1. VU University Medical Center (VUMC), Amsterdam Public Health research institute, The Netherlands
2. Amsterdam University Medical Center (AMC), Amsterdam Public Health research institute, The Netherlands
3. State Association for Health and Academy for Social Medicine Lower Saxony (LVG), Germany
4. Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS, Germany (BIPS)
5. Ghent University (UGENT), Belgium
6. University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR), Spain
7. Sciensano, Directorate Epidemiology and Public Health, Belgium (Collaborator)
8. University of Guelph, Canada (Collaborator)

VU University Medical Center (VUMC)
Department of Public and Occupational Health
Amsterdam Public Health research institute
van der Boechorststraat 7
1081 BT Amsterdam
https://www.amsterdamumc.nl

Our research

VUMC represents one of the 8 unique University Medical Centers in the Netherlands, where teaching, research and patient care are fully integrated in one organization. VUMC, together with AMC, is part of Amsterdam UMC. The research priorities of Amsterdam UMC are organized in 8 large and world-class interfaculty research institutes. In these institutes, researchers from different disciplines, closely collaborate to establish a truly applied, translational research program that addresses current societal challenges. The research group “Child and Adolescent Public Health” has an excellent, international track record in high-quality research ranging from risk factors to health effects and from development to evaluation of interventions.

Our role in GrowH!

VUMC will lead WP2, where two participatory intervention approaches will be adapted for local proof-of-feasibility studies in Germany and Spain. VUMC will also be involved in WP1 (Create evidence using existing cohorts) and co-lead WP4 (Deliver systems-oriented policy guidance).

Our team

Dr Teatske Altenburg is an Assistant Professor in the research group Child Health and Adolescent Research within VUMC. With a background in human movement sciences and over 15 years of experience in experimental and epidemiological research in physical activity and sedentary behaviour, she is skilled in applying experimental research into real-world situations. She is specialised in child-friendly research methods, including participatory action research. Her research is focused on measurement, determinants and mechanisms underlying the health consequences of physical activity and sedentary behaviour. In her work, she involves youth themselves to co-create innovations that maximise their health. Laura Belmon, MSc, is a postdoctoral researcher in the research group Child and Adolescent Health and Care within VUMC. With a background in health sciences and just over 5 years of research experience in the field of promoting healthy lifestyle behaviours such as healthy eating, physical activity and sleep. In her PhD project (2016-2021) she focused on the development of a preventative intervention to promote sleep health of children aged 4-12 years, where she combined the Intervention Mapping framework with the Health in All Policies perspective.

Amsterdam University Medical Center (AMC)
Department of Public and Occupational Health
Amsterdam Public Health research institute
Meibergdreef 9
1105 AZ Amsterdam
https://www.amc.nl

Our research

AMC represents one of the 8 unique University Medical Centers in the Netherlands, where teaching, research and patient care are fully integrated in one organization. AMC, together with VUmc, is part of Amsterdam UMC. The research priorities of Amsterdam UMC are organized in 8 large and world-class interfaculty research institutes. In these institutes, researchers from different disciplines, closely collaborate to establish a truly applied, translational research program that addresses current societal challenges.

The research group “Child and Adolescent Public Health” hosts the ABCD study which resulted in over 200 papers in international peer reviewed journals and 10 PhD theses.

Our role in GrowH!

AMC will co-lead WP1, responsible for the replication/validation of the risks identified in the cohorts of the IDEFICS/I.Family study and of the ABCD study.

Our team

As an Associate Professor in the research group Child Health and Adolescent Research within AMC, Dr Tanja Vrijkotte has broad expertise in epidemiology and cardiometabolic risk factors and is researching early origins of overweight and cardiovascular functions. She is the project leader of the pioneering multi-ethnic ABCD study since 2007. Using an epidemiological approach, she has completed several innovative studies on foetal programming due to maternal obesity and high psychosocial stress. Her current research focus is on the origin of health inequalities by studying the contribution of nutrition and lifestyle factors during pregnancy and early life. Noeki van Lieshout is working for the ABCD-study since 2014. First, she studied nutrition and dietetics (bachelor), followed by a master in health science. Noekie will be involved in the harmonization process of GrowH! for the ABCD-study. Anton Schreuder obtained his medical degree in 2016 and his PhD in 2021 related to risk modelling in a lung cancer screening setting using medical images. He will be working as a researcher and epidemiologist on the prevention of obesity in children by validating risk models on the ABCD study.

Landesvereinigung für Gesundheit und Akademie für Sozialmedizin Niedersachsen e. V.
(LVG & AFS)
Fenskeweg 2
30165 Hannover
https://gesundheit-nds.de/

Our research

LVG sees itself as a neutral, overarching platform for the topics of health promotion and prevention with a focus on "social inequality and health". Its aims are to provide new impulses for practice, science and politics and to promote an interdisciplinary exchange on health promotion and prevention. It contributes to the transparency of  good practice examples in the State of Bremen and strengthen the interlocking of, among other things, health, social affairs, science, culture and education in order to be able to contribute to improving the health of the population in view of the scarcity of resources. A further concern is to promote quality development in health promotion and prevention.

