An invitation to shape REACH
My team and I will start measuring 400 Sheffield children from September 2027, returning every year as they grow from age 3 to 10. These visits form the heart of REACH (Revolutionising and Evaluating Anthropometry for Children’s Health), my UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.
Each visit will produce a remarkably detailed picture of a child’s body and health. I want that picture to answer as many research questions as it can, and I would like your help to make that happen.
What we plan to measure
The measures below come from our original fellowship application. They may change as co-design and piloting progress, and the protocol is open to new additions where session time allows. We currently plan four groups of measures at each visit, alongside age, gender, social background and ethnicity. However, we are hoping for the children to be visiting us for the whole day as part of a class trip so there will be wider (additional) time where other data / tasks can be completed – though again, subject to co design.
The original measures we plan to collect include:
- Body size and shape: standing and sitting height, body mass, and girths, cross-sectional areas, volumes and surface areas from 4D body scanning
- Body composition: whole-body MRI for fat and muscle distribution, including liver fat, plus DXA, air displacement plethysmography, bioelectrical impedance and skinfolds
- Heart health: resting heart rate, blood pressure, and ultrasound of the carotid artery and heart
- Metabolic health: a fingertip blood sample for fasting glucose, insulin, cholesterol, triglycerides and a marker of liver health
Children and families are helping shape how we run these sessions. Our co-design study, REACH: Little Bodies, Big Voices, works with children aged 3 to 10 and their families across South Yorkshire to make our methods child-centred. More information available here:
Making every visit count
A single visit asks a lot of a three-year-old and their family. We owe it to them to get the most from every minute they give us.
The data will also seed Child Anthrobank, a planned repository dedicated to child body measurement. Its value grows with every research question the data can answer.
I am looking for researchers in Sheffield and across the UK who could help in two ways:
- Use the data: you have questions in child health, growth, development, imaging or data science that REACH data could answer
- Add to the visits: you have a measure, questionnaire or method that could sit alongside our sessions
Any additional measure would need to fit within session time, suit children from age 3, and pass ethical review before we could include it. REACH has no budget for additions, so anything needing extra equipment, consumables or staff time would need separate funding. We are happy to support those funding applications with letters of support and input on study design. We will be realistic together about what is feasible.
Join us on 20 January 2027
We are holding an interactive roundtable to explore how REACH data could support your research and what else we could collect.
- Date: Wednesday 20 January 2027
- Time: 10:00 to 13:00, lunch included
- Location: Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC), Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
Places are limited. Register your interest here. Unable to attend? Use the same form to request a phone call with me instead.
Please share this with anyone working in child health, obesity, growth or development.