UKCO 2023 Programme
Day 1: 14th September
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Registration & refreshments
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard & Conference Rooms 1 & 2
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Welcome Address
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Dr Nicola Heslehurst, ASO Chair
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Opening Remarks
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Professor Donal O’Shea
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Plenary 1: UK Obesity policy: Foresight and Hindsight
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Prof Susan Jebb OBE
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Prize Session – Prevention and Treatment Award and ASO Fellowship
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
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Refreshments and exhibition
📍 Room: Conference Room 2
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Parallel 1 - ASO Invited Symposium - Public Health Agency 'Policy and Prevention' Whole Systems Approaches to Obesity Prevention
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
The symposium will be opened by Dr Joanne McClean, Consultant in Public Health Medicine and Director of the Public Health Agency for NI who will give background and context to obesity in Northern Ireland
Dr Gavin Breslin, Ulster University, Whole Systems Approaches to Diet and Healthy Weight: A Scoping Review of Reviews
Dr Jenny Mack, Institute of Public Health
David Tumilty, Health & Social Wellbeing Improvement Senior Manager, Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland
Parallel 2 - Oral Abstracts Understanding prevention and mechanisms; families, children and young people
📍 Room: Lecture Room 1
Dr Frances Hillier-Brown, Upstream approaches to reduce childhood obesity: A systematic review of low-agency environmental interventions
Lucie Nield, Exploring adolescent food choice and autonomy in a deprived urban setting: A PhotoVoice study
Colette Marr, Should we target grandparents to improve the diets of preschoolers?
Dr Oliver Canfell, Piece by piece: building a precision public health program to address obesity in Queensland, Australia
Dr I Gusti Ngurah Edi Putra, Acceptability and perceived harm of calorie labelling and other obesity policies in UK adults with eating disorders and other mental health conditions
Parallel 3 - Member-led Symposium 1: The food insecurity and obesity paradox
📍 Room: Lecture Room 3
Session 1: Food insecurity and obesity and food purchase behaviours (FIO Food Project)
Professor Flora Douglas & Dr Emma Hunter, Robert Gordon University: Understanding lived experiences of navigating supermarket foodscapes when living on a low income
Professor Charlotte Hardman & Dr Rebecca Stone, University of Liverpool: Understanding the association between food insecurity and healthy and sustainable food purchasing in people living with obesity: results from a cross-sectional survey
Session 2: Food insecurity and obesity in pregnancy: a driver of inter-generational inequalities in obesity prevalence?
Dr Gina Nguyen, Newcastle University: Meta-analysis of associations between food insecurity, maternal obesity, gestational weight gain, and maternal and infant pregnancy health outcomes in high-income countries
Dr Zoë Bell, King’s College London: Underlying mechanisms of food insecurity in pregnancy and the impact on maternal weight, fetal development and childhood obesity: from social to biological
Julia Zinga, Deakin University, Melbourne Australia: Thematic synthesis of pregnant women’s experiences of food insecurity in high-income countries
Further session detail
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Industry-led Symposium Discussion: Navigating the updated NICE guidelines – How to make the most impact utilising a multi-disciplinary approach
📍 Room: Lecture Room 1
Sponsored by Medtronic Limited
Lunch, poster viewing and exhibition
📍 Room: Conference room 1 and 2 and additional posters in Glass Corridors
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ASO Networks Update Meeting
📍 Room: Lecture Room 3
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Three minute thesis competition
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Nicola Firman, Is obesity more likely among children sharing a household with an older child with obesity?
Leila Fathi, The Long Road to Sustained Implementation of School Nutrition Programs: Qualitative Perspectives from International Stakeholders
Dr Natalie Connor, Evidence from a rapid review to identify high fat, sugar, salt food tax options for the Health Economic Analysis incorporating effects on Labour outcomes, Households, Environment and Inequalities (HEALTHEI) Project
Erin McGrattan, Factors associated with continued participation and maintenance of weight loss: a longitudinal evaluation of four years of the annual community-based ‘Ferry Fit’ intervention
Miss Stacey Boardman, Do appetitive traits impact success in tier three weight management services?
