Professor Miranda Pallan MBChB, MPH, PhD, FFPH

Professor Miranda Pallan

Department of Applied Health Sciences
Professor of Child and Adolescent Public Health

Contact details

Email
m.j.pallan@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Murray Learning Centre
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Miranda’s research mainly focuses on the health of children and adolescents. She undertakes research in the areas of the epidemiology, prevention and management of overweight and obesity in children, school food provision and environments, and adolescent nutrition, mental wellbeing and physical activity. Her research seeks to improve health at an early stage of the life course to reduce longer term ill health, chronic disease and premature death.

Within these research areas Miranda has developed expertise in complex intervention development and evaluation, multi-methods research, and research with disadvantaged and ethnically diverse communities in the UK.

Qualifications

  • Fellowship (FHEA), AdvanceHE 2020
  • Fellowship of the Faculty of Public Health 2012
  • PhD in Public Health, University of Birmingham, 2011
  • Masters in Public Health, University of Birmingham, 2003
  • Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners 2001
  • MBChB, University of Birmingham, 1997
  • BSc (Hons) Pharmacology, University of Birmingham, 1994

Biography

Miranda graduated with a MBChB degree from Birmingham Medical School in 1997 and qualified as a General Practitioner in 2001. In 2002 she commenced specialist training in Public Health, and joined the Department of Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Birmingham in 2005 to sub-specialise in academic Public Health.

Miranda completed her specialist training in Public Health in 2010 and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health. She completed a PhD degree in 2011, which focused on childhood obesity prevention targeting South Asian communities in the UK. Since then, she has continued to focus her research on childhood obesity and its prevention in school-aged children, as well as expanding to related areas of child and adolescent public health. She led and supported multiple nationally funded studies in this research field. She has worked closely with schools and community healthcare teams to develop and evaluate interventions aiming to improve diet, physical activity and health and wellbeing in children and adolescents.

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision

Miranda is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

  • Childhood obesity: epidemiology and prevention
  • Food provision and environments in secondary schools
  • Wellbeing, diet and physical activity in childhood and adolescence
Miranda has successfully supervised multiple PhD/MSc by Research students to completion.

Research

Research interests

  • Food provision and environments in secondary schools and adolescent nutrition
  • Free school meal provision and impact on nutrition and food insecurity
  • Adolescent smartphone and social media use and impact on mental wellbeing and physical activity
  • School-based complex interventions to prevent childhood obesity
  • Weight management intervention in children
  • Weight management in adults

Current projects

Other activities

  • Honorary consultant contract held with Public Health England (since 2013) 
  • Co-Chair of the UK Society for Behavioural Medicine Child Health Special Interest Group

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Cooper, J, Hannam, K, Chambers, S, Reid, T, Jago, R, Toumpakari, Z, Simpson, SA, Pallan, M, Cochrane, M, Kipping, R & Langford, R 2026, 'An environmental physical activity and nutrition intervention in early childhood education and care settings: process evaluation of the NAPSACC UK multi-centre cluster RCT', The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity . https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-026-01882-4

Perry, SJ, Goodyear, VA, Pallan, M, Adab, P, Fenton, S, Michail, M, Patterson, P, Randhawa, A, Sitch, AJ, Wade, M & Al-Janabi, H 2026, 'Health economics analysis of restrictive school smartphone policies in secondary schools in England (SMART Schools)', BMJ Mental Health, vol. 29, no. 1, e301892. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjment-2025-301892

Goodyear, VA, Randhawa, A, Adab, P, Al-Janabi, H, Fenton, S, Michail, M, Patterson, P, Sitch, A, Wade, M & Pallan, M 2026, 'How school phone policies influence adolescent phone use and wellbeing (SMART Schools): a qualitative comparative case study', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 398, 119094. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119094

Murphy, M, Brownlee, I, Tanner, J, Hope, EK, Sevel, E, Friedman, S, Defeyter, MA, Meira, G, Ford, E-M, Mathieson, A & Pallan, MJ 2026, 'Implementation of national school food policy in special and alternative education: a mixed methods study', Public Health Nutrition, vol. 29, no. 1, e204. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980026103607

Pallan, M 2026, 'Lunches in UK early years education and care settings: cross-sectional analysis of food processing, provision and intake', Public Health Nutrition.

