Speakers
KEYNOTE Speakers
FIONA BULL
World Health Organization (WHO)
Let’s Get Moving: Transitioning from Self-Report to Device-Based Measurement and Monitoring of Global Physical Activity Levels
Wednesday, June 19 9:00-10:00am
Hans Bussmann Lecture
In 2018, a global target was set to reduce physical inactivity levels by 15% (relative to 2010 levels). Tracking progress is essential for robust public health action and for holding governments and stakeholders accountable for promoting physical activity. This presentation will highlight the World Health Organization’s (WHO) efforts to support countries in developing and implementing policies that encourage physical activity.
The presentation will focus on WHO’s current agenda, which aims to strengthen the measurement and surveillance of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep patterns in populations. It will explore the origins of the global target and discuss ongoing efforts to develop a consensus on using wearable devices in population health monitoring systems. Through these initiatives, WHO seeks to enhance the accuracy and reliability of data, ultimately driving more effective public health strategies to combat physical inactivity worldwide.
Biography
Professor Fiona Bull MBE, Phd, is the Head of the Physical Activity Unit in the Department of Health Promotion at the World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
At WHO, Professor Bull leads a team working on the cross-cutting agenda of promoting more participation in physical activity via active transport, sports and everyday activities through advancing science, policy, and practice. Dr Bull led the development of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018-2030: More Active People for a Healthier World, the Global Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviours and the recent Global Status Report on Physical Activity 2022.
Guillaume Chevance
Barcelona Institute for Global Health, ISGlobal
Intensive Longitudinal Monitoring Of Human Behaviors Applied to Environmental Health Issues
Wednesday, June 19 5:15-6:15pm
Biography
Guillaume Chevance is an interdisciplinary researcher with a first MSc in Sport Sciences, a second in Health Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Human Movement Sciences from the University of Montpellier (France). At the beginning of his research journey, he studied motivation towards health-related behaviours. He then completed a postdoc at the University of California San Diego (US) with a team interested in the design of digital behaviour change interventions.
Guillaume is mainly interested in the dynamics of health behaviour change, such as physical activity, eating behaviors, and sleep, in a context of climate change mitigation and adaptation. For that purpose, he uses digital technologies and related methods to better understand what is going on in our daily lives. He is currently Assistant Professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, ISGlobal, where he leads the eHealth group.
Biography
Kerstin is a professor in artificial intelligence at the Department of Computer Science at NTNU. Her research interests are Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and is currently deputy head of the Data and Artificial Intelligence group, program manager of the Norwegian Research Center for AI Innovation (NorwAI), and associated with the Norwegian Open AI Lab. She was awarded a Dr. rer. nat. (summa cum laude) in Computer Science from the University of Hildesheim, Germany in 2012. Kerstin’s main research interests are data-driven decision support systems as well as knowledge-intensive Case-Based Reasoning. She is the chair of the German Society for Computer Science’s Special Interest Group on Knowledge Management, co-chair of the AI4EU gender board, and a board member of the Norwegian AI society.
Jasper Schipperijn
University of Southern Denmark
Assessing The Context Of Physical Activity Behavior
Thursday, June 20 4:45-5:45pm
Biography
Jasper Schipperijn is a Professor in Active Living Environments at the Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark. He has been leading the World Playground Research Institute since 2022. He has an MSc degree in Forest and Nature Management from Wageningen University, The Netherlands, and a PhD degree in Greenspace Management from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
His research interests revolve around three main topics: playgrounds, conducting multi-disciplinary intervention studies to create active living environments, and developing tools and methods that make it possible to measure active living and the environment it takes place in. Jasper has contributed to over 150 peer-reviewed articles and was President of the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH) from 2020-2022. Providing guidance and support for PhD students working with device-based data on physical activity behaviour is an important part of his job.
Kim Meredith-Jones
University of Otago
The Past, Present, And Future Of Sleep Assessment And Monitoring
Friday, June 21 8:30-9:30am
Sleep’s impact on health underscores the need for reliable measurement tools to accurately assess duration and efficiency. Inaccurate data can distort associations between sleep and conditions like obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mental health disorders. In her keynote, Associate Professor Meredith-Jones explores existing methods and emerging technologies for subjective and objective sleep evaluation. Accurate measurement is crucial for understanding the relationship between insufficient sleep and various health outcomes. The presentation will discuss contemporary implementations of sleep tech and future possibilities, emphasizing the importance of having the right tools for measuring sleep duration and quality in a study-specific context.
Biography
Kim Meredith-Jones, an Associate Professor at the University of Otago, (New Zealand), specializes in evaluating 24-hour movement patterns, particularly focusing on objective sleep assessment. Leading major research projects involving over 2000 participants, she has played a pivotal role in assessing physical activity and sleep.
