About Us

The Leicester Lifestyle & Health Research Group (LLHRG) are hosted at the Leicester Diabetes Centre, based at the Leicester General Hospital. Our research takes place at the intersection of academia and the NHS. LLHRG’s research harnesses the power of lifestyle behaviours to empower multi-ethnic populations with or at risk of long-term conditions (LTCs) or multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs) to live longer and better lives.

The Leicester Lifestyle & Health Research Group has around twenty University of Leicester employed staff and PhD students. We are a mix of Professors, Associate Professors and Lecturers, Research Associates, Exercise Laboratory Technicians and PhD students.

The Leicester Lifestyle & Health Research Group collaborates with clinicians, allied healthcare professionals, nurses and healthcare assistants, and clinical research infrastructure which includes specialist project managers, clinical academics, statisticians, psychologists, administrators, and creative designers.

In 2024 LLHRG secured £14 million in funding from Research England that will provide a transformative uplift in capacity to deliver sustainable research excellence through an expanded staff with diversified expertise and new world-class research facilities. The NIHR Leicester BRC Lifestyle theme, the East Midlands (EM) NIHR Applied Research Centre (ARC; previously CLAHRC), the Centre for Ethnic Health and the Real World Evidence Unit (RWEU) are also hosted within the Leicester Diabetes Centre. Working with these research infrastructures allows our team to conduct cutting-edge research in populations with or at risk of multiple long-term conditions.

The thriving community of multidisciplinary researchers and research infrastructure within the Leicester Diabetes Centre has greatly added value to the Leicester Lifestyle & Health Research Group’s research portfolio, capacity and capability by enabling us to implement the research pathway described below into primary care and community settings.

Our Research Pathway

To move effectively from hypothesis generation to improved public health and clinical care, our research strategy is underpinned by the behavioural epidemiology framework for translational research. The figure below summarises our group’s translational pathway for physical activity research: From hypothesis generation to population and patient benefit.

Our Research Areas

The Leicester Lifestyle & Health Research Group conduct research in key areas related to lifestyle and the prevention and management of chronic disease. Click on the areas below to find out more.

Our Research Grants

Our group has a strong track record of attracting funding from prestigious national and international funding bodies including the National Institute for Health and Care Research, Medical Research Council, Diabetes UK, Cancer Research UK, European Commission and AstraZeneca UK. Some examples of our current and past awarded grants can be found below:

Current grants/funding

  • Research England; Yates T, Edwardson C. Expansion of Leicester Lifestyle and Health Research Group. £14,000,000; 2024-2029.

  • Abbott; Yates T (PI). The impact of providing continuous glucose monitoring devices to people with type 2 diabetes. £310,593; 2023-2025.

  • NIHR Work & Health Development Award. Maidment D, Barrow H, Munir F, Nielsen K, Shemtob L, Burton K, Baryts S, Marwaha S, Yarker J, Edwardson C, Ballard J. Hemming S. Self-management support to enhance work-health balance in people with long-term health conditions and disabilities. £118,038.00. 2023-2024.

  • NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre; Yates T as Lifestyle Co-PI responsible for £4,320,477; 2022-2027.

  • NIHR Health Technology Assessment; Goff LM (PI), McGowan B, Robinson C, Harris T, Ussher M, Ashworth M, Dale J, Healey A, Jin H, Bower P, Rivas C, Thorpe J, Hoverd E, Tomlinson S, Kelly T. HEAL-D (Healthy Eating & Active Lifestyles for Diabetes): a multicentre, pragmatic randomised controlled trial comparing effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of culturally tailored versus standard diabetes self-management programmes in Black-African and Black-Caribbean adults with type 2 diabetes. £2,329,781.00. 2023-2026.

  • Reinsurance Group of America collaborative project. Yates T (PI). Understanding the Role of Lifestyle Behaviours as Predictors of All-Cause Mortality and Major Morbidity Outcomes in the UK Biobank. £235,219; 2022-2023.

  • Cancer Research UK; Coyle V, Russell A, Adams R, Wilson R, Storey D, Yates T (as lead physical activity researcher for UK sites), Booth C, Courneya K, Donnelly M, McAuley D, Thomas A. CHALLENGE UK (A UK arm of the Colon Health And LifeLong Exercise chaNGE trial). £560,971; 2015-2023.

  • Astra Zeneca investigator-initiated grant: Davies M, Yates T (physical activity lead), McCann G, Khunti K, Sargeant J, Webb D, King J, Redman E, Gulsin G, Smith A, Watson E. Impact of exercise training in combination with dapagliflozin on physical function in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomised controlled trial. £517,590; 2020-2024.