Hatch, L, Tinner, L, Khofi-Szeremley, C, Darling, F, Clohessy, S, Tanner, J, Murphy, M, Pallan, M, Summerbell, C, Mazzoli-Smith, L, Pokhilenko, I & Jago, R 2026, 'Perceptions of the national school holiday programme (Holiday Activities and Food) in England as experienced by local government, service providers and users of the service: a mixed-methods study', BMC Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-27699-1

Benkhelfa, A, Ram, B, Gullett, N, Cunningham, M, Azar Sharabiani, MT, Pallan, M, van Sluijs, E, Summerbell, C, Hillsdon, M, Siddiqui, N & Saxena, S 2026, 'Real-world evidence of physical activity practices and policies in Greater London primary schools: A cross-sectional survey', PLOS One, vol. 21, no. 7, e0352283. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0352283

Retzer, A, Adab, P, Fischer, NS, Frew, E, Jones, J, Makahleh, HY, Manna, A, Pallan, M, Pokhilenko, I, Rudge, G, Duff, R, Subdurally-Plon, MI & Jolly, K 2026, 'Stakeholder views on the installation and use of mile long tracks in community parks aimed at increasing physical activity in low-income minority areas: A qualitative evaluation in Birmingham UK', Public Health in Practice, vol. 11, 100758. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhip.2026.100758

Murphy, M, Hewitt, T, Stewart, A, Morrison, B, Duff, R, Sitch, A, Hurley, K, Griffin, T, Adamson, A, Spence, S, Rowland, M, Adab, P & Pallan, M 2026, 'The distribution of school-aged adolescents’ free sugar intake across the day: A cross-sectional study', European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-026-01714-5

Maishman, R, Dobell, A, Pallan, M, Blair, PS, White, J, Simpson, SA, Martin, A, Kipping, R, Jago, R & Hannam, K 2025, 'Accelerometer-Measured Physical Activity in UK Early Childhood Education and Care Settings: A Cross-Sectional Study', Journal of physical activity & health. https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2025-0316

Smith, FT, Kipping, R, Yoong, SL, Hannam, K, Langford, R, Barnes, C, Cooper, J, Pallan, M, Lum, M, Hales, D, Burney, R, Herr, M & Willis, EA 2025, 'Adapting the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment: A Cross-Country Case Study of Improving Early Childhood Health Environments in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom', Childhood Obesity. https://doi.org/10.1089/chi.2024.0371

Goodyear, VA, James, C, Orben, A, Quennerstedt, M, Schwartz, G & Pallan, M 2025, 'Approaches to children’s smartphone and social media use must go beyond bans', BMJ, vol. 388, e082569. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-082569

Hatch, L, Tinner, L, Khofi-Szeremley, C, Darling, F, Clohessy, S, Tanner, J, Robinson, H, Jago, R, Summerbell, C, Mazzoli-Smith, L, Pallan, M, Defeyter, MA & Murphy, M 2025, 'Challenges and opportunities for inclusive, equitable and accessible school holiday clubs for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)', International Journal for Equity in Health, vol. 24, no. 1, 236. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-025-02607-y

Pokhilenko, I, Pallan, M, Murphy, M, Adab, P, Morrison, B, Sitch, A, Adamson, A, Bartington, S, Duff, R, Griffin, T, Hurley, K, Lancashire, E, McLeman, L, Passmore, S, Rowland, M, Ravaghi, V, Spence, S & Frew, E 2025, 'Economic evaluation of the national school food standards across secondary schools in The Midlands, UK (the FUEL study): methodological challenges of undertaking health economics research within non-health settings', The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 22, 142. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-025-01840-6

Review article

Coombes, JP, Russell, A, Murphy, M, Turner, A, Ansell, E, Algaai, E & Pallan, M 2026, 'Effect of diet on cognition, mental health and wellbeing among adolescents: a systematic review', BMC Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-026-07596-7

View all publications in research portal