My primary research focus is on the environmental influences on population health. My core work explores the manner by which characteristics of the social and physical environments act to influence the health of the population. Previous work I have led in this field includes research on the environmental determinants of accidental injuries, and various projects examining the relationship between access to health services amongst rural populations and health outcomes.

I moved to the Norwich Medical School in Autumn 2012, having previously been based in the School of Environmental Sciences at UEA.
 

• Member of the association for the study of obesity and the International Society for Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity.
• Member of the NICE Programme Development Group for Community Approaches to Tacking Obesity.
• Member of the CEDAR management board.

My current core research programme focuses on the environmental determinants of physical activity and obesity, although I also hold wider interests in the integration of environmental measures to better understand health outcomes and their related behaviours. I have recently worked with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and Natural England on the role of urban green spaces in determining activity levels. I am also a lead scientist in the Centre for Diet and Physical Activity Behaviours (CEDAR) (www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk) a national centre of excellence funded by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration. The Centre is driven by the overall goal of developing effective public health interventions for changing population-level dietary and physical activity behaviours. In 2008 I lead authored a key British Government Foresight report on Obesogenic Environments, and was a member of the expert panel that produced guidelines on the environment and physical activity published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). I recently sat on the NICE expert panel looking at the role of community approaches for obesity prevention, which published Autumn 2012.

Selected recent publications include:

Dejardin, O., Rachet, B., Morris, E., Bouvier, V., Jooste, V., Haynes, R., Coombes, E.G., Forman, D., Jones, A.P., Bouvier, A.M., Launoy, G. (2013). Management of colorectal cancer explains differences in one-year relative survival between France and England for patients diagnosed 1997-2004. British Journal of Cancer, Advanced online, doi:0.1038/bjc.2013.33

Coombes, E., van Sluijs, E., Jones, A. P. (2013) Is environmental setting associated with the intensity and duration of children’s physical activity? Findings from the SPEEDY GPS study. Health and Place, Vo. 20, pp. 62-65. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2012.11.008

Vissers, P., Jones, A. P., Jennings, A., van Sluijs, E.M.F., Cassidy, A., Griffin, S. (2013) The association between diet and physical activity and sedentary behaviours in 9-10 year old British children. Public Health, corrected proof. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2012.12.006

Mantjes, J.A., Jones, A.P., Corder, K.L., Jones, N.R., Harrison, F., Griffin, S.J., van Sluijs, E.M.F. (2013). School related factors and 1yr change in physical activity amongst 9-11 year old English schoolchildren. International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity, Vol. 9, art 153. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-9-153.

Smith, L., Sahlqvist, S., Ogilvie, D., Jones, A. P., Corder, K., Griffin, S. J., van Sluijs, E. (2012). Is a change in mode of travel to school associated with a change in overall physical activity levels in children? Longitudinal results from the SPEEDY study. International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity,Vol. 9, art 134, doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-9-134.

McMinn A.M., Griffin, S. J., Jones, A. P., van Sluijs, E. M. F. (2012). Family and home influences on children’s after-school and weekend physical activity. European Journal of Public Health, advance access. doi:10.1093/eurpub/cks160

Goodwin, D.M., Cummins, S., Sautkina, E., Ogilvie, D., Petticrew, M., Jones, A.P., Wheeler, K., White, M. (2012). The role and status of evidence and innovation in the healthy towns programme in England: a qualitative stakeholder interview study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, online first. doi:10.1136/jech-2012-201481

Lachowycz, K., Jones, A. P., Page, A. S., Wheeler, B. W., Coopers, A. R. (2012). What can global positioning systems tell us about the contribution of different types of urban greenspace to children’s physical activity? Health and Place, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 586-594.

Harrison, F., Jones, A. P. (2012). A framework for understanding school based physical activity influences on childhood obesity. Health and Place, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 639-648

Crawford, S. M., Sauerzapf, V. A, Haynes, R. M., Jones, A. P. (2012). Social and geographical factors affecting access to treatment of colorectal cancer: a cancer registry study. BMJ Open, Vol. 2, e000410. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2011-000410.

Yasumoto, S., Jones, A. P., Yano, K., Nakaya, T. (2012). Virtual city models for assessing environmental equity of access to sunlight: A case study of Kyoto, Japan. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, Vol 26, No. 1, pp. 1-13. doi: 10.1080/13658816.2011.570268

Jones, A. P., Haynes, R. M., Harvey, I. M., Jewell, T. (2012). Road traffic crashes and the protective effect of road curvature over small areas.