Jenna trained in environmental sciences (BSc) before completing a PhD focusing on the environmental and psychosocial influences on walking and cycling, using data from the SPEEDY and EPIC-Norfolk studies. She assisted in both studies; compiling questionnaires and generating objective environmental measures. For SPEEDY she also assisted with data collection.
She then moved to the MRC Epidemiology Unit to work as the lead quantitative researcher on the Commuting and Health in Cambridge study. She then won an NIHR post-doctoral fellowship (2013 to 2015) which focused on understanding the effects of environmental changes on walking, cycling and physical activity, as well as understanding the mechanisms by which such changes in behaviour are brought about.
She previously collaborated with academics from the University of Oxford, University of Bristol and University College London and has experience of translating her work for policy makers and practitioners. She provided an expert testimony and submitted evidence to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Programme Development Group for their recent guidance on promoting walking and cycling and also co-authored the chapter on ‘obesogenic environments’ part of a key British Government Foresight report entitled “Tackling Obesities: Future Choices”.