Biography
Professor Dame Theresa Marteau is a psychologist and behavioural scientist in the Clinical School at the University of Cambridge, and Honorary Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge.
Her research interests include:
- development and evaluation of interventions to change behaviour (principally diet, tobacco and alcohol consumption) to improve population health equitably and sustainably, with a particular focus on targeting non-conscious processes
- acceptability to publics and policy makers of government intervention to change behaviour
She is a Commissioner for the EAT-Lancet 2.0 Commission on Food, Planet and Health, focusing on making accessible to 10 billion people healthy diets produced within planetary boundaries.
Her book Pushback: How We Can Change Our Behaviour to Build a Thriving World is due to be published by The Bodley Head in January 2027
Research
Theresa Marteau is Director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on the development and evaluation of interventions to change behaviour (principally food, tobacco and alcohol consumption) to improve population health and reduce health inequalities, with a particular focus on targeting non-conscious processes. Other research interests include (a) risk perception and communication particular of biomarker-derived risks, and their weak links with behaviour change, and (b) acceptability to publics and policy makers of government intervention to change behaviour.
She co-chairs The Lancet-Chatham House Commission on improving population health post COVID-19, focusing on identifying key actions for equitable and sustainable improvements in health https://www.healthpostcovid-19.org/
She currently participates in the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), responding to Covid-19, and in particular, two SAGE subgroups: the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (SPI-B) and the Environmental Modelling Group (EMG).
Publications
Marteau TM, Rutter, H., Marmot, M. Changing behaviour: an essential component of tackling health inequalities BMJ 2021;372:n332
Pilling M, Clarke N, Pechey R, Hollands GJ, Marteau TM. (2020) Wine glass size and sales: a mega-analysis of studies in bars and restaurants Addiction 2020 Jan 31; doi: 10.1111/add.14998
Reynolds JP, Stautz K, Pilling M, van der Linden S, Marteau TM. Communicating the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of government policies and their impact on public support: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Royal Society open science. 2020 Jan 15;7(1):190522. doi: 10.1098/rsos.190522
Pechey, R., Cartwright, E., Pilling, M., Hollands, G. J., Vasiljevic, M., Jebb, S. A., & Marteau, T. M. (2019). Impact of increasing the proportion of healthier foods available on energy purchased in worksite cafeterias: A stepped wedge randomized controlled pilot trial. Appetite, 133, 286-296. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2018.11.013
Hollands GJ, Bignardi G, Johnston M, Kelly MP, Ogilvie D, Petticrew M, Prestwich A, Shemilt I, Sutton S, Marteau TM. (2017) The TIPPME intervention typology for changing environments to change behaviour. Nat. Hum. Behav; 1:0140; doi: 10.1038/s41562-017-0140.
Hollands GJ, French DP, Griffin SJ, Prevost AT, Sutton S, King S, Marteau TM. (2016) The impact of communicating genetic risks of disease on risk-reducing health behaviour: systematic review with meta-analysis. BMJ; 352:i1102; doi: 10.1136/bmj.i1102
Marteau TM, Hollands GJ Fletcher PC. Changing human behavior to prevent disease: The importance of targeting automatic processes. Science 2012, 337, 1492; doi: 10.1126/science.1226918
