Dr Deirdre Harrington

Senior Lecturer

Physical Activity and Health

Personal statement

I am an experienced academic with a demonstrated history of working in multi-disciplinary teams in higher education in Ireland, the US and England.

I play a key academic role in achieving the goals of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) and contribute to its success within the University of Strathclyde.

I oversee the development and delivery of research and teaching within the School of Psychological Sciences and Health. I am responsible for securing external research funding, teaching at Undergraduate level, supervision of PhD students and the delivery of meaningful knowledge exchange and community engagement/involvement.

I am increasingly concerned about health inequalities and how my research does, or does not, address or impact them. I am trying to be reflexive about issues related to my assumptions and preconceptions as a researcher.

Currently:

New staff member (since Jan 2021) at University of Strathclyde, energised by delving straight into undergrad teaching and supervision and developing new research and stakeholder links in Scotland.
Media friendly. As heard monthly on BBC Radio Leicester Table Talk and seen on ITV Central and BBC East Midlands.

Former:

Academic lead of the Cities Changing Diabetes global programme in Leicester. I developed the work in collaboration with academic, local government, community and industry stakeholders and partners.
Chair of Ireland's Report Card for Physical Activity in Children and Youth 2013, member of the working group for 2015 and 2021 Report Cards.

Expertise

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Prize And Awards

Best poster at the 2022 Scottish Physical Activity Research Connections Annual Conference: Recipient; 11/11/2022

More prizes and awards

Publications

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Publications

Running Sustainably into World Environment Day: Harrington Deirdre; (2025)
Family weight management in rural U.S. communities : a mixed methods study of parent and child perspectives: Button Alyssa, Holston Denise, Freightman Jamila, Seals Katherine, Helie Matthew, Bankhead Elizabeth, Harrington Deirdre, Murray Peyton, Staiano Amanda; BMC Public Health Vol 25 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-23381-0
Child opinions related to a core outcome set for school-based healthy lifestyle behavior interventions : the COCOS study: Altenburg Teatske M, de Vries Lotte W, Barbeau Kheana, Button Alyssa, Cox Ashley, de Lannoy Louise, MacDonald Mhairi, Naidoo Rowena, Staiano Amanda E, Tremblay Mark S, Harrington Deirdre M; Frontiers in Public Health Vol 13 (2025); https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1519467
Global bike bus/ bicibus research: Harrington Deirdre, O'Hare Karen, Bonner James; (2025)
From the Rhins to the Rhine : Cycling Connections on the Kirkpatrick C2C to EuroVelo Route 15…: Bonner James, Harrington Deirdre, Drakopoulou Dodd Sarah, Wilson Juliette; (2025)
(Two) wheels on the bus : road user perceptions of a bike bus and how this links to addressing global health challenges: Harrington Deirdre M, Bardid Farid, Cory Katherine, Dixon James, Dodd Sarah, Ferguson Neil, Roberts Jennifer J, Bonner James; Journal of Physical Activity and Health Vol 21, pp. 1382-1390 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2024-0219

More publications

Teaching

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Teaching

Currently teaching at undergraduate level on the B.Sc. in Sport and Physical Activity.

I taught at Masters level (M.Sc. in Diabetes Medicine, University of Leicester).

I have also delivered practical professional development sessions to healthcare professionals.

Research

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Research Interests

I have worked on the global research platform for 15 years. My research interests have evolved over this time and can be summarised into three themes:

Prevention of ill-health in the clinical and public health areas of physical activity, obesity, type 2 diabetes.
Design, evaluation and implementation of school, family and community-based programmes.
Uniting stakeholders including public health, local authority and key community groups and organisations (e.g. professional sports clubs, faith centres) with academics in tackling prevalent health challenges.

Current topics I am moving forward with include:

Physical activity and related health behaviour (sleep, screen time, obesity) interventions in pre-schoolers and their families.
Transport behaviours - sustainable transport (walk, cycle, public transport) and private car use in COVID times. Changes in behaviours, attitudes, benefits for the individual and cities, the future for walking/cycling as transport.
The outsourcing of PE, physical activity and health promotion to professional sports clubs in schools and the community.
The future of school-based physical activity research in the COVID-19 recovery. How have PhD students and early career researchers been affected by school closures?

Do get in touch if you are interested in collaborating on these topics.

Professional Activities

Bike buses as a form of social activism: reflections from research and practice: Speaker; 11/6/2025
Velo-city annual conference 2025: Participant; 1/6/2025
Ride Oots and aboot: Participant; 14/5/2025
Every Tree and Every Cycle at Parents for Future Scotland schools clean air and active travel event: Contributor; 25/4/2025
GEMINOA Project - Impact & Insights Workshop: Participant; 25/4/2025
Bike Bus Global Summit 2025: Participant; 10/4/2025

More professional activities

Projects

Cycling Scotland's Driver Interaction: Harrington, Deirdre (Principal Investigator) Elliott, Mark (Co-investigator); 07-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2025
Evaluation of Scottish Cycling Rock up and Ride programme: Harrington, Deirdre (Principal Investigator); 19-Jan-2024 - 02-Jan-2026
Understanding the potential of a resident-led street closure programme – Play Streets in Inverness: Harrington, Deirdre (Principal Investigator); 01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2025
From Bike Bus to Bike Use: Harrington, Deirdre (Principal Investigator); 04-Jan-2023 - 06-Jan-2024
From Bike Bus to Bike Use – translating academic research on active mobility practices to benefit cities: Harrington, Deirdre (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2028
£12,000K - Scottish Funding Council - Interface Innovation Voucher - Nutrition Scotland: Harrington, Deirdre (Principal Investigator) Kirk, Alison (Principal Investigator) Mavroeidi, Alexandra (Co-investigator) Russell, Eilidh (Researcher); Knowledge exchange/consultancy with Nutrition Scotland (£4,919) to develop novel prevention products for carers of those at risk of type 2 diabetes; 31-Jan-2022 - 30-Jan-2022