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Plenary 2: The Lived Experience
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Susie Birney, Irish Coalition for People Living with Obesity
Fiona Quigley, Northern Ireland
James Fullan
Vicki Mooney, The European Coalition for People Living with Obesity
Award-winning PPI in Research presentation
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Refreshments and exhibition
📍 Room: Conference Room 2
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Parallel 4 - Industry-led Symposium: Turning point? The challenge facing UK policymakers on obesity
📍 Room: Lecture Room 1
Sponsored by J&J/Ethicon
Parallel 5 - Oral Abstracts Connecting the nations - obesity policy, prevention and management
📍 Room: Lecture Room 3
Dr Bai Li, The impact of the world’s first regulatory intervention on child digital game time, homework time, and out-of-campus learning in China: a natural experiment evaluation of the ENERGISE study
Tom Steiner, Opinions on Obesity and Prevention in Scotland: A Focus Group Study
Lorraine Tulloch, Local Levers for Diet and Healthy Weight in Scotland: Top evidence-backed opportunities
Sophia Bird, Delivering the National Whole System Approach to Healthy Weight in Wales: Processes and practicalities.
Dr Cathy Breen, Adaptation of the Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guideline for Ireland
Parallel 6 - Member-led Symposium: Stakeholder challenges in promoting a healthy weight at the population level
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Professor Fiona Gillison, University of Bath: Finding a constructive response to diverging views of the National Child Measurement Programme in England.
Dr Jordan Marwood & Professor Louisa Ells, Leeds Beckett University: Exploring the tension between eating disorders and weight management services.
Ms Nicola Corrigan, Office Health Improvement and Disparities Yorkshire & Humber: Whole Systems Approaches to Obesity: Regional reflections on policy implementation
Facilitated discussion: Chair, Professor Louisa Ells, Leeds Beckett University
Public reflections: Lived-experience advisor from “Obesity Voices”, Leeds Beckett University
Further session detail
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Welcome Address from Professor Nola Hewitt-Dundas, Faculty PVC for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Queen’s University Belfast
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
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Poster viewing, Networking, Drinks & Canapes, Irish music Kindly supported in part by Professor J Stuart Elborn, (Interim) Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast
📍 Room: Conference Room 1 & Glass Corridor
Day 2: 15th September
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Plenary 3: Why is the genetics of obesity important?
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Prof Sadaf Farooqi
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Parallel 7 - Oral Abstracts Obesity Management and Lived Experience
📍 Room: Lecture Room 1
Claire Torrens, Experiences of a text message delivered behavioural weight management intervention (with or without financial incentives) for men living with obesity, and their co-morbid mental health problems.
Dr Shokraneh Moghadam, Practitioner training needs for delivering group-based care in specialist weight management services in the UK: Learnings from the PROGROUP feasibility trial
Dr Dimitris Papamargaritis, Clinical effectiveness of integrating a pragmatic pathway for prescribing liraglutide 3.0mg in specialist weight management services (STRIVE study): a multicentre, open-label, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial
Professor Pedro Magalhães, Effect of a long-term exercise intervention program on body composition and insulin resistance in patients with type 2 diabetes
Dr Fannie Lajeunesse-Trempe, Drug and Supplement Pharmacokinetic Changes following Bariatric Surgery; a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Parallel 8 - Member-led Symposium 3: Maternal Obesity across the Reproductive Stages
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Dr Danielle Schoenaker, Senior Research Fellow, University of Southampton: Inequalities in preconception overweight and obesity among pregnant women in England: findings from the national Maternity Services Dataset.
Ms Emma Cassinelli, PhD student, Queen’s University Belfast: Preconception health behaviours among women with overweight and obesity in Northern Ireland: an analysis of a national maternity dataset 2011-2021.
Dr Lem Ngongalah, Faculty Fellow, Newcastle University: Pre- and post-migration influences on overweight and obesity in African migrant women and nutrition support needs in pregnancy.
Dr Moscho Michalopoulou, Behavioural Scientist, University of Oxford: Reduced-carbohydrate intervention for the management of obesity and reduction of gestational diabetes (RECORD): a feasibility study.
Professor Michelle McKinley, Professor of Nutrition, Queen’s University Belfast: Supporting weight management in the postpartum period: changes in self-regulatory behaviours in the Supporting MumS (SMS) pilot study.
