Dr Magaly Aceves Martins

Biography

Magaly passionately advocates nutrition, healthy lifestyles, and health policies for building a better and sustainable future. She is very interested in using data and new technologies (such as Artificial Intelligence) to drive innovation in nutrition and health. She uses nutrition-relevant data and meta-data to frame knowledge and enhance understanding of current nutritional problems and environmental sustainability challenges and looks to communicate and inform citizens and policy effectively.

She joined The Rowett Institute in 2020 and has been working on different RESAS-funded projects researching the relationships between healthiness, environmental sustainability, and cost diets. Also, she is working on assessing Scottish adults’ readiness to change towards a more sustainable diet. She joined the University of Aberdeen in 2017 and was part of the Health Services Research Unit. During this time, she was involved in the Knowledge Syntheses Team, which conducts high-quality research to inform healthcare professionals, policymakers, and service users across a wide range of healthcare interventions. 

During her career, she has been involved in different childhood and adolescent obesity prevention and lifestyle improvement projects. She has vast experience in assessing nutritional health through quantitative and qualitative research methods and fieldwork experience in clinical nutrition, health promotion, and nutrition interventions. She has also experience in evidence synthesis and meta-analysis.

Research Overview

As a woman working in and for health and nutrition sciences, Magaly tends to think broader about how science interacts with the real world and translates into better environments so that people can make healthier choices. She has been involved in different childhood and adolescent obesity prevention and lifestyle improvement projects. She has vast experience in assessing nutritional health through quantitative and qualitative research methods and fieldwork experience in clinical nutrition, health promotion, and nutrition interventions. She has also experience in evidence synthesis and meta-analysis. She is also interested in methods regarding knowledge transference, public engagement, and the implementation of research findings into clinical practice and policymaking.

Current Research

Currently, she is working with data from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) to model the relationships between the ‘healthiness’, ‘carbon footprint’ and ‘cost’ of UK diets, using our newly developed NDNS nutrient database. This work aims to establish determinants of healthy and sustainable diets. Also, she is working on assessing Scottish adults’ readiness to change towards a more sustainable diet. 

Past Research

She has collaborated on national and international research projects, such as:

• Childhood Obesity in MexicO (COMO) project
• European Youth Tackling Obesity (EYTO) Project
• EYTO-Kids Project
• Health Behaviours in School-aged Children (HBSC) Study

She has also been involved in different Health Technology Assessment Programme commissioned by the National Institute of Health Research. Some of these include:

• A systematic review and integrated report on the quantitative, qualitative and economic evidence base for the management of severe obesity (REBALANCE) project;
• Testosterone Effects and Safety in Men with Low Testosterone levels (TestES Consortium): An evidence synthesis (including an individual participant data meta-analysis) and economic evaluation;
• The ARCHITECT Urine NGAL assay, NephroCheck Test and NGAL Test to help assess the risk of acute kidney injury for people who are being considered for admission to critical care;
• A rapid review of child food insecurity in the UK: evidence on its extent, nature and effects and what can be done to address it. 

Knowledge Exchange

Magaly was part of the Public Engagement Group from the Health Services Research Unit. Through such activities, sharing information, she shared daily work experiences with the general public. Such experience showed her that public engagement comprises interaction and listening, which results in mutual learning.

She is a huge supporter of #WomenInScience and #WomenInSTEM. More women are needed in the scientific environment, and once they are in it, we need to retain them. There are still many stereotypes and gaps that need to be avoided, and she is willing to help achieve so. 

Teaching Responsibilities

Magaly is the Course Coordinator for course RN5002 - Assessment of Nutritional Health. She also is currently involved in delivering online material and lectures in the Challenges in Global Nutrition course. 

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

Magaly has been an Associate Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (aFHEA) since 2020. She has experience teaching higher education in Mexico, Spain, and the UK.