IPEN Research
Teams

Hong Kong

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IPEN Adult and Adolescent Research Team

Primary Investigator

Ester Cerin is the Leader of the Behaviour, Environment and Cognition Research Programme (BECPR) at the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University. She also holds honorary professorial positions in the School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong and Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute (Melbourne). A psychologist and statistician, she has been studying environmental and psychosocial determinants of health and health-related behaviours. Specifically, her research focuses on physical activity, for more than 15 years. She has authored over 250 papers on these topics in high-impact journals.

She is also co-founder of the International Cognitive Health and the Environment Network (ICHEN) which explores how urban environments impact cognitive health.

Ester joined the IPEN in 2004. She is one of the main investigators of both the IPEN Adult and IPEN Adolescent studies. Specifically, she is principal investigator of the Hong Kong arms, co-investigator of the Australian arms, member of the Executive and Publication Committees, and chief analyst of both the IPEN Adolescent and IPEN Adult studies.

She is also a co-investigator of the New Zealand arm of the IPEN Adolescent study Ester has led the work on the adaptation and validation of various versions of the Neighbourhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) which is the IPEN tool for assessing perceptions of the neighbourhood environment. She currently leads a team of analysts for the IPEN Adolescent study which is supported by the Australian Catholic University. The BECPR group at the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research is now the IPEN coordinating center.

Research Team

Poh-Chin Lai 

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Duncan Macfarlane (Adult only)

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Anthony Barnett (Adolescent only)

Orcid ID: 0000-0002-6320-4073

Anthony Barnett has expertise in the measurement of physical activity and the influence of the neighbourhood built environment on physical activity in older adults. He also has a current interest in the effect of the built environment on cognition. An exercise physiologist, he has worked with large older adult and adolescent built environment and health outcome data sets in Hong Kong, elite athletes (Queensland Academy of Sport) and older adults in Australia. 

Anthony has published 43 peer-reviewed journal articles and 6 book chapters. He has been principal or co-investigator on 10 successful grant applications.

Anthony has previously worked at Deakin University, University of Hong Kong, Baylor College of Medicine (USA), University of Queensland, The Nottingham Trent University (UK), University of New South Wales and Victoria University.


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