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Professor Cecile Knai

Professor of Public Health Policy

United Kingdom

I was trained in public health nutrition (Master Public Health, University of Berkeley at California, USA) and public health policy analysis (PhD at LSHTM). I joined LSHTM in 2007 after working at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, in food and nutrition policy.   

 

At LSHTM, I am Head of the Department of Health Services Research and Policy, in the Faculty of Public Health and Policy.  

 

I am Director of the Food Policy Impact Lab, a group of researchers and doctoral students with a programme of research comprising: evaluations of public private partnerships and food industry led self-regulation; and analyses of the process, and impact, of the growing influence of large food corporations in health, in England and abroad. We use a range of methods including policy evaluation, qualitative research, such as qualitative systems methods. 

 

As Deputy Director Health Improvement of the 5-year Policy Innovation and Evaluation Research Unit (PIRU), we are completing work on food provision in early years (childcare) settings in England, and conducting a process evaluation of the UKHSA's 2023 Adverse Weather and Health Plan across local health and social care organisations in England.

 

I lead a 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.

 

I am the Chair of the Interests and Interactions Review Group of the UKPRP-funded SPECTRUM consortium on the commercial determinants of health, and contribute to work on systems approaches. 

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 EBPHP programme. 

 

I co-organise the LSHTM Short Course on ‘Conducting Research on Commercial Determinants of Health' with Prof Mark Petticrew. 

Research

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. I use a range of methods including policy evaluation, qualitative research, such as qualitative systems methods.

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

Voices of youth: youth participation in the CO-CREATE project
Meshkovska, B; Moerman, G; Baillergeau, E; Bröer, C; Lien, N; Luszczynska, A; Rito, AI; KNAI, C; Helleve, A;
2025
BMC public health
Converging perspectives on the processes exacerbating adolescent obesity: An integrative systems approach.
Aguiar, A; Rajah, JK; CONWAY-MOORE, K; Savona, N; KNAI, C; Vlad, I; Samdal, O; Rutter, H; Lien, N; Kopainsky, B;
2025
Social science & medicine (1982)
Aligning rhetoric with reality: a qualitative analysis of multistakeholder initiatives in the global food system.
Van den Akker, A; Gilmore, AB; Fabbri, A; KNAI, C; Rutter, H;
2024
Health promotion international
Industry influence on public health policy formulation in the UK: a complex systems approach.
Van den Akker, A; Fabbri, A; Bertscher, A; Gilmore, AB; KNAI, C; Cavill, N; Rutter, H;
2024
Health promotion international
Young people's perspectives on policies to create healthier food environments in England.
RINALDI, C; MCGILL, E; PETTICREW, M; KNAI, C; EGAN, M;
2024
Health promotion international
Inequalities in Research on Food Environment Policies: An Evidence Map of Global Evidence from 2010-2020.
BLANCHARD, L; Ray, S; Law, C; Vega-Salas, MJ; Rutter, H; EGAN, M; PETTICREW, M; Potvin Kent, M; Bennett, C; Lucas, PJ; KNAI, C;
2024
Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.)
The effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and policy processes of regulatory, voluntary and partnership policies to improve food environments: an evidence synthesis.
BLANCHARD, L; Ray, S; Law, C; Vega-Sala, MJ; Bidonde, J; Bridge, G; EGAN, M; PETTICREW, M; Rutter, H; KNAI, C;
2024
Public health research (Southampton, England)
Mapping actor networks in global multi-stakeholder initiatives for food system transformation
Van den Akker, A; Fabbri, A; Slater, S; Gilmore, AB; KNAI, C; Rutter, H;
2024
Food Security
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