Professor Emily Rousham

Emily is a Professor of Global Public Health. She undertook her BA Hons and PhD degrees at the University of Cambridge and conducted research in Bangladesh for her PhD with the MRC and Department of Biological Anthropology in Cambridge. Before joining Loughborough University, she held a lectureship at the University of Western Australia.

Emily lectures on the Biosciences undergraduate degree programmes at Loughborough University and supervises undergraduate, master's and doctoral researcher (PhD) projects.

Emily is the Director for Research and Innovation Income Generation in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences.

Emily’s research addresses global health challenges. Her interdisciplinary research includes addressing malnutrition in mothers, infants and young children and she has worked extensively on strategies to tackle the emergence of antimicrobial resistance using One Health approaches. Emily has led community-based studies of maternal and child health and nutrition and the prevention of infectious and non-communicable diseases. Her research employs a range of qualitative and quantitative methods including the co-design and development of interventions. Much of Emily’s work has been in low and middle-income countries.

Current  and recent funded projects

• Identifying solutions for effective One Health policy and surveillance on antibiotic resistance in Bangladesh. Funder: British Academy. Emily Rousham (Loughborough University) and Mahbubur Rahman (icddr,b, Bangladesh) 2024-2025.
• A Comparative One-Health Approach tackling AMR infections UK and Indian Livestock. BBSRC-ISPF. BB/Y007336/1. Co-investigator. UK Lead, Robert Atterbury (University of Nottingham). 2024-2027.
• New strategies to reduce anaemia and overweight/obesity among infants and young children in Peru. MR/S024921/1. Funders: MRC-Newton and Concytec, Peru. Principal investigators: Emily Rousham (UK) and Hilary Creed-Kanashiro (Peru). 2019-2023.
• Strategies to Mitigate Nutritional Risks among mothers and infants under 2 years in low-income urban households in Peru during COVID-19 (STAMINA). EP/V034057/1. Funder: UKRI-Newton Agile Response. Principal investigator: Emily Rousham. 2020-2022.
• Evidence to inform complementary feeding guidelines: A systematic review of unhealthy food and beverage consumption on children under 10 years: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Funder: World Health Organisation.  2021-2022. Lead investigator: Emily Rousham.

Previous funded projects

• Scaling up the baby friendly community initiative in Kenya, Malawi and Uganda. Funder: NIHR Development award, lead Prof Paula Griffiths, Loughborough University. 2020-2021.
• Co-designing community-based interventions: Building a network for exploring the challenges and opportunities for ICTs to enhance maternal health in South Africa. EP/T030429/1. Lead Dr Nervo Verdezoto, Cardiff University and Dr Melissa Densmore University of Cape Town. 2020-2022.
• UK-Africa network to improve the nutrition of infants and young children living in poverty in urbanising sub-Saharan African countries: MR/R0196557/1.Funder: MRC Confidence in Nutrition Network Award. Led by Prof Paula Griffiths, Loughborough University with APHRC Kenya, Malawi and the University of Sheffield.
• Pathways of antibiotic use for humans and animals in Bangladesh. Funder: AMR Cross Council Initiative ES/P004563/1. Principal investigator: Emily Rousham with the University of Durham, University of Bristol and icddr,b. 2017-2019.
• Strengthening health systems: interventions for drug shops. Funder: World Health Organisation. Lead organisation icddr,b, Bangladesh. 2019-2020.
• Dietary transitions in Africa: leveraging evidence for interventions and policy to prevent diet-related non-communicable diseases. Funder: MRC-GCRF Foundation Award MR/P025153/1. Principal investigator: Professor Michelle Holdsworth (University of Sheffield) with the University of Ghana and African Population and Health Research Centre, Kenya 2017-2019.
• Spatial and temporal dynamics of AMR transmission from the outdoor environment to humans in rural and urban Bangladesh. Funder: AMR Cross Council Initiative Grant NE/N019555/1, Principal investigator: Emily Rousham. 2018-2021.

• NIHR Global Health committee member, 2023-2025.
• MRC Health in Context funding panel member, March 2020.
• Consultancy for the World Health Organisation, Food and Nutrition Action in Health Systems unit, Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, 2020-21.
• Consultant via Dikoda.com for Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022 (FAO, UNICEF, WFP and WHO). 2021-2022.
• Peer Review College Member, ESRC and BBSRC (UKRI).
• NERC Integration Programme project member for AMR in the Real World 2019-2021.
• Technical Expert appointment, Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment, UK Government Science and Innovation Network (2017- 2018).
• Editorial Board Member: Scientific Data, 2020-2023, Annals of Human Biology (2023 to present).

