Maria is a Reader in Public Health Nutrition based at the University of York and the Bradford Institute of Health Research. She is a nutritionist with almost 20 years’ experience in the design and delivery of trials and related methodological research in the field of diet and obesity. Her methodological interests include development and evaluation of public health interventions; food systems, trials and related methodology for obesity, diet and lifestyle interventions; implementation evaluation; and applied health research. She is passionate about partnership working and is dedicated to ensuring meaningful engagement in all aspects of her work. In addition to being the strategic lead of a portfolio of research focused around public health nutrition within the Department of Health Sciences and the Hull York Medical School, Dr Bryant is the Director of Nutrition Research for Born in Bradford, the academic lead for Diet and Obesity evaluation for a Better Start Bradford, theme lead for ActEarly (Evaluation theme and Food and Healthy weight theme) and the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the UK Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO).

Why you enjoy working at BiB

the people (teams and community)

Favourite toy when you were a child

ride my bike and hang out with my children (preferably at the same time!)

Favourite pastime when not at work

my bike (though I also loved my Snoopy teddy)

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Josie Dickerson, Brian Kelly, Bridget Lockyer, Sally Bridges, Christopher Cartwright, Kathryn Willan, Katy Shire, Kirsty Crossley, Maria Bryant, Najma Siddiqi, Trevor A Sheldon, Deborah A Lawlor, John Wright, Rosemary RC McEachan, Kate E Pickett. , (2022). ‘When will this end? Will it end?’ The impact of the March–June 2020 UK COVID-19 lockdown response on mental health: a longitudinal survey of mothers in the Born in Bradford study. BMJ Journals , 12(1),
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Shahid Islam; Rukhsana Rashid; Maria Bryant; Holly Schofield; Rosemary R.C. McEachan, (2022). The art of Patient and Public Involvement: exploring ways to research and reduce air pollution through art-based community workshops – a reflective paper. Wellcome Open Research
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Josie Dickerson, Sally Bridges, Kathryn Willan, Brian Kelly, Rachael H. Moss, Jennie Lister, Chandani Netkitsing, Amy L. Atkinson, Philippa K. Bird, Eleanora P. Uphoff, Dan Mason, Alex Newsham, Dagmar Waiblinger, Rifat Razaq, Sara Ahern, Maria Bryant, Sarah L. Blower, Kate E. Pickett, Rosemary M. McEachan, John Wright, (2022). Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) interventional birth cohort study: Interim cohort profile. Wellcome Open Research, 7(224),
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Josie Dickerson, Brian Kelly, Bridget Lockyer, Sally Bridges, Christopher Cartwright, Kathryn Willan, Katy Shire, Kirsty Crossley, Maria Bryant, Najma Siddiqi, Trevor A Sheldon, Deborah A Lawlor, John Wright, Rosemary RC McEachan, Kate E Pickett, (2022). ‘When will this end? Will it end?’ The impact of the March–June 2020 UK COVID-19 lockdown response on mental health: a longitudinal survey of mothers in the Born in Bradford study. BMJ Journals, 12(1), DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047748,
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Rosemary R C McEachan, Rukhsana Rashid, Gillian Santorelli, James Tate, Jamie Thorpe, James B McQuaid, John Wright, Kate E Pickett, Kirsty Pringle, Laura Bojke, Sally Jones, Shahid Islam, Simon Walker, Tiffany C Yang, Maria Bryant, (2022). Study Protocol. Evaluating the life-course health impact of a city-wide system approach to improve air quality in Bradford, UK: A quasi-experimental study with implementation and process evaluation. Research Square DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-1486145/v1,
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Josie Dickerson, Brian Kelly, Bridget Lockyer, Sally Bridges, Christopher Cartwright, Kathryn Willan, Katy Shire, Kirsty Crossley, Maria Bryant, Najma Siddiqi, Trevor A Sheldon, Deborah A Lawlor, John Wright, Rosemary RC McEachan, Kate E Pickett, (2022). ‘When will this end? Will it end?’ The impact of the March–June 2020 UK COVID-19 lockdown response on mental health: a longitudinal survey of mothers in the Born in Bradford study. BMJ Journals, 12(1), DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047748,
