Staff profile

Jennifer joined the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences in June 2024 as Postdoctoral Research Associate working on the funded, award-winning project ‘Moving Social Work’. Working in partnership with Disability Rights UK, Moving Social Work is a co-produced programme of research that aims to embed physical activity advocacy with and for disabled people into the education, training, and routine practice of social work. As part of this, Moving Social Work advances physical activity research on implementation science and knowledge translation, co-production, intersectionality, and multiagency working and integrated care.

Prior to taking up her current position at Durham University Jen had worked as a Research Assistant and latterly as a Research Fellow within the Academic Unit for Ageing and Stroke Research (ASR) at the University of Leeds and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. During her time working in the ASR Jen contributed to two National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded research programmes (REACH; RP-PG-1210-12017 and RECREATE; RP-PG-0615-2001). Both programmes focused on developing and evaluating strategies to change physical activity and sedentary behaviour in the respected population of interest (older adults in care homes in REACH and people with stroke in RECREATE) with the ultimate intention of improving physical and psychological health and social well-being.

Since February 2023 Jen has served as secretary for the Sedentary Behaviour Council within the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH). 

Jen has a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science and a PhD which explored the measurement of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in older adults residing in care homes.

Twitter: @JenAirlie

ResearchGate: Jennifer Airlie (researchgate.net)

Research Interests

•  Physical activity and sedentary behaviour interventions
•  Physical activity and sedentary behaviour measurement (with a particular focus on accelerometers)
•  Applied health and social care research.

Funding

Johansson J, Forster A, Airlie J, Gray-Burrows K, Shannon R, Render G. Using an ideal types approach to tailor an intervention focused on reducing sedentary behaviour after stroke. Programme Development Grants (NIHR206938); 2024-2025 (12 months)

Publications

Johansson JF, Shannon R, Mossabir R, Airlie J, Ozer S, Moreau LA, Farris A, Mead G, English C, Fitzsimons CF, Clarke DJ, Forster A, on behalf of the RECREATE Programme Management Group. Intervention to reduce sedentary behaviour and improve outcomes after stroke (Get Set Go): a study protocol for the process evaluation of a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial (RECREATE). BMJ Open 2023;13:e075363. https://doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075363

Airlie J, Burton L, Copsey B, English C, Farrin A, Fitzsimons CF, Holloway I, Horrocks J, Johansson JF, Mead G, Moreau LA, Ozer S, Patel A, Yaziji N, Forster A, on behalf of the RECREATE Programme Management Group. RECREATE: a study protocol for a multicentre pilot cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) in UK stroke services evaluating an intervention to reduce sedentary behaviour in stroke survivors (Get Set Go) with embedded process and economic evaluations. BMJ Open 2023;13:e074607. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/7/e074607

Ahmed S, Airlie J, Clegg A, Copsey B, Cundill B, Forster A, Heaven A, Johansson JF, Kime N, Moreau L, Ozer S, Parker C, Richards SH, Thompson E, Farrin AJ. A new opportunity for enhancing trial efficiency: Can we investigate intervention implementation processes within trials using SWAT (study within a trial) methodology? Research Methods in Medicine & Health Sciences 2022;3(3):66-73. https://doi.org/10.1177/26320843221080734

Airlie J, Forster A, Birch KM. An investigation into the optimal wear time criteria necessary to reliably estimate physical activity and sedentary behaviour from ActiGraph wGT3X+ accelerometer data in older care home residents. BMC Geriatrics 2022, 22:136. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-021-02725-6

Forster A, Godfrey M, Green J, McMaster N, Airlie J, Cundill B, Lawton R, Hawkins R, Hulme C, Birch K, Brown L, Cicero R, Crocker T, Dawkins B, Ellard D, Ellwood A, Firth J, Gallagher B, Graham L, Johnson L, Lusambili A, Marti J, McCrorie C, McLellen V, Patel I, Prashar A, Siddiqi N, Trépel D, Wheeler I, Wright A, Young J, Farrin A. Strategies to enhance routine physical activity in care home residents: the REACH research programme including a cluster feasibility RCT. Programme Grants Applied Research 2021;9(9). https://doi.org/10.3310/pgfar09090

Forster A, Airlie J, Ellwood A, Godfrey M, Green J, Cundill B, Dawkins B, McMaster N, Hulme C, Cicero R, McLellan V, Graham L, Gallagher B, Ellard DR, Firth J, Farrin A, the REACH Programme Team. An intervention to increase physical activity in care home residents: results of a cluster-randomised, controlled feasibility trial (the REACH trial), Age and Ageing 2021; afab130, https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afab130

Ellwood A, Airlie J, Cicero R, Cundill B, Ellard DR, Farrin A, Godfrey M, Graham L, Green J, McLellan V, Siddiqi N, Forster A, on behalf of the REACH Programme Team. Recruiting Care Homes to a Randomised Controlled Trial. Trials 2018;19(1):535. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-018-2915-x

Forster A, Airlie J, Birch K, Cicero R, Cundill B, Ellwood A, Godfrey M, Graham L, Green J, Hulme C, Lawton R, McLellan V, McMaster N, Farrin A, on behalf of the REACH Programme Team. Research Exploring Physical Activity in Care Homes (REACH): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials 2017, 18:182. doi: 10.1186/s13063-017-1921-8