Emma Boyland

Emma Boyland is a psychologist and senior lecturer based at the University of Liverpool, where she is lead of the Appetite and Obesity Research group. Emma has over 15 years of experience in eating behaviour research. Her work principally focuses on the food environment, characterising the foods and beverages available and the way they are marketed via traditional and digital means, as well as seeking to understand how this impacts eating behaviours (choice and intake) and determinants of eating behaviour (beliefs, attitudes, preferences), particularly in children. She has received research funding to her institution from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Australian Research Council, Cancer Research UK, Public Health England, and the Wellcome Trust. Emma has published over 90 peer-reviewed journal articles, 8 book chapters and three WHO Europe reports on food marketing. She has recently completed two WHO commissioned reviews on the impact of food marketing on eating behaviour and health and the effectiveness of food marketing policies to inform international WHO guidelines. She sits on the WHO Global Steering Committee for digital food marketing and is an expert advisor to both WHO Europe and Unicef, leading food marketing monitoring studies across Europe, Latin America, and the East Asia-Pacific region. She is a member of the leadership group for the International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) food promotion module. Dr Boyland has twice been invited to give oral evidence to the UK Parliament’s Health and Social Care Committee inquiries into childhood obesity that directly inform the Childhood Obesity Plan for the UK.