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Prof Cecile Knai

Professor of Public Health Policy

United Kingdom

My first degree was in European history at McGill University, followed by a Master’s degree in public health nutrition at the University of California at Berkeley, and a PhD in public health policy at LSHTM in 2007. Prior to joining LSHTM I worked at the World Health Organization's Regional Office for Europe (Copenhagen, Denmark), most of which was spent as a technical officer in food and nutrition.

At LSHTM, I am Head of Department, Health Services Research and Policy Department, and Deputy Director Health Improvement of the 5-year Policy Innovation and Evaluation Research Unit (PIRU) from 2024.

Affiliations

Department of Health Services Research and Policy
Faculty of Public Health and Policy

Teaching

I contribute lectures to a range of modules including Fundamental Public Health Nutrition, Nutrition-related Chronic Disease, as well as the Doctorate of Public Health programme. I joined the module organisation team for the term 1 MSc Public Health core module Issues in Public Health (led by Vanessa Er) but have stepped away from that role while Head of Department.

I co-designed and organise the LSHTM Short Course on ‘Conducting Research on Commercial Determinants of Health'.

Research

Research interests include food policy, commercial determinants of health (focused on food industry, but also as compared to other industries), policy evaluation, qualitative research, including qualitative systems methods. My programme of research comprises evaluations of public private partnerships and food industry led self-regulation, as well as analyses of the process, and impact, of the growing influence of large food corporations in health, in England and abroad. This falls into my broader programme of work driven by our Commercial Determinants Research Group (CDRG), and included under the UKPRP funded SPECTRUM consortium on the commercial determinants of health. I currently lead the public health policy arm of the LSHTM Policy Innovation and Evaluation Research Unit (PIRU), including a 3-year project on food provision in early years (childcare) settings in England. I also lead the LSHTM team of the CO-CREATE project, an European Commission-funded project on systems thinking to address adolescent obesity. I lead a 2023-25 Gates-funded project (via the IMMANA programme) on the use of qualitative systems methods to examine food industry involvement in emergency food assistance in Lebanon. I supervise several doctoral students.

Research Area
Food
Health policy
Policy analysis
Qualitative research
Disease and Health Conditions
Non-communicable diseases
Obesity
Country
United Kingdom
Lebanon
France
Netherlands
South Africa
Poland
Portugal
Norway
India

Selected Publications

What policies are there and what policies are missing? A Photovoice study of adolescents' perspectives on obesity-prevention policies in their local environment
Banik, A; KNAI, C; Klepp, K-I; Rutter, H; Rito, A; Lien, N; Baillergeau, E; Szczuka, Z; Boberska, M; Kulis, E; Luszczynska, A;
2023
Obesity Reviews
Associations between social media, adolescent mental health, and diet: A systematic review.
BLANCHARD, L; Conway-Moore, K; Aguiar, A; Önal, F; Rutter, H; Helleve, A; Nwosu, E; Falcone, J; Savona, N; Boyland, E; KNAI, C;
2023
Obesity reviews
Co-creating obesity prevention policies with youth: Policy ideas generated through the CO-CREATE project.
Conway-Moore, K; KNAI, C; Finegood, D; Johnston, L; Brinsden, H; Aguiar, A; Kopainsky, B; Önal, F; Helleve, A; Klepp, K-I; Lien, N; Luszczynska, A; Rito, AI; Rønnestad, AM; Ulstein, M; BLANCHARD, L; Savona, N; Rutter, H;
2023
Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity
Adolescents' capacity to take action on obesity: A concurrent controlled before-and-after study of the European CO-CREATE project.
Herstad, SH; Grewal, NK; Banik, A; Klepp, K-I; KNAI, C; Luszczynska, A; Mendes, S; Rito, A; Rutter, H; Lien, N;
2023
Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity
Adolescents' capacity to take action on obesity: A concurrent controlled before-and-after study of the European CO-CREATE project
Herstad, SH; Kaur Grewal, N; Banik, A; Klepp, K-I; KNAI, C; Luszczynska, A; Mendes, S; Rito, A; Rutter, H; Lien, N;
2023
Obesity reviews
Learning from the CO-CREATE project: A protocol for systems thinking across research (STAR).
KNAI, C; Savona, N; Finegood, D; Aguiar, A; BLANCHARD, L; Conway-Moore, K; Helleve, A; Klepp, K-I; Lien, N; Luszczynska, A; Vlad, I; Rønnestad, AM; Rutter, H;
2023
Obesity reviews
Encouraging greater empowerment for adolescents in consent procedures in social science research and policy projects
Samdal, O; Budin-Ljøsne, I; Haug, E; Helland, T; Kjostarova-Unkovska, L; Bouillon, C; Bröer, C; Corell, M; Cosma, A; Currie, D; Eriksson, C; Felder-Puig, R; Gaspar, T; Hagquist, C; Harbron, J; Jåstad, A; Kelly, C; KNAI, C; Kleszczewska, D; Kysnes, BB; Lien, N; Luszczynska, A; Moerman, G; Moreno-Maldonado, C; NicGabhainn, S; ... Klepp, K-I.
2023
Obesity Reviews
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