M Barker MRC MR/N011848/1

Staff

Lead researchers

Professor Mary Barker PhD, C Psychol

Prof of Psychology & Behavioural Science

Research interests

Mary Barker is Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Science. She has a joint appointment in both the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Southampton UK. Mary runs a programme of work in both the UK and in low-income countries aiming to engage young people in improving their sense of agency, well-being and mental health, to benefit their health in general but their diets and physical activity habits more specifically. Her team’s approach is participatory and combines social activism focused on engaging young people in the climate change and health agenda and testing methods of one-to-one support and digital resources including smartphone games. Much of this work takes place as part of her NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research EACH-B (Engaging Adolescents in Changing Behaviour). She partners in this activity with the TALENT network of colleagues with interests in adolescent health and well-being based in institutions in low-and-middle-income countries. Her team also ran a five-country, longitudinal qualitative study with young people throughout the pandemic exploring their experience, mental health, well-being and resilience, data from which supported UK local and national government COVID messaging to young people. She is adjunct professor at the University of Agder, Norway, and has honorary appointments at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and University College London.

Connect with Mary

Email: meb@mrc.soton.ac.uk

Other researchers

Dr Leanne Morrison

Associate Professor

Research interests

Health Psychology
Person-based intervention development
Digital technology

Connect with Leanne

Email: L.Morrison@soton.ac.uk

Research outputs

Healthy conversation skills as an intervention to support healthy gestational weight gain: experience and perceptions from intervention deliverers and participants.

Megan Jarman, Laura Adam, Wendy Lawrence, Mary Barker & Rhonda C. Bell, 2018, Patient Education and Counseling

DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2018.12.024

Type: article

Who uses foodbanks and why? Exploring the impact of financial strain and adverse life events on food insecurity

E. Prayogo, A. Chater, Mary Barker, S. Chapman, N. Rahmawati, T. Waterfall & G. Grimble, 2018, Journal of Public Health, 40(4), 676-683

DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdx133

Type: article

Life course programming of stress responses in adolescents and young adults in India

G.V. Krishnaveni, Kalyanaraman Kumaran, Murali Krishna, Sirazul A. Sahariah, G. Chandak, Sarah Kehoe, Alexander Jones, Dattatray Bhat, Vijay Danivas, Krishnamachari Srinivasan, J. Suguna Shanthi, S.C. Karat, Mary Barker, Clive Osmond, Chittaranjan Yajnik & Caroline Fall, 2018, Wellcome Open Research , 3(56)

DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14583.1

Type: article

Origins of lifetime health around the time of conception

T.P. Fleming, A. Watkins, M.A. Velazquez, J. C. Mathers, A.M. Prentice, J. Stephenson, Mary Barker, R. Saffery, Chittaranjan S. Yajnik, Judith Eckert, Mark Hanson, T. Forrester, Peter D. Gluckman & Keith Godfrey, 2018, The Lancet, 391(10132), 1842–1852

DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30312-X

Type: article

Before the beginning

Judith Stephenson, N. Heselehurst, Jennifer Hall, Danielle Schoenaker, Jayne Hutchinson, Janet Cade, Lucilla Poston, Geraldine Barrett, Sarah Crozier, Mary Barker, Kalyanaraman Kumaran, C. Yanjik, Janis Baird & Gita Mishra, 2018, The Lancet, 391(10132), 1830-1841

DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30311-8

Type: article