POPULATION WELLBEING AND ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH LAB 1

PowerLabPOPULATION WELLBEING AND ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH LAB

ISSUE 2 - MARCH 2018

Welcome to PowerLab NewsletterA MESSAGE FROM THE CO-DIRECTORS

In 2017, PowerLab grew through the appointment of a new statistician, two new PhDs and three interns, all three of whom will study for Honours with us in 2018. Welcome to PowerLab Elyse, Aimee and Krystian!

This year we authored 27 peer-reviewed publications, gave many international talks including at the World Congress on Public Health and the EcoCity World Summit, and we earned approximately $3 million in research income (all administered by the University of Wollongong). This included two National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) mid-career fellowships. We also had another Honours student finish their thesis and three excellent PhD student presentations at the annual faculty HDR conference. Congratulations to Grace, Stephanie, Faysal and Tashi.

This report celebrates many of these achievements, as well other highlights, such as Prof Terry Hartig’s extended stay, our visiting fellows from China CDC, and the many PowerTalks given by several leading scientists from around the world who visited us.

We hope you enjoy reading about our achievements. If you are interested in studying Honours or postgraduate-level studies with us, interested in visiting or working in PowerLab, please email us on powerlab-enquiries@uow.edu.au.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR THOMAS ASTELL-BURT

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR XIAOQI FENG

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Research Focus AreasCHILD HEALTH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT

ENHANCING TYPE 2 DIABETES PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT

ENVIRONMENTS FOR HEALTHY EQUITABLE AGEING

MORTALITY & CHRONIC DISEASE SURVEILLANCE IN CHINA

An exciting new program of research includes work on perinatal health by PhD student Ms Selin Akaraci ( left) and green space quality by Honours student Ms Aimee Marchesi (right).

Our long-term collaborator, Prof Glen Maberly (above right), Director of Western Sydney Diabetes, is working with us to apply our research findings to drive positive change for communities in Western Sydney. (Left to right: UOW Vice Chancellor Paul Wellings, Co-Directors Xiaoqi Feng and Thomas Astell-Burt, Professor Glen Maberly).

Many of our PhD students are doing quantitative research to identify what environments support healthy ageing. (Left to right: Ms Stephanie Clingan, Mr Tashi Dendup, Mr Faysal Shuvo).

Our collaboration with China CDC rose to a new level in 2017, with our first China CDC-PowerLab Visiting Fellows. (Left to right: Ms Yunning Liu, A/Prof Thomas As-tell-Burt, Prof Maigeng Zhou, A/Prof Xiaoqi Feng, Mr Mao Fan).

Our People 2017ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR XIAOQI FENG

• Founding Co-Director • Associate Professor of

Epidemiology. • Head of Postgraduate Studies,

School of Health and Society. • NHMRC Career Develop-

ment Fellow (2018-2022)

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR THOMAS ASTELL-BURT

• Founding Co-Director • Associate Professor of

Public and Population Health• Head of Research, School of

Health and Society. • NHMRC Research Leader

Fellow (2017-2021)

TAMARA RASO Project Officer

MS JESSICA CERNI PhD Candidate

MS AIMEE MARCHESI Intern

MS ELYSE KAMBISIOS Intern

MR KRYSTIAN STERGIOU Intern

MR FAYSAL SHUVO PhD Candidate

MS GRACE NORTON Honours Student

MS STEPHANIE CLINGAN PhD Candidate

MR MAO FAN Visiting Fellow

MR TASHI DENUP PhD Candidate

MS YUNNING LIU Visiting Fellow

MS SELIN AKARCI PhD Candidate

DR MICHAEL NAVAKATIKYAN

Statistician

DR MEHBUB ANWAR Statistician

PROF. TERRY HARTIGUOW Visiting Int. Scholar Awardee

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2017 Highlights

14 March PowerTalk Long-term collaborator Professor Billie Giles-Corti from the University of Melbourne presented research on liveability and health promotion

7 August Co-Director Thom-as Astell-Burt was awarded $719,840 for an NHMRC Boosting Dementia Research Leader Fellowship

17 November PowerLab PhD students Mr Tashi Dendup, Ms Stephanie Clingan and Mr Faysal Shuvo presented at the 2017 Faculty of Social Sciences HDR Student Conference

23 October Professor Maigeng Zhou, Ms Yunning Liu and Mao Fan visited from China CDC. Yunning and Fan both stayed in PowerLab for 3 months as visiting fellows

11 October Co-Director Xiaoqi Feng was awarded a four-year, $431,000 NHMRC Career Development Fellowship to conduct new studies of child health and environment and to develop the Australian Index of Environmental Quality for Children (AusEQI-C)

8 November PowerTalk Honorary Professor Bin Jalaludin of South Western Sydney LHD visited to present research on landscape fires from both a global and regional perspective.