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Josie Dickerson, Brian Kelly, Bridget Lockyer, Sally Bridges, Christopher Cartwright, Kathryn Willan, Katy Shire, Kirsty Crossley, Maria Bryant, Najma Siddiqi, Trevor A Sheldon, Deborah A Lawlor, John Wright1, Rosemary RC McEachan, Kate E Pickett, (2022). ‘When will this end? Will it end?’ The impact of the March-June 2020 UK Covid-19 lockdown response on mental health: a longitudinal survey of mothers in the Born in Bradford study. BMJ Journals, 12(1), DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047748,
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Josie Dickerson, Bridget Lockyer, Rachael H. Moss, Charlotte Endacott, Brian Kelly, Sally Bridges, Kirsty L. Crossley, Maria Bryant, Trevor A. Sheldon, John Wright, Kate E. Pickett, Rosemary R.C. McEachan, (2021). COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in an ethnically diverse community: descriptive findings from the Born in Bradford study. Coronavirus (COVID-19)
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N. Dharni, H. Essex, M. J. Bryant, A. Cronin de Chavez, K. Willan, D. Farrar, T. Bywater & J. Dickerson , (2021). The key components of a successful model of midwifery-led continuity of carer, without continuity at birth: findings from a qualitative implementation evaluation. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth DOI: 10.1186/s12884-021-03671-2,
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Gillian Santorelli, Jane West, Tiffany Yang, John Wright, Maria Bryant, D.A.Lawlor, (2021). Differences in total and regional body fat and their association with BMI in UK-born White and South Asian children: findings from the Born in Bradford birth cohort [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]. Wellcome Open Research DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16659.1,
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Jennifer Hall, Daniel D. Bingham, Amanda Seims, Sufyan Abid Dogra, Jan Burkhardt, James Nobles, Jim McKenna, Maria Bryant, Sally E. Barber & Andy Daly-Smith , (2021). A whole system approach to increasing children’s physical activity in a multi-ethnic UK city: a process evaluation protocol. BMC DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-12255,
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Rosemary R.C. McEachan, Josie Dickerson, Sally Bridges, Maria Bryant, Christopher Cartwright, Shahid Islam, Bridget Lockyer, Aamnah Rahman, Laura Sheard, Jane West, Deborah A. Lawlor, Trevor A. Sheldon, John Wright, Kate E. Pickett, (2020). The Born in Bradford COVID-19 Research Study: Protocol for an adaptive mixed methods research study to gather actionable intelligence on the impact of COVID-19 on health inequalities amongst families living in Bradford. Wellcome Open Research DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16129.1),
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Josie Dickerson, Philippa K. Bird, Maria Bryant, Nimarta Dharni, Sally Bridges, Kathryn Willan, Sara Ahern, Abigail Dunn, Dea Nielsen, Eleonora P. Uphoff, Tracey Bywater, Claudine Bowyer-Crane, Pinki Sahota, Neil Small, Michaela Howell, Gill Thornton, Kate E. Pickett, Rosemary R. C. McEachan, John Wright,, (2019). Integrating research and system-wide practice in public health: lessons learnt from Better Start Bradford. BMC Public Health DOI: 10.1186/s12889-019-6554-2,
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Shahid Islam Neil Small Maria Bryant Sally Bridges Nicola Hancock Josie Dickerson, (2019). Assessing community readiness for early intervention programmes to promote social and emotional health in children. Health Expectations DOI: 10.1111/hex.12887,
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Nimarta Dharni, Josie Dickerson, Kathryn Willan, Sara Ahern, Abigail Dunn, Dea Nielsen, Eleonora Uphoff, Rosemary R C McEachan, Maria Bryant, (2019). Implementation evaluation of multiple complex early years interventions: an evaluation framework and study protocol. BMJ Open DOI: 10.1136/bmjpo-2019-000479,
