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Wendy Burton
Research Fellow

Profile

Biography

Wendy Burton is a Research Fellow in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York. With a background in public health nutrition, Wendy’s research focuses on the evaluation and implementation of public health interventions, including the co-design and development of implementation strategies to support the delivery of effective interventions within complex public health settings.

Wendy is Programme Manager for the NIHR PHIRST REACH evaluation programme, which evaluates real-world public health interventions to generate evidence on their implementation, effectiveness, and impact. She is also Research Manager and Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Lead for the HENRY III Trial, a large-scale evaluation examining the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of HENRY (Health, Exercise, Nutrition for the Really Young), a sustainable obesity prevention programme. 

Wendy joined the University of York in 2021. Prior to this, she worked and studied within the Institute of Clinical Trials Research at the University of Leeds, where she was part of the Clinical Trials Research Unit’s Diet and Obesity portfolio, contributing to research focused on the evaluation of interventions in these areas.

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Public Health Nutrition, Leeds Beckett University
  • PhD Public Health, University of Leeds 

 

Research

Overview

Wendy is a qualitative researcher and experienced project manager. Since joining the University of York, she has contributed to a range of research projects across public health, implementation science, and intervention evaluation:

  • PHIRST REACH: Working collaboratively with local authorities in the UK to deliver high quality, timely, place-based evaluations to inform evidence-based decision making and contribute to improvement in public health policies/services
  • Fair Food Futures: What are the most beneficial models used by community food assets to prevent the need for emergency food aid? A longitudinal qualitative study conducted in two multi-cultural populations in the North and South of England
  • The HENRY III Trial: Evaluation of a sustainable obesity prevention programme delivered at scale ‘HENRY’ (Health, Exercise, Nutrition for the Really Young): Effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and its role in obesity prevention within the wider complex system
  • Re:Mission Study (Transferability Assessment work package): Transferability assessment of the NHS England Low-Calorie Diet between primary and target contexts
  • Pilot study of CONNECTS Food resource: Acceptability and potential impact of the CONNECTS Food website resource designed to support schools adopt whole school approaches to food
  • CONNECTS Food: Co-design of an implementation plan to maximise the impact of whole school approaches to food.

Projects

  • CONNECTS-Food

Research group(s)

Publications

Selected publications

Wendy Burton

Contact details

Dr Wendy Burton
Research Fellow

External activities

Overview

Wendy is a trustee of the UK Implementation Society.