Opportunities for PhD studentships are available at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. The studentships enable students to explore and develop their own area of research, within the context of the broader aims of: Understanding the determinants of dietary and physical activity behaviour at individual, community and societal levels. Developing, evaluating and modelling the […]

Opportunities for PhD studentships are available at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. The studentships enable students to explore and develop their own area of research, within the context of the broader aims of the following research programmes: Aetiology and Mechanisms of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders of Later Life Early Life Aetiology and […]

Researchers from the MRC Epidemiology Unit are part of the international team behind a new report in The Lancet summarising the best evidence for effectively managing and preventing diabetes. This encompasses areas such as sustained weight reduction, reducing blood sugar, the use of risk-reducing drugs, better integrated care and structured lifestyle interventions Worldwide, more than […]

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease characterised by elevated levels of glucose in the blood, and presents a major and growing global public health challenge. While both genes and our environment influence the development of the disease, the underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood. The data provided by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) […]

New research suggests that unhealthy food advertising on television before the 9pm watershed is responsible for 1 in 22 cases of childhood obesity. Removing these adverts before 9pm, the intention of new government regulation announced in July this year, has the potential to reduce the number of children with obesity by 40,000 and those with […]

The link between a specific genetic marker and severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been validated in this study by researchers from several institutions and organisations, including the MRC Epidemiology Unit, Perspectum and UK Biobank. This will help to better identify individuals at increased risk of more advanced forms of the disease. NAFLD […]

MRC Epidemiology Unit Director Nick Wareham has contributed to recent research that is being used to help the NHS offer greater support to those with diabetes. The research, published in in two papers in Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology shows that people living with diabetes face a significantly higher risk of dying with COVID-19. A third […]

Cambridge University MPhil courses in epidemiology, public health and primary care are evolving in to a new MPhil in Population Health Sciences (PHS). This new course is jointly run by the MRC Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, and the MRC Biostatistics Unit (BSU), with contributions from colleagues across the University. The MPhil […]

Physical activity of any intensity is beneficial for health, but more intense activity has greater benefits, according to a new study published today in Nature Medicine. In the largest study to date of accelerometer-measured physical activity, a team led by MRC Epidemiology Unit researchers analysed data from more than 96,000 UK Biobank participants. Current physical […]

Participants in Cambridgeshire’s Fenland Study are being invited to join an innovative study that will use a home-administered blood sampling device to find out how many have evidence in their blood of previous COVID-19 infection. Many of these participants will also be eligible for a sub-study using a smartphone app. The Fenland COVID-19 Study, led […]