Research groups
Catherine Wheatley
PhD, CPsychol
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
My work in Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg's plasticity group involves exploring relationships between physical activity, fitness and brain health. I am particularly interested in how community-wide physical activity interventions might lead to improvements in mental health, wellbeing, and learning and thinking skills. My projects include Fit to Study, a randomised controlled trial investigating the impact of physical activity during school PE on academic attainment, and the RED January study, investigating the public health potential of a one-month physical activity challenge.
I completed my undergraduate degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford and my doctoral research examined how social influences are related to young people's physical activity.
Recent publications
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Multimodal Imaging Brain Markers in Early Adolescence Are Linked with a Physically Active Lifestyle.
Journal article
Salvan P. et al, (2021), J Neurosci
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Fit to Study: Reflections on designing and implementing a large-scale randomized controlled trial in secondary schools
Journal article
Wheatley C. et al, (2020), Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 100134 - 100134
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Associations between fitness, physical activity and mental health in a community sample of young British adolescents: baseline data from the Fit to Study trial.
Journal article
Wheatley C. et al, (2020), BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med, 6
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Effects of a programme of vigorous physical activity during secondary school physical education on academic performance, fitness, cognition, mental health and the brain of adolescents (Fit to Study): study protocol for a cluster-randomised trial.
Journal article
Wassenaar TM. et al, (2019), Trials, 20
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Unspoken Playground Rules Discourage Adolescent Physical Activity in School: A Focus Group Study of Constructs in the Prototype Willingness Model.
Journal article
Wheatley CM. et al, (2018), Qual Health Res, 28, 624 - 632