Dr Lydia Collison
BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD
Current positions
Lecturer in Social and Public Policy
School for Policy Studies
Contact
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Biography
Lydia is a lecturer in physical activity and behaviour change. She joined the University of Bristol in 2017 after completing her PhD exploring physical activity motivation in adolescents at the University of Bath.
Lydia joined the school for policy studies as Senior Research Associate and Project Manager for the British heart foundation funded B-Proact1v project, a cohort study exploring how and why physical activity and dietary behaviours change throughout primary school. In 2019, Lydia was awarded a prestigious Elizabeth Blackwell Institute Early Career Fellowship, using creative methods to understand children's physical activity experiences and preferences and using these to inform the design of a co-created intervention to increase primary school aged childrens physical activity engagement.
Lydia became a lecturer in the department in 2022 and teaches on the undergraduate childhood studies programme and MSc Nutrition, Physical Activity and Public Health.
Lydia joined the school for policy studies as Senior Research Associate and Project Manager for the British heart foundation funded B-Proact1v project, a cohort study exploring how and why physical activity and dietary behaviours change throughout primary school. In 2019, Lydia was awarded a prestigious Elizabeth Blackwell Institute Early Career Fellowship, using creative methods to understand children's physical activity experiences and preferences and using these to inform the design of a co-created intervention to increase primary school aged childrens physical activity engagement.
Lydia became a lecturer in the department in 2022 and teaches on the undergraduate childhood studies programme and MSc Nutrition, Physical Activity and Public Health.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
‘Ok to Play’: What is the role of hyper-local, resident-led, creative action in addressing barriers to children’s outdoor physical activity, play and independent mobility in their everyday, urban neighbourhood environments?
Principal Investigator
Description
We aim to co-design hyper-local approaches to transform underused threshold spaces
(doorsteps, pocket parks, pavements, residential street space) into playable, social spaces
and sites of everyday creativity and connection within…Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
02/01/2025 to 31/07/2025
PASSPORT: A novel Physical Activity School-Specific PORTfolio intervention evaluated via a stepped wedge design to increase children’s physical activity at a population level
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/03/2023 to 29/02/2028
Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the physical activity of Year 6 children and their parents: Identifying scalable actions to mitigate adverse impacts and provide rapid evidence to policy makers
Principal Investigator
Role
Researcher
Description
Physical activity is important for health among children and their parents. The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated social changes, such as the lockdown, have had a marked impact on physical…Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
01/04/2021 to 30/06/2022
B-PROACT1v
Principal Investigator
Role
Researcher
Description
Summary
The B-PROACT1V project is a British Heart Foundation (BHF) funded longitudinal study concerning physical activity and screen-viewing patterns of children and their parents. The first phase of this project took…Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
01/01/2012 to 31/08/2019
Publications
Recent publications
25/02/2025Designing stepped wedge trials to evaluate physical activity interventions in schools
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
“We just have to work with what we’ve got”
BMC Public Health
Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the physical activity of 10-11-year-old children and their parents
Public Health Research
Exploring parents’ physical activity motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic
Public Health Research
Predicting Accelerometer-Assessed Estimates of Adolescents’ Multidimensional Physical Activity: A Self-Determination Theory Approach
Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology
Teaching
Lydia teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She currently teaches on the following units:
Undergraduate
Year 1- Critical skills for social scientists
Year 2- Introducion to child and adolescent health
Year 3- Child nutrition, activity and health
Postgraduate (MSc Nutrition, physical activity and public health)
Determinants
Physical activity and nutrition interventions: Conceptualisation and design
Dissertation
Lydia also supervises dissertation students at all levels and students undertaking guided independent study projects.
Undergraduate
Year 1- Critical skills for social scientists
Year 2- Introducion to child and adolescent health
Year 3- Child nutrition, activity and health
Postgraduate (MSc Nutrition, physical activity and public health)
Determinants
Physical activity and nutrition interventions: Conceptualisation and design
Dissertation
Lydia also supervises dissertation students at all levels and students undertaking guided independent study projects.
Related people
Professor Russ Jago
Professor of Physical Activity & Public Health
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Professor Frank De Vocht
Professor in Epidemiology and Public Health
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Dr Ruth Salway
Lecturer in Public Health Improvement
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Dr Robert Walker
Senior Research Associate
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Dr Danielle House
Research Fellow
Bristol Medical School (PHS)