Spotlight on Dr Emily Emmott
This month we speak to Dr Emily Emmott to find out about her policy secondment as a UCL-OHID Researcher in Residence, supported by UCL Health of the Public and UCL Public Policy.
Dr Emily Emmott
Lecturer (Teaching)
Dept of Anthropology
Faculty of S&HS
I’ve just been promoted to Associate Professor in Biological Anthropology and am starting as the Director of Education for UCL Anthropology this year. This means there are lots of new elements to my role which I’m not entirely sure about! But broadly, I teach/research the impact of social support and caregiving on health-related behaviours from an evolutionary anthropological perspective. I also work with students and staff to ensure the degree programmes at UCL Anthropology remain excellent.
How are you improving the health of the public?
My research topic is varied, but it’s underpinned by bridging evolutionary anthropology and public health. One of the key theories in evolutionary anthropology is that behaviours that are optimal from an evolutionary perspective are not necessarily good for your health - and if you want to change behaviour to be healthier, you need to change the environment so that being healthy makes sense. This idea complements the whole-systems approaches in public health, but when you look at public health services on the ground, a lot of it ends up focusing on “educating individuals”. In my work, I investigate how other people influence parenting behaviours and children’s development, and I encourage people to think beyond the parents when it comes to improving the health of children and teens.
What do you find most interesting or enjoyable about your work?
The variety I experience in my work is great. This year, I was seconded to the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) London as part of the Researcher in Residence Fellowship. I led a project on how London families think about healthy living, and what motivates their healthy living practices, with implications for how to promote healthier weight in children. It was an amazing experience getting to meet and present my findings to so many people who work in public health across London. I also got to supervise two fabulous MSc Medical Anthropology students who joined the project as part of their dissertation research. If you are interested, you can take a look at our preliminary findings here.
How have cross-disciplinary collaborations shaped your work?
Public health is complex, and I really believe interdisciplinarity approaches are fundamental. I’ve done a lot of work to try to promote this, like organising interdisciplinary workshops and writing guidance on how to cross disciplinary boundaries. For my own work, I think carefully about what impact I want to achieve with my research, and how I write it up. My publication history is a bit eclectic as I’ve published in journals across disciplines like public health, evolutionary medicine, biology, and anthropology.
What advice would you offer to others interested in developing cross-disciplinary work?
The main barrier I experience with cross-disciplinary research is communication, so my tip is to work on that skill. It takes time to fully understand the language and traditions of different disciplines. Remember that you don’t have to communicate every detail and you need to be strategic in what you say; prioritise what is important and most useful for your audience. Also, don’t do it alone. Find great collaborators you love working with, and don’t feel guilty about ditching rubbish ones!
What’s next on the research horizon for you?
I’ve just received an ESRC grant to look at childcare systems in middle childhood and pathways to adolescent wellbeing using ALSPAC. It took me 4 years to write up the grant as life got in the way (including a global pandemic!), so it’s really exciting to be able to finally work on something I’ve been thinking about for almost half a decade. I also have great colleagues and students who I work with on infant feeding, so more to come in that area too.
If you could make one change in the world today, what would it be?
That’s a hard question, as I worry about unintended consequences! But one thing I would love to see is more movement and physical activity in school environments, in whichever way it makes sense for schools, teachers, children and families. I don’t think we always need to sit down in classrooms to learn, and better access to active after-school clubs would be so welcome. We all need to move (and play) more, and we need systems to change so it’s embedded into our lives.