Fenia is the founder and the lead of the newly established Nutrition, Behaviour and Mental Health (NBMH) research group (https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/nutritionmentalhealthgroup/) that has 4 distinct research areas and themes: Nutrition and metabolism; Eating Disorders; Behaviour Change and Mindful Eating; and Lifestyle Interventions for Obesity and comorbidities. The group comprises by a multidisciplinary, diverse network of research experts in the field of Nutrition, Sport and Exercise Physiology, Clinical Physiology, Health and Applied Psychology.
My research interest lies on the effects that lifestyle interventions such as diet and exercise have on the health of the average individual and most importantly on clinical population such as obese, type 2 diabetic patients, peri- and post-menopausal women etc.
The last five years, my research interest has also focused into the area of mental health. I have been conducting research investigating the effects that exercise and dietary interventions have on individuals with mental health problems such as severe mental illness patients and individuals that exhibit disordered eating behaviours or are clinically diagnosed with eating disorders.
At present, I am continuing my research on older women with a greater focus on the effects of high intensity interval exercise on exercise capacity, mood and congition. Recently, I have started investigating new, innovative strategies to promote health such as mindfulness and mindful eating and I am currently exploring the relationship between mindful eating and disordered eating (binge eating) and mood in university students and mentally ill patients. Moreover, I am in the process of exploring eating behaviour in a multidisciplinary approach, by integrating consuming behaviour, psychology of consumption and mindful eating.
At the present moment, in collaboration with a research network of international experts in Europe and Australia, I am leading an international project on the investigation of the effects of low energy availability (LEA) and relative energy deficiencty in sports (RED-S) in young adults and competitive and recreational athletes on mental health, eating behavior, body image, and metabolic and hormonal disregulations.
Finally, I am currently involved in the investigation of blood flow restriction on healthy and diseased populations as well as elite athletes.
Current Research Projects
- The investigation of the effects of LEA and RED-S on the mental health, disordered eating behavior and metabolic/hormonal disregulations in young adults and competitive athletes.
- Blood flow restriction on health and diseased populations and elite athletes.
- The effects of high intensity interval exercise Vs continuous exercise on the exercise capacity, fat oxidation, mood and enjoyment of exercise in overweight peri- and post-menopausal women.
- Eating Disorders in elite level athletes.
- The effects of disordered eating and poor mental health on mindful consumption of food in young adults. A multi-disciplinary collaborative research project between the ֱ̲, Nottighnam Trent University and Conventry University.
- Mindful eating and mood. An investigation of the relationship between mindless eating, binge eating behaviour and mood in sports science, health science and pharmacy and medical science students. A multi-disciplinary collaborative research project between theֱ̲ and Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
- The association between work-related stress, eating behaviour and binge eating in academic staff in the UK.A multi-disciplinary collaborative research project betweentheֱ̲ and Brighton and Sussex Medical School.