Further session detail
Parallel 9 - Industry-led Symposium: The Clinical Implications in Detecting Patients with MC4R Pathway Disorders
📍 Room: Lecture Room 3
Sponsored by Rhythm Pharmaceuticals
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ASO Mentoring Scheme - Meet Your Mentor over Coffee
📍 Room: Lecture Room 2
Grab some refreshments from the main catering space and go meet your mentor for an informal chat over coffee
Refreshments and exhibition
📍 Room: Conference Room 2
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Parallel 10 - ASO Member-Led Symposium: The school setting as an opportunity for achieving behaviour change
📍 Room: Lecture Room 1
Dr Miranda Pallan and Dr Marie Murphy, University of Birmingham: Food consumption at break and lunch times in schools: a comparison of nutritional intake from school-provided foods vs. foods brought into school
Dr Niamh O'Kane, Queen's University Belfast: Factors driving food choice in a secondary school food setting: mapping the system
Ms Leila Fathi (PhD student), University of Queensland: Applying the Integrated Sustainability Framework to explore the long-term sustainability of nutrition education programs in schools: A systematic review
Chair - Professor Jayne Woodside (will include brief presentation of the research priorities produced by the GENIUS school food network)
Further session detail
Parallel 11 - Oral Abstracts Diagnosis, Management and Co-Design of Obesity Services
📍 Room: Lecture Room 3
Sofie Power, Co-Designing and Refining a Home-Based Exercise Programme for Adults Living with Overweight and Obesity: Insight from People with Lived Experience
Seonad Madden, Co-Design of a University Workplace Digital Health Portal for Preconception, Pregnant, and Postpartum Women
Dr Jo Howe, The Elephant in the Room: Discussing Weight Gain, Addressing Stigmas in Severe Mental Illness
Dr Clare Kelly, The Healthy Habits in Pregnancy and Beyond (HHIPBe) pilot RCT: A habit-based behavioural intervention for pregnant women with overweight and obesity on the Island of Ireland.
Dr Elizabeth Evans, “Victim blaming and public shaming” or “vital awareness raising”? A mixed-methods study of public interpretations of a UK cancer-prevention campaign which equated obesity and smoking.
Parallel 12 - ASO Invited Symposium Session: Prevention and Treatment of obesity in Northern Ireland
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Prevention and Treatment of obesity in Northern Ireland – Chair Professor Alex Miras, Professor of Endocrinology, Ulster University
Dr Laura McGowan, Lecturer in Nutrition and Behaviour Change, Queen's University Belfast: Making the case for obesity services in NI: Research Evidence
Professor Mark Taylor, Consultant Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgeon, NI Director Royal College of Surgeons. How close are we to getting obesity treatment services in NI? – the clinical perspective.
Dr Tomas Adell, Director of Elective Care and Cancer Policy – Department of Health: How close are we to getting obesity treatment services in NI? – the funder’s perspective.
Laurie Eyles: The Scottish experience in developing obesity management services: Evidence from existing services
Dr Ursula Mason, Chair RCGP Northern Ireland: What would a primary care obesity management service in NI look like?
Further session detail
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Lunch, poster viewing and exhibition
📍 Room: Conference room 1 and 2 and additional posters in Glass Corridors
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Plenary 4: Missed targets, limited action and decreasing priority. Time to regroup, rethink and give children/families living with obesity a chance?
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Prof Paul Gately
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Rapid Fire Talks 5 x 5 minute talks
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Sundus Mahdi, Improving children’s dietary intake: an evaluation of the Change4Life Food Scanner app
Dr Elanor Hinton, Co-developing the AIM2Change intervention: Helping Adolescents to increase their Intrinsic Motivation to change weight.
Arwa Alruwaili, The association of smoking with different eating and dietary behaviours: a cross-sectional analysis of 83,781 UK adults.
Danai Markousi, Extending the validity of four tools on eating difficulties, parental feeding practices and food choice in UK Children: associations with children's frequency of consumption and liking of fruits and vegetables
Dr Andrea Smith, Characterising socioeconomic differences in the family food home environment, and associations with childhood BMI among Primary-School aged children in London: a cross-sectional study
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Live Scribed Summary of UKCO 2023 with Nifty Fox and Key Messages Connecting Different Perspectives
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard
Join all delegates for a live scribed (pictorial) summary of the UKCO 2023 with Nifty Fox, a company who are experts at transforming complex scientific messages into engaging visuals. This session will include Key Messages connecting three differing perspectives: that of lived experience, clinicians, and those in public health research/academia. Not to be missed!
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UKCO Prize Giving, Closing Remarks and UKCO 2024
📍 Room: Isdell Courtyard