Dr Rebecca Abbott
Senior Research Fellow
Health and Community Sciences
University of Exeter
South Cloisters
St Luke's Campus
Exeter EX1 2LU
About me:
I joined the University of Exeter in 2012 and am currently a Senior Research Fellow within the Evidence Synthesis Team (EST) for the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula (PenARC), leading the development and delivery of evidence synthesis — a core methodological service that underpins research across the Medical School. I am also part of ISCA Evidence, one of the nine national research groups of the NIHR Evidence Synthesis Programme.
I currently co-lead (with Professor GJ Melendez Torres) the NIHR Research Support Service Specialist Centre for Public Health South West Satellite: a cross departmental team of eight staff dedicated to helping i) build capacity and capability for local authorities to embed research in public health practice and ii) providing expert advice on study design for public health research in settings outside the NHS including local authorities, the education sector, and the voluntary sector.
Interests:
Evidence syntheses, including both systematic reviews and meta-analyses, of health services related research
Novel approaches to dissemination and implementation of systematic review findings to encourage greater usability of review findings
Teaching systematic review methods
Qualifications:
- 2000 PhD (Queensland University of Technology)
- 1985 BSc (Hons) Nutrition (Surrey)
- 1985 Diploma Dietetics (Surrey)
Career:
I started my career as a research dietitian at the Institute of Child Health in London. From there I undertook a variety of roles, including a trials co-ordinator for the MRC Dunn Nutrition Unit, a physical activity research officer at the Cambridge Institute of Public Health, and a senior researcher and lecturer at the University of Queensland, Australia (2002-2011). In Australia I was working with colleagues in occupational therapy, pedagogy, physiotherapy and public health on physical activity and health related research with children and young people and teaching undergraduate level courses related to ‘nutrition, physical activity and health’.
