Physical Activity and Respiratory Health Group

The Physical Activity and Respiratory Health Group conducts multidisciplinary research at the intersection of non-communicable diseases, physical activity, and socio-environmental epidemiology, with a dedicated focus on chronic respiratory conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.

Expanding on our foundational work examining how physical activity and socio-environmental factors influence COPD onset and prognosis, our current research explores additional health determinants - including diet, body weight, body composition, and mobility in older populations - alongside other allergic and chronic conditions. Using a lifecourse approach, we investigate how physical inactivity interacts with diverse environmental and lifestyle factors, including air pollution, occupational exposures, indoor conditions, sleep, and infections.

To accurately capture these interactions, we specialise in defining, measuring, and validating physical activity and mobility metrics across ages and disease stages. This includes defining concepts like physical activity experience and walking in older adults, while developing and validating assessment tools ranging from questionnaires to advanced algorithms.

In the domain of e-Health, we develop and validate digital health technologies aimed at predicting, measuring, and preventing adverse respiratory outcomes. Our work also includes validating physical activity apps, validating algorithms to assess gait, deploying multi-sensor intervention systems to prevent COPD exacerbations, and developing algorithms to assess the Inhaled Dose of Air Pollution (IDoAP) across healthy, ageing, diseased, and pregnant populations.

Central to our mission is a strong commitment to methodological rigor across both quantitative and qualitative frameworks. Our quantitative work draws on extensive experience in conducting cohort studies and intervention trials, paired with advanced analytical methodologies, including hypothesis-free methods to characterise disease, counterfactual-based approaches for causal inference, and the development and refinement of IDoAP methodologies. To complement these approaches, we increasingly integrate qualitative and participatory methodologies, such as in-depth interviews, auto-photography, and meta-ethnographic synthesis, while embedding robust Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) structures throughout our research projects.