Our role in GrowH!

LVG will be involved in WP2 and WP3 in the adaptation of the home-based intervention created by the Guelph Family Health Study to the situation and conditions in Bremen.

Our team

Thomas Altgeld is Executive Director of the State Association for Health and Academy for Social Medicine Lower Saxony (LVG). His work focuses on the topics of health equity, systemic organizational development, quality in health promotion and health management in public administrations, men's health and digitization in health promotion. Elisabeth Rataj is a public health expert working in the field of evaluation and practice research for the State Association for Health and Academy for Social Medicine Lower Saxony (LVG & AFS). She coordinates the work of the project's health experts who are recruiting participants via the setting of primary schools and who are implementing the home-based intervention in Bremen. Linda Fliegner and Jördis Knoblauch also work for the State Association for Health and Academy for Social Medicine Lower Saxony (LVG & AFS). As health experts they recruit families through primary school and neighborhood settings in Bremen and they conduct the home-based intervention using motivational interviewing.

Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS,
Achterstrasse 30
28359 Bremen
https://www.bips-institut.de/home.html

Our research

BIPS develops effective strategies for the prevention of chronic, non-communicable diseases. Our research focusses on factors beyond individual diseases, such as lifestyle and environment, biological and social factors, as well as early detection and drug safety. Our research spectrum covers methodological development, the identification of the causes of diseases, and intervention and implementation research. We also offer information to politicians and the general population and provide academic qualification to young scientists. Since September 2016, BIPS has been WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, Nutrition and Physical Activity.

Our role in GrowH!

BIPS coordinates the GrowH! project (WP5). It also leads WP1 aiming to quantify the relative impact of risk factors for obesity in infants, children, adolescents and young adults and to derive a life-course model for the development of obesity. BIPS statisticians will model the impact of hypothetical early life interventions on adiposity using the IDEFICS/ I.Family cohort dataset. A replication based on the ABCD cohort will be conducted in order to validate the results.As co-lead in WP2 and WP3, BIPS will adapt, implement and evaluate the Guelph Family Health Study  home-based intervention tailored to the specific target group of socially disadvantaged children in Bremen, Germany, together with the operational stakeholder partner LVG .

Our team

Professor Wolfgang Ahrens is deputy scientific director of the BIPS and head of the department Epidemiological Methods and Etiological Research. As professor of Epidemiological Methods his research focuses on the causes of environment- and lifestyle-related diseases as well as their primary prevention and the scientific evaluation of interventions. He coordinated the IDEFICS/ I.Family cohort studies and the Poliy Evaluation Network (PEN).  Professor Iris Pigeot is the scientific director of BIPS and leads the statistics team. Her research interests focus on use of secondary data in the research of pharmaceutical drug safety, on primary prevention and its evaluation, especially of childhood obesity, on digital public health as well as on statistical and privacy issues related to research data infrastructures. Professor Hajo Zeeb is an epidemiologist with special interest in social and environmental epidemiology and evidence-based public health. He leads the department Prevention and Evaluation. Dr Claudia Börnhorst is a scientist in the research group Statistical Methods for Causal Inference at BIPS. Her research interest lies in the field of life course epidemiology with a focus on statistical methods for the analysis of complex cohort data. Dr Tilman Brand is head of research unit social epidemiology at BIPS. His research focuses on health inequalities and sociocultural adaptation of preventive interventions. Dr Christoph Buck's research focuses on geostatistical data analysis and statistical modelling of longitudinal observational studies, and assessment of environmental factors on urban-lifestyle-induced health effects based on geographic information systems (GIS). Dr Heide Busse is a public health researcher and head of the research unit applied health intervention research at BIPS. Her research is concerned with the development, evaluation and implementation of complex public health interventions with a focus on settings-based interventions to promote physical activity and health in children and young people. Willempje Hummel-Bartenschlager works as a medical documentalist and is involved on the management of the data of the IDEFICS and I.Family studies including data cleaning since 2009. Marie Lisanne Schepan, M.Sc. is a psychologist and junior researcher in the research group prevention and evaluation at BIPS. Her research focuses on health inequalities and the promotion of health in children and adolescents.

Ghent University (UGENT), Belgium
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Department of Public Health and Primary Care
Ghent University Hospital
Corneel Heymanslaan 109000 Ghent, Belgium
https://www.ugent.be/ge/phpc/en

Our research

The Ghent University is a top 100 ranked university, founded in 1817. Its 11 faculties offer more than 200 educational curricula and conduct in-depth research in a wide range of scientific domains. The Department of Public Health and Primary Care has as major mission to contribute to the promotion of health, the prevention of disease, the protection and improvement of the quality of life of all citizens, and to the quality of care at all levels of society. The UGENT partner was previously involved in the IDEFICS and I.Family projects, two projects that will be used as a basis for research in GrowH!

