Margaretha brings an architectural engineering background to her PhD studies. Her consultancy work in urban road safety and sustainable human settlement projects has convinced her that the environment in which we live should encourage us to be healthier. This conviction drives her research interest in the BEATS Study.
The BEATS Study
The Built Environment and Active Transport to School (BEATS) Study is examining individual, social, environmental and policy influences on adolescents' active transport (walking or cycling) to school.
Associate Professor Kirsten Coppell, EDOR researcher and public health physician, is an investigator with the BEATS study. Margaretha is working with Dr Coppell to investigate adolescent snacking behaviour during the journey to and from school. She will examine the relationship between these snacking behaviours and the mode of transport to school, as well as the food environment (i.e. food outlets and outdoor food advertising) around the school neighbourhood.
It has been well established that school transport modes are associated with the level of physical activity in teenagers, however any link with dietary behaviour (due to exposures to the food environment on the school journey route) has not yet been determined. Potential associations with socio-economic status and the level of urbanisation of the various school settings will also be examined.
Research interest shaped by life experiences
Margaretha is attracted to environmental health as she believes that health behaviour is strongly shaped by the place in which we live. After living in five different cities in three countries, she noticed that her physical activity and dietary behaviour changed according to what was available in the city, particularly within her home neighbourhood.
A family history of obesity and diabetes has also strongly influenced her interest in finding ways to learn and contribute to knowledge about obesity prevention, particularly through environmental health.
The importance of education
Magaretha grew up in Medan, Indonesia, a city of two million people. She completed her undergraduate study in Architecture Engineering at Gadjah Mada University, and worked with the Infrastructure Research Institute of Indonesia, as well as doing consultancy work with several governmental institutions. Prior to her PhD, Margaretha completed a Masters in Architecture at Lund University, Sweden, specialising in Sustainable Urban Design.
Inspired by the some of the poignant educational moments that she has experienced, Margaretha hopes to be able to ignite the curiosity and innovation of future minds in her academic pursuits.
One of her greatest lessons in life she attributes to her mother:
“It is not that you cannot do it, but you just do not know how to do it yet”.
