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Staff Profile

Professor Niina Kolehmainen

Professor of Child Health Research

  • Personal Website: https://childresearch.co.uk/
  • Address: Population Health Sciences Institute
    Faculty of Medical Sciences
    NHIP Academy, Ridley 1 Building
    Newcastle University
    NE1 7RU
    United Kingdom
Background

Summary

I am an allied health scientist leading research in the intersection of childhood health behaviours, prevention of multiple long-term conditions, and personalised health technologies. I am particularly interested in advancing novel research and new innovations that support young children's physical activity, sleep and wellbeing to promote life-course health.

I am passionate about collaborative cross-sector research, and all of my work brings together highly diverse, interdisciplinary teams, regularly involved colleagues across behavioural sciences, sociology, humanities, engineering, physiology, computing, economics, epidemiology, statistics, and allied health – as well as children and parents – to open new areas of research. Examples of our projects can be viewed, e.g. through the CHILD Research Group website.

I also lead work into Children's Health and Wellbeing at the National Innovation Observatory, and I lead the Paediatric Community within the national Methodology Incubator. Through these, in collaboration with others, I push the boundaries of current knowledge and thinking around child health and children's research, and inform practice, policy and commissioning.

As an Academy of Medical Sciences FLIER, and an active member in NIHR Academy, I am passionate about advancing cross-sector research and working across traditional disciplinary boundaries. I strongly believe that we are at our best when truly collaborating with others, and that diversity of views and expertise is core to our collective success. I seek to build this culture among the next generation of research leaders, for example through my leadership in the NHIP Academy.


Qualifications

  • PhD Health Services Research, University of Aberdeen 2009
  • PgDip Occupational Therapy, Queen Margaret University 2007
  • MSc Health Services Research, University of Aberdeen 2006
  • Toimintaterapeutti (AMK), Helsinki Polytechnic 2002


 

Research

My research

My overarching research motivation is to advance child health innovation to improve their wellbeing now and over the life-course. My research focuses on everyday behaviours and employs a biopsychosocial approach. I have a long-standing interest in complex intervention research methods, and all of my work is interdisciplinary, with high emphasis on curiosity and opening up new areas of enquiry.

I focus on children who currently experience worse outcomes than their peers. This often includes children with long-term conditions, however I do not focus on specific diagnostic groups and it is very important to me that we consider children as children first and foremost.

I have a life-time grant income of over £34 million, by NIHR, MRC and EPSRC, with a rounded portfolio of studies focused around key themes. All my work centred on active stakeholder involvement, and all studies include supporting the next generation of research leaders.

Current programmes of research

  • Physical activity, sleep and stress in very young children, in the context of promoting life-course health and wellbeing. Interdisciplinary research to advance the methods, concepts and evidence about everyday physical activity, sleep, stress and physiological health in young children, including the WEARables Project funded by Newcastle Hospitals Charity (£22,297, from 2022 to 2023), and the MRC (£98.468, from 2020 to 2020).
  • Promoting early innovation in health technologies for children. Highly collaborative work through the National Innovation Observatory, funded by NIHR (£20,012,778, from 2021 to 2026), and the North Health Futures Hub, funded by EPSRC (£3,338,775, from 2023 to 2026).
  • Supporting self-care in children with neurodisability. A 10-year programme of research by our UK-wide consortium, in response to a request for children, young people and parents to enable better early-interventions to support independence in children with neurodisability. This included substantial pre-trial research, funded by the RCOT (£77,559, from 2018 to 2020), and Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle University (£10,040 and £1,980 respectively, both from 2015 to 2016), as well as drawing on the major completed works, below. The current stage, funded by NIHR HTA (£2,389,056, from 2024 to 2028), is a formal cluster randomised controlled trial of early self-care support for children before school entry, involving 40 NHS organisations across the UK.

Major completed programmes

  • Physical activity in younger children, including the ActiveCHILD study to promote health and functioning in children with physical limitations through participation in physical activities, funded by NIHR ICA Senior Clinical Lecturer Fellowship (£487,670), Kolehmainen N (CI), from 2016 to 2023, and the PPP study to develop theory and evidence for increasing participation in physical leisure pursuits and play in children with motor impairments, funded by the MRC Population Health Scientist Fellowship (£283,837), Kolehmainen N (CI), from 2010 to 2014. For the outputs, please see my publications.
  • The EMPoWER review, evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of earlier provision of powered wheelchair interventions for children with mobility limitations. National Institute for Health Research, HTA Evidence Synthesis. £251,448. Kolehmainen N (Co-i). 2018 – 2019. Open access final HTA report
  • Good Goals, to improve care for children accessing therapy services, funded by the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (CSO), Kolehmainen N (CI), 2006 – 2010. See Open access publication evaluating the final intervention, or full Publications list for all the related papers. A book chapter, and a later paper on a MAPi method to support implementation of participation-focused practice in NHS context.