Our role in GrowH!

UGENT will lead WP4 on systems-oriented policy guidance for obesity prevention.
In close collaboration with WP2&3, UGENT will translate the setting-based interventions into a systems framework. The main findings from WP4 will be compiled into an evidence-informed policy guidance document for Europe.

Our team

Stefaan De Henauw (MD, MSc, PhD) is professor of Public Health and Nutrition and Vice-Chair Research at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care of UGENT. He has long experience in evidence based public health policy making in the field of diet related prevention strategies and obesity prevention at the population level.

Universidad de Zaragoza
Departamento de Fisiatría y Enfermería
C/Domingo Miral, s/n 50009 Zaragoza
http://fisiatria_enfermeria.unizar.es/ (Page only available in Spanish)

Our research

The main research fields of the GENUD research group (University of Zaragoza) are nutritional assessment, body composition, epidemiology and prevention of obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in children and adolescents. The development of obesity in children is in part conditioned by genetic susceptibility together with unhealthy lifestyles. However, the interaction between genetic and environmental factors is still poorly understood. The GENUD research group has contributed to scientific knowledge with several publications.

Our role in GrowH!

UNIZAR leads WP3 and coordinates the proof-of-feasibility studies developed in Germany and Spain (one study per country) with direct involvement of operational stakeholders for ensuring the continuation of successful approaches.

Our team

Luis A. Moreno Aznar is full Professor at (Spain). He is the Coordinator of the GENUD (Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development) research group. His primary lines of research have been directed towards the study of nutrition, food and lifestyles in children and adolescents, with the aim of preventing the early onset of chronic diseases related to nutrition, especially childhood obesity. He earned different research awards and published more than 700 articles indexed in scientific journals, as well as more than 100 book chapters.

Pilar de Miguel-Etayo is Registered Dietitian, PhD in nutrition and epidemiology, working postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Biomedical Research in Network of Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN) of the Carlos III Health Institute from GENUD research group at the University of Zaragoza. Her research interests are epidemiological studies of diet and physical activity and programs for the prevention and treatment of obesity in children and adolescents.

Sciensano
Rue Juliette Wytsmanstraat 14
1050 Brussels, Belgium
https://www.sciensano.be/en

Our research
Sciensano can count on more than 700 staff members who commit themselves, day after day, to achieve the motto: Healthy all life long. Sciensano’s strength and uniqueness lie within the holistic and multidisciplinary approach to health. More particularly Sciensano focuses on the close and indissoluble interconnection between human and animal health and their environment (the “One health” concept). For this, Sciensano builds on the more than 100 years of scientific expertise of the former Veterinary and Agrochemical Research Centre (CODA-CERVA) and the ex-Scientific Institute of Public Health (WIV-ISP).

Our role in GrowH!
Sciensano is involved WP4 as consultant and adviser for system-level approach to combat obesity.

Our team
Dr Stefanie Vandevijvere is a Senior Public Health Nutrition Scientist at Sciensano, and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Her research aims to support the development and implementation of policies to effectively and equitably improve the quality of population diets.  In particular she has an interest in the role of food environments in determining people’s dietary habits and how to hold governments and food businesses to account for their actions to create healthy food environments to effectively reduce obesity. She is a member of the leadership team of the International Network for Food and Obesity/NCDs Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) and responsible for the implementation of the Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food-EPI) in countries internationally.

University of Guelph
Department of Family Relations & Applied Nutrition
50 Stone Road East Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
https://family.uoguelph.ca/

Our research

The University of Guelph is like no other university in Canada. Research-intensive and learner-centred, our campuses span urban hubs and rural communities. Known as “Canada’s Food University”, the University of Guelph conducts research that spans from “field to fork”. The living and learning environments at the University of Guelph encourage exploration and the interdisciplinary sharing of new ideas, critical for meeting challenges posed by our more complex and interconnected world. At Guelph, we turn knowledge into action to “Improve Life.”

Our role in GrowH!

The University of Guelph is involved in WP2 and WP3 as consultant and adviser for implementing and adopting the family-based intervention (motivational interviewing) of the Guelph Family Health Study.

Our team

Jess Haines, PhD, MHSc, RD is an Associate Professor of Applied Nutrition at the University of Guelph. Dr. Haines’s research aims to bridge epidemiologic research on the determinants of health behaviours with the design, implementation, and evaluation of family-based interventions to support children’s healthy eating and growth. Along with colleagues at Harvard, she led a study which found that a home-based intervention that targets routines associated with obesity risk, i.e., family meals, sleep, and screen time, can improve weight status in preschoolers. She is currently testing a similar intervention among Canadian families through the Guelph Family Health Study, a longitudinal family-based cohort.