  • Medical Research Council; Yates T (UK PI), Dasgupta K, Rahme E, Da Costa D, Chevalier S, Yeung Laiwah R, Boulé N, Thompson R, Fortier I, Davies M, McCann G, Khunti K, Gregg E, Friedrich M, Henson J, Hadjiconstantinou M, Baldry E. REmission of diabetes and improved diastolic function by combining Structured Exercise with meal replacemenT and food reintroduction (RESET). £330,000 (UK funding).

  • NIHR Programme Grant; Daly A (PI), Biddle S, Edwardson CL, Esliger D, Frew E, Greenfield S, Ives N, Jolly K, Mutrie N, Parretti H, Sherar L, Thursfield C, Yates, T. ‘Snacktivity’ to promote physical activity and reduce future risk of disease in the population. £2,386,941.

  • Diabetes UK. Bailey D (PI), Chater A, Dong F, Edwardson CL, Hewson D, Pang, D, Pappas Y, Biddle S. A tailored intervention to reduce sitting behaviour in people with Type 2 Diabetes: A randomised controlled feasibility study; £137,510.

  • UKRI-DHSC COVID-19 Rapid Response Rolling Call; Yates T (PI), Khunti K, Zaccardi F, Razieh C, Davies M. Ethnicity and COVID-19: investigating the determinants of excess risk in UK Biobank; £125,992.

Past grants/funding

  • NIHR Public Health Research; Edwardson CL (PI), Yates T, Davies M, Clemes S, Munir F, Granat M, Clarke-Cornwell A, Richardson G, Gray L. A three arm cluster randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the SMArT Work & Life intervention for reducing daily sitting time in office workers. £905,133.90; 2018-2021.

  • NIHR Public Health Research; Clemes S (PI), Yates T, Edwardson CL, Hamer M, Munir F, King J. A cluster randomised controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a Structured Health Intervention For Truckers (The SHIFT Programme). £735,571.

  • Boehringer Ingelheim; Davies M (PI), Khunti K, Chatterjee S, Stensel D, King J, Yates T, Edwardson CL, Gray L, Bodicoat D. SGLT-2 Inhibitor Empagliflozin Effects on Appetite and Weight Regulation - The SEESAW Study; €497,002.

  • East Midlands CLAHRC; Khunti K (PI), Yates T, Davies M, Batt M, Edwardson CL, Carey M. Promoting lifestyle change and self-management through structured education in people with multi-morbidity: A randomised controlled trial; £248,858.

  • NIHR Public Health Research; Clemes S (PI), Barber S, Edwardson CL, Tolfrey K, Cale L, McEachan R, Bandelow s, Fray M, Richardson G. Stand Out in Class: Restructuring the classroom environment to reduce sedentary behaviour - a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial; £418,112.80.

  • East Midlands CLAHRC. Sherar L (PI), Edwardson CL, Harrington D, Clemes S, Cale L, Khunti K, Biddle S, Bodicoat D, Salmon J. ‘Move to Teach, Move to Learn’ - A collaborative school-based programme to decrease sedentary time in primary school students. £253,468.

  • NIHR Public Health Research; Davies M (PI), Edwardson CL, Yates T, Harrington D, Gorely T, Sherar L, Bodicoat D. A cluster randomised controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the ‘Girls Active’ intervention; £599,444.

  • European Commission, Directorate-General for Health and Consumers, Unit C.1 Programme Management and Diseases; Davies M (PI), Khunti K, Edwardson CL, Yates T, Gray L, Ribeiro, R, Raposo J, Silva H, Ayala M, Pfäffle R, Blüher S, Schwarz P, de Manuel Keenoy E, Karagiozoglou-Lampoudi T, Gerasimidi-Vazeou A. Call for Tender: No SANCO/2013/C1/004 concerning a pilot project for developing and implementing successful prevention strategies for type 2 diabetes; €999,075.

  • Department of Health; Biddle SJH, Yates, T, Edwardson CL, Esliger D, Davies M, Gray L, Munir F (PI). SMArT Work: Stand More AT Work; £598,885.

  • Medical Research Council; Yates T (PI), Edwardson CL, Davies M, Khunti K, Biddle SJH, Esliger D, Gill J, Sattar N, Sinclair A. Sedentary behaviour in older adults: Investigating a new therapeutic paradigm; £1,055,898.

  • NIHR Leicester-Loughborough Diet, Lifestyle and Physical Activity Biomedical Research Unit. 2012-2017.