Staff profile
| Affiliation | Telephone |
|---|---|
| Career Development Fellow in the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences |
Biography
Opening
Dr Kirsty Boak joined the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Durham University in 2026 as a Career Development Fellow. She completed her PhD at Northumbria University in 2026 and has an academic background in sport and exercise science, nutrition and public health.
Kirsty is a multidisciplinary early-career researcher specialising in sport and exercise nutrition, public health and paediatric research. Her doctoral research examined hydration and cognition among primary-school-aged children, including current hydration practices within UK schools and the experiences of teachers, parents and other key stakeholders. Her work applies mixed-methods approaches, with particular expertise in interview- and survey-based research and qualitative thematic analysis.
Kirsty has contributed to collaborative research examining children’s hydration, mood, memory and learning. Her wider research experience includes women’s health and exercise nutrition, including probiotic supplementation among female footballers and the acceptability of dairy products as a nutritional intervention for women with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
Her research aims to translate evidence into realistic and accessible approaches that support health, wellbeing and performance. She is particularly interested in research that combines physiological and behavioural measurements with the experiences of individuals and relevant stakeholders.
Research Interests
Kirsty’s research interests include:
-
Paediatric nutrition and hydration
-
Hydration, cognition, mood and learning
-
School-based nutrition and public health
-
Women’s health and exercise nutrition
-
Mixed-methods and stakeholder-informed research
Esteem Indicators
2025: Faculty winner of Northumbria University’s Three Minute Thesis competition and University representative at the regional competition
2025: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
2025: Co-investigator on a successful £2,575 Women’s Sport and Wellbeing interdisciplinary research grant examining the acceptability of dairy products as a nutritional intervention for women with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
2025: Invited guest lecturer in paediatric nutrition at Newcastle University
Peer reviewer for Nutrition Research Reviews
Publication Information
ResearchGate papers here
ORCID profile here
Media Interviews
Dr Boak welcomes media interviews connected to her areas of research expertise.
Research interests
- Paediatric Nutrition and Hydration
- Hydration, Cognition and Mood
- Children’s Health and Wellbeing
- School-based Nutrition and Health Research
- Mixed-methods Research