10 December Congratulations interns Aimee Marchesi, Krystian Stergiou and Elyse Kambisios, who will all stay on in PowerLab to study for Honours in 2018 on topics such as air pollution, social capital and green space quality

20 December Co-Director, Xiaoqi Feng was promotedto Associate Professor. Xiaoqi is the A/Prof of Epidemiology in the School of Health and Society.

13 December We made food and had fun at the annual end-of-year party to celebrate a very fine first year of PowerLab

5 June Research collabora-tor Professor Susan Thompson of UNSW City Futures Research Centre visited Power-Lab to give a PowerTalk on healthy cities research and policy from a planners perpective

29 September Dr Iana Markevych from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich presented to the PowerLab group her research focus areas of the effects of green space on birthweight and allergies during her visit

21 September PowerTalk Dr Danelle Lobdell, a colleague at the US Environmental Protection Agency, visited PowerLab to present her research on environmental health and big data across the US

17 July - 15 August PowerTalk Visiting International Scholar Awardee Professor Terry Hartig of Uppsala University visited us to continue our long-term research collab-oration on green space and health. Terry, Xiaoqi and Thomas also all presented at the World EcoCity Summit.

2 May Co-Directors Thomas Astell-Burt and Xiaoqi Feng were part of Western Sydney Diabetes that won awards for Produc-tive Partnerships and the Pemulwuy Prize at the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue’s “Out There Summit”

5 July Co-Director Xiaoqi Feng received the UOW Vice Chancellor’s award for Emerging Researcher of the Year

5 August PowerLab teamed up with NIASRA to provide workshops on multilevel modelling in the social sciences. The focus was on capacity building among PhD students and Early Career Researchers

15 September More quality green space in Australian cities supports healthier children Media This study by A/Profs Xiaoqi Feng and Thomas Astell-Burt was covered by the Daily Telegraph and picked by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine for their Continuing Medical Education Syllabus

1-2 May PowerTalk PowerLab’s UGPN funded research collaboration with the Centre for Human Health and Environment at North Carolina State University involved a presentation featuring Associate Professors David Reif and Jane Hoppin and university-wide discussion in the area of big data analytics

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Selected PublicationsFeng X, Astell-Burt T. Residential Green Space Quantity and Quality and Child Well-being: A Longitudinal Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 53 (5), 616-624.  Markevych I, Schoierer J, Hartig T, Chudnovsky A, Feng X, Astell-Burt T. Exploring pathways linking greenspace to health: Theoretical and methodological guidance. Environmental Research. 158, 301-317.  Han L, Liu Y, Wang C, Tang L, Feng X, Astell-Burt T, Duan D, Lu N, Xu G, ...Determinants of hyperhomocysteinemia in healthy and hypertensive subjects: a population-based study and systematic review. Clinical Nutrition. 36 (5), 1215-1230.  Feng X, Z Feng, Astell-Burt T. Perceived public transport infrastructure modifies the association between public transport use and mental health: Multilevel analyses from the United Kingdom. PloS One. 12 (8), e0180081.  Moayyed H, Kelly B, Feng X, V Flood. Is living near healthier food stores associated with better food intake in regional Australia? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 14 (8), 884.  Feng X, A Wilson. Neighbourhood socioeconomic inequality and gender differences in body mass index: The role of unhealthy behaviours. Preventive Medicine. 101: 171-177.  Astell-Burt T, Feng X. Does the Potential Benefit of Neighbourhood Green Space for Body Mass Index Depend upon Socioeconomic Circumstances and Local Built and Transport Environment. Journal of Transport & Health. 5: S40.  Zhu Y, Feng X, Li H, Huang Y, Chen J, Xu G. A randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a geo-specific poster compared to a general poster for effecting change in perceived threat and intention to avoid drowning ‘hotspots’ among children of migrant workers: evidence from Ningbo, China. BMC Public Health. 2017. 17 (1), 530.   Dune T, Astell-Burt T, Firdaus R. The built environment and sexual and reproductive health. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. 41 (5), 458-459.  El Masri A, Kolt GS, Astell-Burt T, George ES. Lifestyle behaviours of Lebanese-Australians: Cross-sectional findings from the 45 and Up Study. PloS One. 12 (7), e0181217.   Owen KB, Parker PD, Astell-Burt T, Lonsdale C. Effects of physical activity and breaks on mathematics engagement in adolescents. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 21 (1) 63-68. T Sugiyama, R Cole, R Thompson, S Sahlqvist, TH de Sá, A Carver, ... Astell-Burt T. Area-level socio-economic disparities in active and sedentary transport: Investigating the role of population density in Australia. Journal of Transport & Health. 6: 282-288.

