Dr Nick Cavill (Director of an Independent Public Health Consultancy)

This episode features Dr Nick Cavill. Nick is a director of an independent public health consultancy and a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. He specialises in the development of policy and programmes on public health issues. Nick's focus has been on obesity, sustainable transport and the links to physical activity, however, he has also advised on topics as diverse as mental health; drinking water availability; young people’s social development and sport and social development.  

Nick has been involved in many of the major physical activity promotion programmes in the UK and has extensive experience of national and international policy development on the issue. He has been involved in the health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) network since its inception and has published academic journal articles and book chapters about physical activity policy.  He has worked at a policy level in both Departments of Health and Transport and was formerly at the UK Health Education Authority, where he was head of the physical activity programme. While on secondment to WHO in Geneva he helped set up a network of policy leads on physical activity. In 2011 Nick completed his PhD at the University of Salford, focusing on national policy approaches to promoting physical activity, and was made a member of the Faculty of Public Health through distinction.  

This episode provides a great overview of how Nick's work has evolved over the years and how he inadvertently became a behavioural scientist!