Professor Noel Cameron

BEd, MSc, PhD, DSc, FRSB, FHBA

  • Emeritus Professor of Human Biology
  • Qualified from the Universities of Nottingham (BEd), Loughborough (MSc), and London University's Institute of Child Health (PhD)
  • 1984 - 1997 Department of Anatomy at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa as Senior Lecturer and then Professor of Anatomy and Human Biology
  • Department of Human Sciences (1997 - 2009) and School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences (2009 onwards) at Loughborough University as Professor of Human Biology

Professor Noel Cameron talks about his research

Normal and abnormal growth and development of children, with particular reference to those living in developing and/or transitional economies.

Current research interests include the nutritional, behavioural and epidemiological transition in childhood and adolescence and the determinants of risk factors for the metabolic syndrome (i.e. obesity, type 2 diabetes and CVD)  

Current research

  • Determinants of the acquisition of obesity during childhood and adolescence
  • Early determinants of pubertal development
  • The determinants of sedentary behaviour in adolescents
  • Risk factors for the metabolic syndrome in infancy and childhood
  • Adolescent development and environmental pollution
  • The Croatian Islands Birth Study (CRIBS) of factors affecting the development of the metabolic syndrome in island populations
  • Water, sanitation and health behaviours (WASH), urbanisation and climate change

Awards

  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (1998-)
  • Editor-in-Chief Annals of Human Biology (2007-)
  • WHO expert panel on Nutrition (1994-2000)
  • Honorary Professor Department of Paediatrics University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (2010-)
  • Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University (2008-2010)
  • Grant awards from Wellcome Trust, Child Growth Foundation, Medical Research Council

Professor Noel Cameron talks about his work on Homo Naledi

Journal Activity

  • Editor-in-Chief:  Annals of Human Biology (UK)
  • Associate Editor: Paediatric Obesity (USA)
  • Editorial Board: Homo (Germany)
  • Editorial Board: Anthropological Science (Japan)
  • Editorial Board: American Journal of Human Biology (USA)
  • Editorial Board: Collegium Anthropologicum (Croatia)

Journal Referee

  • American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, American Journal of Human Biology, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Annals of Human Biology, Anthropological Science (Japan), Archives of Diseases in Childhood, Biological reviews, British Journal of Nutrition, Collegium Antropologicum (Croatia), European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Hormone Research, Human Biology, Gerontology, Journal of Biosocial Science, Journal of Pediatrics, International Journal of Obesity, Obesity research, Paediatric & Perinatal Epidemiology, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Social Science and Medicine, South African Journal of Science, South African Journal of Psychology, South African Medical Journal, WHO Bulletin

Learned Societies and Professional Affiliations

  • Society for the Study of Human Biology (Executive Committee)
  • Human Biology Association (Editorial Board)
  • International Associaiton for the Study of Human Growth and Clinical Auxology (Executive Committee)
  • Royal Society of Biology (Fellow)

Visiting Titles

  • Honorary Professor of Paediatrics, Department of Paediatrics, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
  • Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.

Invited Lecture / Keynotes

  • 2012 Wenner-Gren Symposium “Transition and Tradition”, Hvar, Croatia
  • 2013 39th School of Biological Anthropology : Anthropology of Adolescence, Zagreb, Croatia
  • 2014 XIII International Congress of Auxology, Maribor, Slovenia. Tanner Lecture
  • 2014 Society for the Study of Human Biology Annuals Symposium, Oxford, UK.  Invited lecture.
  • 2014 VIIth Congress on Youth Sport, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Keynote lecture
  • 2015 Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand various lectures and seminars as the William Evans Visiting Fellow in the Departments of Pediatrics, Pediatric Dentistry, Anatomy, and Human Nutrition.
  • 2015: Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD), Cape Town. Plenary lecture: The relationship between prenatal and postnatal growth
  • 2016 International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Dubrovnik. Plenary Lecture: The de-privatisation of knowledge: using “big data” to understand global variation
  • 2016 European Anthropological Association, Zagreb. Plenary lecture: Cultural cues for research priorities in anthropology  

Learned Societies and Professional Affiliations

  • European Anthropological Society (Vice President)
  • Society for the Study of Human Biology (Executive Committee)
  • Human Biology Association (Editorial Board)
  • International Association for the Study of Human Growth and Clinical Auxology (Executive Committee)
  • Royal Society of Biology (Fellow)

Advisory Roles

  • Scientific Advisory Committee: Born in Bradford Birth Cohort (BiB)
  • Scientific Advisory Committee: Croatian Islands Birth Study (CRIBS)

Collaborative Research

  • The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)
  • The South African Birth to Twenty Birth Cohort study and Bone Health study (Bt20)
  • The Askwasasne Longitudinal study of adolescent development and environmental pollution (with Professor Lawrence Schell)
  • The Born in Bradford Birth Cohort (BiB)
  • Croatian Islands Birth Study (CRIBS)

Featured publications

  • Wright J, Fairley L, McEachan R, Bryant M, Petherick E, Sahota P, Santorelli G, Barber S, Lawlor DA, Taylor N, Bhopal R, Cameron N, West J, Hill A, Summerbell C, Farrin A, Ball H, Brown T, Farrar D, Small N. .Development and evaluation of an intervention for the prevention of childhood obesity in a multiethnic population: the Born in Bradford applied research programme. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2016 May. PMID: 27252997 [PubMed] Free Books & Documents
  • Costa S, Barber SE, Cameron N, Clemes SA. The objective measurement of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in 2-3 year olds and their parents: a cross-sectional feasibility study in the bi-ethnic Born in Bradford cohort. BMC Public Health. 2015 Nov 11;15:1109. doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-2481-z. PMID: 26556469 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Free PMC Article
  • Berger LR, Hawks J, de Ruiter DJ, Churchill SE, Schmid P, Delezene LK, Kivell TL, Garvin HM, Williams SA, DeSilva JM, Skinner MM, Musiba CM, Cameron N, Holliday TW, Harcourt-Smith W, Ackermann RR, Bastir M, Bogin B, Bolter D, Brophy J, Cofran ZD, Congdon KA, Deane AS, Dembo M, Drapeau M, Elliott MC, Feuerriegel EM, Garcia-Martinez D, Green DJ, Gurtov A, Irish JD, Kruger A, Laird MF, Marchi D, Meyer MR, Nalla S, Negash EW, Orr CM, Radovcic D, Schroeder L, Scott JE, Throckmorton Z, Tocheri MW, VanSickle C, Walker CS, Wei P, Zipfel B. Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa.
  • Elife. 2015 Sep 10;4. doi: 10.7554/eLife.09560. PMID: 26354291 [PubMed - in process] Free PMC Article
  • Fairley L, Santorelli G, Lawlor DA, Bryant M, Bhopal R, Petherick ES, Sahota P, Greenwood DC, Hill AJ, Cameron N, Ball H, Barber S, Wright J. The relationship between early life modifiable risk factors for childhood obesity, ethnicity and body mass index at age 3 years: findings from the Born in Bradford birth cohort study.
  • BMC Obes. 2015 Feb 24;2:9. doi: 10.1186/s40608-015-0037-5. eCollection 2015.PMID: 26217524 [PubMed] Free PMC Article
  • Cameron N. Can maturity indicators be used to estimate chronological age in children? Ann Hum Biol. 2015;42(4):302-7. doi: 10.3109/03014460.2015.1032349. Epub 2015 Jun 15.PMID: 26073641 [PubMed - in process]