Call for applications for a fully financed PhD fellowship
Entering adulthood with obesity is associated with greater risk of a range of health disorders, including twice the risk of premature mortality. Importantly, several studies on socioeconomic status (SES) and childhood obesity to date have concluded that SES of the parents is one of the most important factors to address for future prevention of childhood obesity. Structural conditions linked to obesity include the SES of the individual, their family and their neighborhood, as well as physical factors such as the geospatial quality of the neighborhood in terms of offering safe attractive spaces to promote physical activity and availability of nutritious food.
Most observational studies of wider determinants of obesity in children have not taken interactions between neighborhood level contextual factors and individual-level SES into account. It may be that high SES families are relatively unaffected by lack of green space or poor walkability. The mechanisms by which area level lower SES impacts obesity in childhood may simply be through lack of green space or poor walkability; or these environmental factors may interact synergistically with area level SES. Finally, few studies have investigated changes over time in neighborhood-level characteristics in relation to childhood and adolescent obesity.
This project will investigate how neighborhood-related social and physical environmental factors, such as lack of green space (parks and open spaces), and poor walkability, are associated with BMI growth patterns and obesity development and potentially interact with family-level SES factors such as parental educational level and household income. Further the project will examine the role of neighborhood environment factors, such as lack of green space (parks and open spaces), and poor walkability, as interactive effects with or mediators of the relationship between neighborhood SES factors, such as material deprivation, social fragmentation, and social marginalization, and risk of obesity in childhood and adolescence. Finally, the project will examine whether counterfactual modelled improvements in neighborhood environment (proportion of green space, and walkability) for all participants are associated with a lower risk of obesity development during childhood and adolescence, compared to observed changes in neighborhoods.
Candidates should have, or be expecting to obtain, a MSc in health sciences, public health, epidemiology or similar. Candidates should have experience in epidemiology and/or biostatistics.
Please submit your application via this link. Application deadline is 26 June 2025 23:59 CET. Preferred starting date is 1 September 2025.
For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide.
Please contact associate professor Christina C Dahm, ccd@ph.au.dk for more information.
All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with applicable collective agreement.
