Alison Fildes

Alison Fildes is Associate Professor at the University of Leeds and an honorary Senior Research Associate at University College London. Her research focuses on the development and modification of obesogenic health behaviours, particularly how dietary and eating behaviours develop during childhood and how they can be changed to improve lifelong health. She has expertise in appetite, food preferences, feeding practices, the food environment and consumer behaviour, with a particular interest in the interaction between genetic and environmental factors in excessive weight gain. Alison is Deputy Director of the Gemini Study, a large UK population-based twin birth cohort investigating genetic and environmental contributions to growth, energy balance behaviours and wellbeing from infancy to early adulthood. Her research uses multidisciplinary approaches including behavioural genetics, epidemiology, trials, systematic reviews, psychometrics and data analytics to understand and influence behaviours related to diet and obesity.