Leigh Gibson
  • 3030 Parkstead House, Whitelands College

20002024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Biography

Leigh Gibson read Psychology and Physiology at the University of London, and then completed a PhD and post-doctoral fellowship at the School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, studying mechanisms by which nutrients in food influence food choice and appetite. In 1989, Leigh joined the Institute of Neurology in London, to work on the neurochemistry of appetite, anxiety and stress. In 1993, he joined the Health Behaviour Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry, and then moved with the HBU to the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL, in 1996, where, as Senior Research Fellow, he studied food choice, appetite, and their interactions with stress and health. In 2004, Leigh joined the School of Human and Life Sciences, University of Roehampton.

Leigh is currently Associate Professor in Biopsychology, and President of the Food & Health Forum, Royal Society of Medicine.

Qualifications

BSc, PhD, C Psychol, R Nutr, AFBPsS, FHEA

Research interests

Leigh Gibson's current research is concerned with influences on appetite and food choice, and their interaction with stress, health, and cognitive and emotional well-being. The work is aimed at understanding processes controlling people's habitual diet, attempts at dietary change, weight control and disordered eating. His work derives mainly from psychological and physiological mechanisms underlying dietary habit formation, especially the role of learning, but also including influences of nutrition and stress on brain/behaviour and cardiovascular adaptations protecting health.

For a detailed profile of Leigh's research publications, please visit this site: http://tinyurl.com/el-gibson-pubs

Professional affiliations

British Psychological Society; British Neuroscience Association; Nutrition Society; Association for the Study of Obesity; Association for Nutrition; Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior

Consultancy work

Dr Leigh Gibson has acted as an expert consultant for the food and drink industry, including Unilever, the Natural Hydration Council and the International Life Sciences Institute.

A recent collaboration with Abbott Nutrition and Nyxeon led to Dr Gibson's participation in a training film on "The Power of Taste", which has been endorsed by the British Dietetic Association for continous professional development.  More details and a link to the film are available here:

https://www.abbottnutrition.co.uk/support-and-tools/power-of-taste-elearning/

Teaching

Leigh contributes lectures to a broad range of modules across the Departments of Psychology and Life Sciences, including those for Nutrition, Health and Sports Science undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as in Psychology. He has convened several psychological modules including "Experiencing Psychological Research", "Mind, Body and Brain" and an MSc module, "Experimental Design, Data Collection and Analysis". Leigh is also a visiting lecturer at King's College London and Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia.

Links

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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