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

Exploring the public health potential of RED January, a social media campaign supporting physical activity in the community for mental health: A qualitative study
Journal article

Wheatley C. et al, (2021), Mental Health and Physical Activity, 21
The effect of a one-year vigorous physical activity intervention on fitness, cognitive performance and mental health in young adolescents: the Fit to Study cluster randomised controlled trial.
Journal article

Wassenaar TM. et al, (2021), Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, 18
Multimodal Imaging Brain Markers in Early Adolescence Are Linked with a Physically Active Lifestyle.
Journal article

Salvan P. et al, (2021), J Neurosci, 41, 1092 - 1104
Exploring activity levels in physical education lessons in the UK: a cross-sectional examination of activity types and fitness levels.
Journal article

Beale N. et al, (2021), BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med, 7
Effects of gender, activity type, class location and class composition on physical activity levels experienced during physical education classes in British secondary schools: a pilot cross-sectional study.
Journal article

Delextrat A. et al, (2020), BMC Public Health, 20
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
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
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
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

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