Feng X, Astell-Burt T. Do greener areas promote more equitable child health? Health and Place. 46, 267-273.

Feng X, Astell-Burt T. Is Neighborhood Green Space Protective against Associations between Child Asthma, Neighborhood Traffic Volume and Perceived Lack of Area Safety? Multilevel Analysis of 4447 Australian Children.  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. S5, S40-S41 

Sugiyama, T., Cole, R., Thompson, R., Sahlqvist, S., de Sá, T.H., Carver, A., & Astell-Burt, T. Area-level socio-economic disparities in active and sedentary transport: Investigating the role of population density in Australia. Journal of Transport & Health. 6, 282-288.

Zhou M, Feng X, Yong J, Zhang M, Page A, Astell-Burt T, Zhao W. Lifting the lid on geographic complexity in the relationship between body mass index and education in China. Health and Place. 46, 1-5.

Feng X, Astell-Burt T. The Relationship between Neighbourhood Green Space and Child Mental Wellbeing Depends upon Whom You Ask: Multilevel Evidence from 3083 Children Aged 12–13 Years. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 14(3), 235.

Feng X, Astell-Burt T. Impact of a type 2 diabetes diagnosis on mental health, quality of life and social contacts: a l ongitudinal study. BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care. 7(5): e000198.

Page A, Liu S, Gunnell D, Astell-Burt T, Feng X, Wang L, Zhou M. Suicide by pesticide poisoning remains a priority for suicide prevention in China: analysis of national mortality trends 2006-2013. Journal of Affective Disorders. 15(208): 418-423.

Akombi BJ, Agho KE, Hall JJ, Merom D, Astell-Burt T, Renzaho A. Factors associated with stunting and severe stunting in children under 5 years: evidence from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. BMC Pediatrics. 17: 15

Murphy M, Badland H, Koohsari MJ, Astell-Burt T, et al. Indicators of a health-promoting local food environment: a conceptual framework to inform urban planning policy and practice. Health Promotion Journal of Australia. 28 (1) 82. 017. 17:15

White RL, Babic MJ, Parker PD, Lubans DR, Astell-Burt T, Lonsdale C. Domain-specific physical activity and mental health: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 52 (5), 653-666

Fernandez A, Gillespie JA, Smith-Merry J, Feng X, Astell-Burt T, et al. Integrated mental health atlas of the Western Sydney Local Health District: gaps and recommendations. Australian Health Review 41 (1), 38-44

Moayyed H, Kelly B, Feng X, Flood V. Evaluation of a ‘healthiness’ rating system for food outlet types in Australian residential communities. Nutrition & Dietetics 74 (1), 29-35

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Looking ahead to 2018• Prof Terry Hartig will return to PowerLab as part of his Visiting International Scholar

Award to continue a long-term research collaboration in green space and health

• Professor Gavin Turrell will visit us to give a PowerTalk on neighbourhood effects and healthy ageing

• A new ‘Power-UP’ seminar series will be launched to build capacity in NHMRC and ARC grant writing in the Faculty of Social Sciences

• Multilevel social statistics courses run in partnership between PowerLab and the Na-tional Institute of Applied Statistical Research Australia (NIASRA)

• Our current PhD students will present their research findings at that the ‘3-Minute Thesis’ competition

• We will be welcoming the 2018 cohort of PowerLab-China CDC Visiting Fellows

• Associate Professors Thomas Astell-Burt and Xiaoqi Feng will travel to Peking Union Medical College (China’s top medical school) to continue a long-term research collaboration

• We will be recruiting several new PhD students on scholarships for research on environments for promoting child health and supporting wellbeing in the elderly

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School of Health and Society Faculty of Social Sciences Univeristy of Wollongong

Room 203, Building 21 University of Wollongong

socialsciences.uow.edu.au/powerlab

powerlab-enquiries@uow.edu.au