Karl Emmert-Fees, Research Associate at the Assistant Professorship of Public Health and Prevention headed by Prof. Dr. Michael Laxy, has been awarded the "RIGorous Inference in Obesity Research" (RIGOR) Award for his publication "Estimating the impact of nutrition and physical activity policies with quasi-experimental methods and simulation modeling: an integrative review of methods, challenges and synergies". The paper was published in the November 2022 "European Journal of Public Health".
"We published a paper as part of the European Union Policy Evaluation Network (PEN) project in which we compiled many findings from this very interdisciplinary project," Emmert-Fees explains. "In it, we address approaches, future developments and synergies in the evaluation of policy measures in the field of nutrition. There are basically two methods - on the one hand, the quasi-experiments, where you take a closer look at introduced measures and run different econometric methods to evaluate them. Often, however, measures have not yet been introduced, so on the other hand there are simulation models that can be used to evaluate approaches that have not yet been implemented. In the paper, we discussed both approaches and developed a framework for combining and integrating these methods in a meaningful way in the future."
In justifying the Award, the judges stated that the paper was particularly distinguished by rigor, transparency, data-driven conclusions, and a sound as well as particularly creative application of approaches to causal analysis in behavioral and obesity research.
The Award is presented as part of the "Strengthening Causal Inference in Behavioral Obesity Research" course sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (USA) and carries a $2,500 prize. The course is hosted annually by the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Research Institute, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
As a partial achievement toward receiving the Award, Emmert-Fees delivered a one-hour online lecture about his publication in the course "Strengthening Causal Inference in Behavioral Obesity Research," held in late June at Indiana University in Bloomington.
"The fact that I was selected for this Award came as a total surprise. It also took me a bit to believe it," Emmert-Fees explains. "I am of course very pleased that my work is appreciated in this way. It certainly also helps to classify one's own work."
"It's definitely a competitive Award, because there are a certain number of scientists working in this field. And also the prize money involved shows the importance of this award," Prof. Laxy said. "It's also good timing, of course, since Karl Emmert-Fees is still at the beginning of his scientific career."
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Contact:
Prof. Dr. Michael Laxy
Assistant Professorship of Public Health and Prevention
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60/62
80992 München
phone: 089 289 24977
e-mail: michael.laxy(at)tum.de
Karl Emmert-Fees
Assistant Professorship of Public Health and Prevention
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60/62
80992 München
phone: 089 289 24981
e-mail: karl.emmert-fees(at)tum.de
Text & Photo: Romy Schwaiger