Professor Basma Ellahi
Research Professor
I have always wanted to teach adults and started my career with lecturing positions at universities of Teesside and Central Lancashire. I spent nine years in senior management roles at Chester, including Head of Department for two terms, where I was involved in developing and leading initiatives in nutrition and health subjects.
I have a long standing interest in education and particularly the effective training of nutritionists. Nowadays I focus on teaching nutrition and research to health and social care students. My research has a community focus looking at addressing public health problems in an international context.
I regularly run research and professional skills development workshops in Africa for graduates working with the African Nutrition Society on capacity building initiatives. I often contribute to supporting a number of community based events encouraging the educational achievements for young people.
I contribute to the development of research skills at undergraduate and postgraduate level and nutrition for nurses. Modules include:
- Contextualising Evidence Based Practice (Level 5)
- Research Methods (Level 7)
- Research Methods (Level 8)
I supervise MSc and PhD students in the Faculty.
I also contribute research methods sessions to other programmes as required ad have developed and delivered a number of nutrition session for nursing and health and social care students.
I have externally examined over 16 PhDs in my career and been an internal examiner and Chair for a small number of PhD qualifications.
I have held a number of External Examining positions at both BSc and MSc level including Liverpool Hope, Bournemouth University, Leeds University (MSc) Manchester Metropolitan University, and London Metropolitan University.
In October 2015 I was an invited Member of the QAA Benchmark Statement Review Panel for Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Food and Consumer Sciences.
My research interests have been varied but my main interests are in dietary habits and disease management in south Asians in the UK and Pakistan and nutrition education capacity building in Africa. This work has now expanded to disease prevention in Africa focussing on non-communicable diseases. I have led a variety of funded projects evaluating nutrition and public health interventions and am involved in a number of external collaborations. I recently authored a chapter to the Public Health Nutrition international textbook for the Nutrition Society on working with ethnically diverse communities based on my research experiences.
I am supervising a number of PhD students on Public Health projects including health interventions in faith based organisations and concepts of obesity in a Nigeria community.
I have recently completed an externally funded project on the use of foodbanks by older people and am currently completing a cross-over intervention study on the use of portion size tools for weight management in south Asians.
Faith Agbozo, Joyce Amardi-Mfoafo, Helen Dwase and Basma Ellahi (2018) Nutrition Knowledge, Dietary Patterns and Anthropometric Indices of Older Persons in Four Peri-urban Communities in Ga West Municipality, Ghana. African Health Sciences. Accepted awaiting publication.
Shatwan IM, Winther KH, Ellahi B, Elwood P, Ben-Shlomo Y, Givens I, Rayman MP, Lovegrove JA, Vimaleswaran KS. (2018) Association of apolipoprotein E gene polymorphisms with blood lipids and their interaction with dietary factors. Lipids Health Dis. 17(1):98.
Dhanasekaran Bodhini, Szilvia Gaal, Israa Shatwan, Kandaswamy Ramya, Basma Ellahi, Shelini Surendran, Vasudevan Sudha , Mohan R. Anjana, Viswanathan Mohan, Julie A. Lovegrove , Venkatesan Radha , Karani Santhanakrishnan Vimaleswaran (2017) Interaction between TCF7L2 polymorphism and dietary fat intake on high density lipoprotein cholesterol. Plos One November.
Steen M, Mottershead R, Idriss J, Parletta N, Ellahi B, Kumardhas V. (2017) Diet and eating habits of expectant parents and families in Ras Al Khaimah, Emirates: an exploratory study. Evidence Based Midwifery 15(2): 46-53.
Almiron-Roig, EA., Aitken, A. Galloway, C and Ellahi B. (2017) Dietary assessment in minority ethnic groups: a systematic review of instruments for portion-size estimation in the United Kingdom. Nutrition Reviews 2017 Vol. 75(3):188–213.
Audain, K., Carr, M., Dikmen, D., Zotor, F., & Ellahi, B. (2017). Exploring the health status of older persons in Sub-Saharan Africa. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 1-6.
Sarkar S., Ellahi B, Zotor FB., and Amuna P. (2017) Decreasing Physical Activity Levels Across Religious Sikh Male South Asian Migrant Population in Kent, UK: A Public Health Concern. Journal of Health Management, Volume 19 Number 4 (October-December, 2017).
Agbozo, FA., Der, J. Glover, NJ and Ellahi B. (2016) Household and market survey on availability of adequately iodized salt in the Volta region, Ghana. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education · October 2016 DOI: 10.1080/14635240.2016.1250658.
Acharya, O. Zotor, F.B., Choudhary, P. Ellahi B. and Amuna P. (2016). Maternal nutritional status, food intake and pregnancy weight gain in Nepal Journal of Health Management Vol 18 number 1 (Jan-March 2016).
Agbozo F., Colecraft E., and Ellahi B. (2016) Impact of type of child growth intervention program on caregivers’ child feeding knowledge and practices: a comparative study in Ga West Municipality, Ghana. Food Science & Nutrition 4.4 (2016): 562-572.
Ellahi, B., Annan, R., Sarkar, S., Amuna, P., and Jackson, A. (2015) Building systemic capacity for Nutrition: Training towards a professionalised workforce for Africa. Proceedings of Nutrition Society Volume 74, Issue 4, pp 496 – 504.
Audain, K., Zotor, F., Amuna P., and Ellahi, B. (2015) Food Supplementation among HIV infected adults in Sub-Saharan Africa: impact on treatment adherence and weight gain Proceedings of the Nutrition Society / Volume 74 / Issue 04 / November 2015, pp 517 - 525.
Zotor, F. B, Ellahi, B and Amuna, P (2015) The use of the Food Multimix concept for developing sustainable, secure, and nutritious diets. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society / Volume 74 / Issue 04 / November 2015, pp 505 – 516.
Professor University of Chester
PG Cert Teaching and Learning University of Teesside
PhD, Food Policy, University of Bradford, (funded by bursary from SERC/ESRC)
MSc Food Science, University of Leeds (funded by bursary from AFRC)
BSc Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (upper second class) University of Leeds
Registered Nutritionist (Public Health) with Association of Nutrition UK.
Member of Nutrition Society UK and Ireland,
Fellow of Higher Education Academy,
Member of African Nutrition Society.
Member of Pakistan Nutrition and Dietetics Society (Life Member)
Honorary International Affairs Officer, Nutrition Society (2016-2019)
Council Member Association for Nutrition (UK) (2013 – 2016)