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Claudine Bowyer-Crane , Dea Nielsen, Maria Bryant, Nimarta Dharni, Rebecca Heald, Chloe Storr and Josie Dickerson, (2019). STUDY PROTOCOL Open Access A randomised controlled feasibility trial and qualitative evaluation of an early years language development intervention: study protocol of the ‘outcomes of Talking Together evaluation and results’ (oTTer) project. Pilot and Feasibility Studies DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-019-0498-2,
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John Wright, Andrew C. Hayward, Jane West, Kate E. Pickett, Rosie M. McEachan, Mark Mon-Williams, Nicola Christie, Laura Vaughan, Jess Sheringham, Muki Haklay, Laura Sheard, Josie Dickerson, Sally Barber, Neil Small, Richard Cookson, Philip Garnett, Tracey Bywater, Nicholas Pleace, Eric J. Brunner, Claire Cameron, Marcella Ucci, Steve Cummins, Daisy Fancourt, Jens Kandt, Paul Longley, Steve Morris, George Ploubidis, Robert Savage, Robert W. Aldridge, Dan Hopewell, Tiffany Yang, Dan Mason, Gillian Santorelli, Richard Romano, Maria Bryant, Liam Crosby, Trevor Sheldon, (2019). ActEarly: a City Collaboratory approach to early promotion of good health and wellbeing. Wellcome Open Research
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M. Bryant, N. Dharni, J. Dickerson, K. Willan, R. McEachan, J. Duffy & M. Howell , (2019). Use of progression criteria to support monitoring and commissioning decision making of public health services: lessons from Better Start Bradford. BMC DOI: 10.1186/s12889-019-7149-7,
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Sarah L. Blower, Nicole Gridley, Abby Dunn, Tracey Bywater, Zoe Hindson & Maria Bryant , (2019). Psychometric Properties of Parent Outcome Measures Used in RCTs of Antenatal and Early Years Parent Programs: A Systematic Review. Springer DOI: 10.1007/s10567-019-00276-2,
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Nicole Gridley, Sarah Blower, Abby Dunn, Tracey Bywater & Maria Bryant , (2019). Psychometric Properties of Child (0–5 Years) Outcome Measures as used in Randomized Controlled Trials of Parent Programs: A Systematic Review. Springer 388-405. DOI: 10.1007/s10567-019-00277-1,
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Nicole Gridley, Sarah Blower, Abby Dunn, Tracey Bywater, Karen Whittaker & Maria Bryant , (2019). Psychometric Properties of Parent–Child (0–5 years) Interaction Outcome Measures as Used in Randomized Controlled Trials of Parent Programs: A Systematic Review. Springer 253-271. DOI: 10.1007/s10567-019-00275-3,
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S Islam, N Small, M Bryant, T Yang, A Cronin De Chavez, F Saville, J Dickerson, (2018). Addressing obesity in Roma communities: a community readiness approach. International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare DOI: 10.1108/IJHRH-06-2018-0038,
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Dickerson J, Bird PK, McEachan RRC, Pickett KE, Waiblinger D, Uphoff E, Mason D, Bryant M, Bywater T, Bowyer-Crane C, Sahota P, Small N, Howell M, Thornton G, Astin M, Lawlor DA, Wright J, (2016). Born in Bradford’s Better Start: an experimental birth cohort study to evaluate the impact of early life interventions. BMC Public Health DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-3318-0,
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Dickerson, Josie; Bird, Philippa K; McEachan, Rosemary R C; Pickett, Kate E; Waiblinger, Dagmar; Uphoff, Eleonora; Mason, Dan; Bryant, Maria; Bywater, Tracey; Bowyer-Crane, Claudine; Sahota, Pinki; Small, Neil; Howell, Michaela; Thornton, Gill; Astin, Melanie; Lawlor, Debbie A; Wright, John, (2016). Born in Bradford’s Better Start: an experimental birth cohort study to evaluate the impact of early life interventions.. BMC public health 711. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-3318-0, PMID: 27488369,
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Bryant M, Santorelli G, Fairley L, West J, Lawlor DA, Bhopal R, Petherick E, Sahota P, Hill A, Cameron N, Small N, Wright J, (2013). Design and characteristics of a new birth cohort, to study the early origins and ethnic variation of childhood obesity: the BiB1000 study. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 4(2), 119-135. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14301/llcs.v4i2.221,