Dr Silvia Costa

BSc, MRes, PhD, FHEA

Pronouns: She/her
  • Senior Lecturer in Children's Physical Activity and Health

Research groups and centres

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ORCiD Researcher ID Google Scholar
Silvia Costa

Silvia graduated from the Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior (Portugal) in 2007 with a BSc in Fitness and Health, before moving to Loughborough University in 2008 to undertake an MRes in Human Biology, followed by a PhD (2009-2013). Her doctoral thesis focused on the objective measurement of physical activity and sedentary behaviour of 2-3 year-old South Asian and White British children, where she worked with the Born in Bradford birth cohort.

During her post-doctoral experience, Silvia worked as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (University of Cambridge, 2013), and a Research Associate at the Institute of Child Health (University College London, 2013-2015), before returning to the Centre for Diet and Activity Research as a Career Development Fellow (2015-2018) to start developing her own research. In August 2018, Silvia was appointed as a Lecturer in Physical Activity and Public Health at Loughborough University, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2024.

Silvia’s research interests focus on three main themes:

  • Health policy and practice – with an emphasis on the early childhood period, most of Silvia’s research has focused on the relationship between childcare attendance and current and future obesity, movement behaviours (i.e., physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep), and children’s healthy development (from physical to emotional aspects, such as externalising behaviour). More broadly, Silvia is interested in how policies and practices within environments that young children are exposed to can influence their health and movement behaviours, and how such policies and practices can be modified to contribute to children growing healthy, as well as acquiring and maintaining healthy physical activity habits during childhood and beyond.
  • Children’s movement behaviours as a key contributor for health and tool for reducing inequalities – Silvia is interested in 1) how movement behaviours influence children’s current and future health and development (e.g., motor skill development and competence), and 2) whether and how physical activity (including sport and other less structured forms of physical activity like dance) can be used as a tool to reduce inequalities in health and development (e.g., between boys and girls, and for minority groups).
  • Device-based measurement of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children – beginning with her PhD work, Silvia’s research has focused on the calibration and feasibility of using accelerometers to measure the physical activity and sedentary behaviour of young children from different ethnicities. More broadly, she is interested in the development, calibration, validation and feasibility of new methods and devices for the device-based measurement of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children.

Current work also includes supervision of postgraduate projects involving:

  • The assessment of barriers and facilitators for physical activity in paediatric cancer patients/survivors and their families, informing the development of an intervention to improve their physical activity levels.
  • The effectiveness of a structured and individualised 12-week exercise programme on the fitness and quality of life of adult cancer survivors (in collaboration with the Battle Cancer Program), and assessing the unmet needs (with a focus on physical activity) of young adult cancer survivors and young carers of cancer survivors (in collaboration with Trekstock).
  • The investigation of existing policies and their effectiveness to enhance physical activity and sport participation of girls and women.
  • Investigation of barriers and facilitators for physical activity and sport participation of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), plus co-developing a survey for and assessing the national-level physical activity and sport participation of children and young people with SEND in collaboration with the Activity Alliance.
  • Membership Officer and Web Editor for the Society for the Study of Human Biology
  • Associate Editor for the European Journal of Sport Science (Sports and Exercise Medicine and Health section)
  • Editorial Board Member for the Annals of Human Biology (Human Exercise Science section)
  • Member of the National Early Years Active Start Partnership (NEYASP)

Featured publications