As an invited member of academic panels, Kim contributed to both the 2018 and 2022 NZ Physical Activity Report Cards for Children and Youth, including contributions to assessing sleep patterns in NZ children. Her expertise also extends to consulting on optimal measurement methods for sleep across a wide range of randomized controlled trials, including studies on movement behaviours in infants and toddlers and the effects of probiotics on sleep and gut health in adults. Kim is recognized as an authority in her field, having been an invited speaker at prestigious events like ISBNPA 2019, INTUE 2019, and Sleep in Aotearoa 2021 and 2023.
Invited Speakers
Dot Dumuid
University of South Australia
Compositional optimisation of movement behaviours: can it inform real-world interventions?
Wednesday, June 19 2:00-3:00pm
Optimisation can identify the “best” movement behaviour compositions for one or more outcomes. Yet, these optimal behaviour targets can be impossible for some (perhaps most) people to achieve. Personalisation of the optimisation solution can provide more feasible targets. In this presentation we will explore some of the existing and emerging methods for compositional optimisation, and how optimised time-allocation solutions could be shared with populations. As an example, we will consider the Australian Small Steps towards Dementia Prevention study, which is currently trialling a co-designed interactive personalised time-use optimisation tool among older adults.
Biography
Dr Dumuid’s research seeks to identify the healthiest way to spend our time across daily activities such as sleeping, screen time and exercise. Because there are only 24 hours in any day, this involves a balancing act between activities. Dr Dumuid’s work develops novel analytical models that explore how to get the balance right, not only for one aspect of health (e.g., obesity), but for overall health and wellbeing.
Séverine Sabia
National Institute of Health and Medical Science (Inserm U1153), and University College London
Physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns in old age: their determinants and impact on cardiovascular disease and mortality
Wednesday, June 19 2:00-3:00pm
Biography
Séverine Sabia is a research professor in epidemiology at the National Institute of Health and Medical Science (Inserm) in France. Her main research domain is on health behaviours, including physical activity and sleep, with a particular interest in methodology. She set up the Whitehall II accelerometer study in 2012 and has led the methodological and substantive research to study the role of objectively measured physical activity and sleep for ageing outcomes. She is a contributor of the GGIR R package for analyses of raw accelerometer. She now leads a project on circadian rhythm and dementia using data from a general population and memory centre patients, funded by the European Commission.
Early Career Invited Speakers
Boris Cheval
École normale supérieure de Rennes
Uncovering the neuropsychological barriers to physical activity behavior
FRIday, June 21 11:45am-12:45pm
Biography
Professor Boris Cheval’s research focuses on understanding the socio-economic and neuro-behavioral mechanisms that drive physical activity behaviors to improve health. He is the author of more than 100 articles and one book, all of which have made significant contributions to these areas of study.
After completing his initial academic training in France in the field of exercise and sport sciences, he embarked on a postdoctoral research position in the Methodology and Data Analysis Group (University of Geneva) to further develop his statistical expertise. During subsequent postdoctoral positions at the University Hospitals of Geneva and the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research LIVES, he deepened his investigations on physical activity, with a particular focus on health and socioeconomic inequalities.
In 2019, Dr. Cheval received a competitive grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to advance his research at the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (University of Geneva). In 2023, he joined the École normale supérieure de Rennes as an associate professor. Here, he continue his research on the neuropsychological factors influencing physical activity, while training students in research methods in the humanities and social sciences. He has received a Chaire de Recherche Rennes Métropole to study the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie affective response during physical effort.
Jairo Migueles
University of Granada
DEVELOPING TOOLS TO DECIPHER WEARABLE SENSOR DATA: LESSONS LEARNT BY A PHYSICAL ACTIVITY RESEARCHER
THURsday, June 20 2:00-3:00pm
Biography
Jairo H. Migueles is a physical activity researcher with expertise in the measurement of physical activity using accelerometers and the comprehensive analysis of data from wearable sensor technologies. Currently, he holds a postdoctoral position at the University of Granada (Spain), while also engaging in freelance consultancy at https://www.jhmigueles.com/.
In 2020, Jairo successfully defended his PhD thesis, focusing on the measurement of physical activity using accelerometers and its implications for health. Jairo has authored over 90 peer-reviewed publications, including two “highly cited papers” recognized by Thomson Reuters Essential Science Indicators. Notably, Jairo contributed to the systematic reviews underpinning the 2020 World Health Organization’s Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior.
At present, Jairo is heavily involved in development of methods for quantifying physical activity and sleep. He is co-developer of the R package ‘GGIR’ and the main developer of the R package ‘actilifecounts’, among other tools. His passion lies in the development of methodologies providing consultancy aimed at enhancing research in physical activity, sleep, and associated outcomes utilizing wearable sensor technologies.