Fellowships supervised

  • Marcroft: Improving the quality and value of enhanced developmental surveillance and support for preterm infants and their families. HEE/NIHR ICA Clinical Doctoral Fellowship, from 2019 to 2024
  • Sykes: Enhancing audit and feedback in acute trust dementia care. NIHR Doctoral Research Training Fellowship, from 2017 to 2020 
  • McAnuff: Improving health in children with disabilities: an intervention-development study to support participation in leisure in 8-12-year-olds with communication and mobility limitations. HEE/NIHR Clinical Academic Track Doctoral Research Training Fellowship, from 2015 to 2018
  • NIHR pre-doctoral practitioner-academic and methodology fellowships, from 2019 to present: Harbottle (physiotherapist), Bell (physiotherapist), Salonen (occupational therapist), Rowen (occupational therapist), Hunter (methodologist).

Collaborators

My work is only possible because of the rich, long-standing collaborations I have with, for example:

Teaching

I am always delighted to hear from anyone who would like to explore opportunities to do further learning with me. 

For research supervision, training, and examining, I am happy to be approached for expertise in everyday health behaviours of children (both population and clinical groups), especially everyday physical activity, sleep and self-care behaviours. I am also very interested in collaborations that involve trial methods in the context of early life.

Postgraduate teaching and supervision

I have teaching experience in health services research and public health, health psychology, and applied research methods. I have designed new postgraduate teaching and training (e.g. in mixed methods, complex interventions), and delivered teaching and training to a range of audiences in a variety of settings. I have experience of examining across post-graduate degrees, including as an external PhD examiner.

Current PhD fellows/students and their topics:

  • Sam Armitage, Self-care interventions and family support in childhood neurodisability. Newcastle University, UK
  • Arwa Katab, Understanding natural childhood stressors at school primary entry
  • Claire Marcroft, Routine surveillance of infants after neonatal care. Newcastle University, UK
  • Nik Binti Nik Mohd Nasir, Understanding children’s emotional health and wellbeing, and educational attainment, in a post-COVID-19-restrictions world
  • Hannah O'Keefe, Data mining for intelligence gathering
  • Sam Popoola, Investigating impact of early-life adversity on young adults
  • Domna Salonen, Uncovering opportunities for mental health support in everyday lives of families with multiple long-term conditions

PhDs supervised to completion, and their topics:

  • Lelanie Brewer, Self-care development in under5s with neurodisability. Newcastle University, UK (2024)
  • Fiona Beyer, Complex behaviour change interventions. Newcastle University, UK (2023)
  • Michael Sykes, Audit and feedback implementation intervention. NIHR DRF. Newcastle University, UK (2020)
  • Jennifer McAnuff, Leisure participation in young people with disability. NIHR CRDF. Newcastle University, UK (2019)
  • Benita Powrie, Leisure participation in young people with disability. Queensland University, AUS (2018)

PhD/Mphil Viva examining: University of Groningen (2015), Glasgow Caledonian University (2013)

Masters research projects supervised to completion: MClinRes, Newcastle University (2015, 2019); MSc in Health Services and Public Health Research, University of Aberdeen (2013); and MSc in Professional Health and Social Care Studies, York St John’s University (2011).

Lecturing: MSc in Health Psychology, Northumbria University (in 2015); MSc in Health Service and Public Health Research, University of Aberdeen (2007-12) and Newcastle University (2016); and MSc in International Health and Management, University of Aberdeen (2009-12)

Health professional training

I have a long-standing commitment and a track record in growing clinical research capacity for a purpose of achieving better care and health outcomes. As an NIHR Academic Training Advocate (2015-2021), I have supported allied health, nursing and midwifery clinical academic capacity building nationally, and have extensive experience of supervising and mentoring health professionals across levels, from internships to pre-doctoral to doctoral and post-doctoral, and including a range of nurses and allied health professionals 

As part of our wider engagement work, I have also designed and delivered training to various health and care professionals, including internationally.

Publications