• Pradeilles, R, Eymard-Duvernay, S, Pareja, R, Holdsworth, M, Landais, E, Creed-Kanashiro, HM, Rousham, E (2024) Changes and correlates of household food insecurity during COVID-19: a repeated cross-sectional survey of low-income households in peri-urban Peru, Food Security, 16(4), pp.973-987, DOI: 10.1007/s12571-024-01471-y.
• Large, J, Madigan, C, Pradeilles, R, Markey, O, Boxer, B, Rousham, E (2023) Impact of unhealthy food and beverage consumption on children’s risk of dental caries: a systematic review, Nutrition Reviews, 82(11), DOI: 10.1093/nutrit/nuad147.
• Rousham, E, Clark, M, Latham, M, Oo, SP, Read, S, Griffiths, P, Blankenship, J, Goudet, S (2023) Resilience and vulnerabilities of urban food environments in the Asia‐Pacific region, Maternal and Child Nutrition. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13513.
• Rousham, E, Nahar, P, Uddin, MR, Islam, MA, Nizame, FA, Khisa, N, Akter, SMS, Munim, MS, Rahman, M, Unicomb, L (2023) Gender and urban-rural influences on antibiotic purchasing and prescription use in retail drug shops: a one health study, BMC Public Health, 23, 229, DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-15155-3.
• Rousham, E, Goudet, S, Markey, O, Griffiths, P, Boxer, B, Carroll, C, Petherick, E, Pradeilles, R (2022) Unhealthy food and beverage consumption in children and risk of overweight and obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Advances in Nutrition, 13(5), pp.1669-1696. DOI: 10.1093/advances/nmac032.
• Asaduzzaman, M, Rousham, E, Unicomb, L, Islam, MR, Amin, MB, Rahman, M, Hossain, MI, Mahmud, ZH, Szegner, M, Wood, P, Islam, MA (2022) Spatiotemporal distribution of antimicrobial resistant organisms in different water environments in urban and rural settings of Bangladesh, Science of The Total Environment, 831(2022), 154890. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154890.
• Pradeilles, R, Pareja, R, Creed-Kanashiro, HM, Griffiths, P, Holdsworth, M, Verdezoto, N, Eymard-Duvernay, S, Landais, E, Stanley, M, Rousham, E (2022) Diet and food insecurity among mothers, infants and young children in Peru before and during COVID-19: a panel survey, Maternal and Child Nutrition, e13343. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13343.
• Unicomb, LE, Nizame, FA, Uddin, MR, Nahar, P, Lucas, PJ, Khisa, N, Akter, SMS, Islam, MA, Rahman, M, Rousham, E (2021) Motivating antibiotic stewardship in Bangladesh: identifying audiences and target behaviours using the behaviour change wheel, BMC Public Health, 21, 968, ISSN: 1471-2458. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-10973-9.
• Rousham, EK, Asaduzzaman, M, et al, Unicomb, L, Islam, MA (2021) Human colonization with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing E. coli in relation to animal and environmental exposures in Bangladesh: an observational One Health study, Environmental Health Perspectives, 129(3), p.37001, DOI: 10.1289/EHP7670.
• Nahar, P, Unicomb, L, Lucas, PJ, Uddin, MR, Islam, MA, Nizame, FA, Khisa, N, Akter, SMS, Rousham, E (2020) What contributes to inappropriate antibiotic dispensing among qualified and unqualified healthcare providers in Bangladesh? A qualitative study, BMC Health Services Research, 20, 656, ISSN: 1472-6963. DOI: 10.1186/s12913-020-05512-y.
• Rousham, E, Pradeilles, R, Akparibo, R, Aryeetey, R, Bash, K, Booth, A, Muthuri, SK, Osei-Kwasi, H, Marr, CM, Norris, T, Holdsworth, M (2020) Dietary behaviours in the context of nutrition transition: a systematic review and meta-analyses in two African countries, Public Health Nutrition, 23(11), pp.1948-1964, ISSN: 1368-9800. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980019004014.
• Rousham, EK, Unicomb, L, Islam, MA (2018) Human, animal and environmental contributors to antibiotic resistance in low resource settings: integrating behavioural, epidemiological and One Health approaches, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, ISSN: 1471-2954. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0332.