interrelations with the wider context, informing simulation and digital twin models.
• Developing system-oriented interventions and policies to prevent violence against women and girls in public spaces: this project brings together a team of interdisciplinary and multi-sector researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to work collaboratively to co-identify, co-design and co-develop safe, effective, sustainable, and scalable systems-oriented interventions and policies to prevent violence against women and girls in public spaces in Belfast.
• Sao Paulo health survey - physical activity and environment: building on the 2015 wave of the Sao Paulo Health Survey, this population-based prospective cohort was designed to investigate the relationship between built environment, physical activity, and nutritional status in Brazilian adults. I am involved in the Work Package that will use agent-based modelling to estimate the behavioural and health impacts of potential changes in the built environment for recreational physical activity and active travel. Find more about the project here.

Past projects include:

• A vision of healthy urban design for NCD prevention: in partnership with University of Melbourne, this project (2020 to 2024) aimed to explore the relation between urban design, non-communicable diseases risk factors and outcomes, and health inequalities in cities across the UK and Australia. This project combined epidemiological, computer vision, artificial intelligence, and comparative risk assessment methods to help inform actionable changes in cities.
• Supportive environments for physical and social activity, healthy ageing and cognitive health (SPACE): building on the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA), this project (2021-2024) investigated the impacts, and possible causal pathways, of urban environments on healthy ageing and cognitive health. I was involved in the development of a systems map displaying the complex system that connects urban environments and cognitive decline. Find more about the project here.
• Developing system-oriented interventions to reduce car dependency for improved population health in Belfast: This 18-month project (2020 to 2022) aimed to co-develop sustainable and scalable systems-oriented interventions at the intersection of policy and environmental infrastructure and individual agency to reduce car dependency for improved population health in the Belfast City Region. Find more about the project here.

I serve and have served as expert consultant for various international and national organizations, including the Pan-American Health Organization, World Health Organization, United Nations Development Programme, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Brazilian Ministry of Health, and Colombian Ministry of Health and Social Protection.

Current external appointments include:

• Co-lead of the UK Prevention Research Partnership's Special Interest Group (SIG) on Systems Thinking and Complex Systems.
• Member of the Systems Evaluation Network's organizing committee.
• Member of the Leadership Team for the International Society of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity's SIG on Systems Science.
• Member of the organizing committee for the UK Nutrition Society's SIG on School Food Systems.

I co-ordinate the “Systems thinking and complex systems in public health” module, offered by the MPH and MPH-Global Health programmes. I also contribute to other master's and undergraduate courses offered by the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences.

I supervised three PhDs until completion. Currently, I supervise one PhD candidate:

• Abdullah Alsarrani, on the association between friendship network and mental well-being in adolescents.

I also regularly supervise master's and undergraduate dissertations.

Enquiries from prospective students on the application of systems thinking and complexity science approaches to understand and address public and planetary health issues are welcome. A topic of particular interest presently is the use of causal loop diagrams for synthesis and visualization of complex evidence.