Ms Vanessa Higgins
Research Fellow
Tel: 0161 275 7766
Fax: +44 (0) 161 275 4722
Vanessa.Higgins@manchester.ac.uk
Room 2.13J CCSR School of Social Sciences Kantorovich Building Humanities Bridgeford Street University of Manchester MANCHESTER M13 9PL
I have been with CCSR since 2003 working on the Economic and Social Data Service, a service to provide support for people using the large-scale government surveys in research and teaching. Before joining CCSR I worked at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as a researcher on large-scale national surveys such as the General Household Survey, Teenage Drug Use Survey and Children's Smoking Survey. I have also held research posts at Liverpool John Moores University and the University of Stirling.
Current Research Projects:
Ethnic differences in diet, physical activity and obesity
My current research looks at ethnic differences in obesity, diet and physical activity using the Health Survey for England. This research project is funded as a by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through the Understanding Population Trends and Processes (UPTAP) programme.
PhD Research: Ethnic Differences in Obesity
Research Interests:
- ethnicity and obesity
- health inequalities
- health behaviours
- secondary analysis
Selected publications:
Higgins V & Dale A. .Ethnicity and Childhood Overweight/Obesity in England., Pediatric Obesity, Volume 7, no.3 (2012): e22-e26
Higgins V and Dale A. (2010) Ethnic Differences in Physical Activity and Obesity in Stilwell J, Finney N, and van Ham M. (2010) Understanding Population Trends and Processes Volume 3: Ethnicity and Integration. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer-Verlag
Higgins V and Dale A (2010) Ethnic differences in overweight and obese children in England - CCSR Paper 2010-07
Higgins V and Dale A (2009) Ethnic Differences in Physical Activity and Obesity - CCSR Paper 2009-05
Dale A, Wathan J, Higgins V The Secondary Analysis of Quantitative Data Sources in Alasuutari, P, Bickman, L, Brannen, J. The SAGE Handbook of Social Research Methods, London, SAGE (2008)
Higgins V. Ethnic Differences in Obesity, Diet and Physical Activity - A Literature review - CCSR Paper 2008-17
Hickman M, Hope V, Platt L, Higgins V, Bellis M, Rhodes T, Taylor C, Tilling K. (2006) Estimating the Prevalence of Injecting Drug Use: a comparison of multiplier and capture - recapture methods in cities in England and Russia, Drug and Alcohol Review 25(2), 131-140
Hickman M, Higgins V, Hope V, Bellis M, Tilling K, Walker A, Henry J. (2004) Injecting drug use in Brighton, Liverpool and London: best estimates of prevalence and coverage of public health indicators, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 58(9), 776:771.
Jarvis MJ, Goddard E, Higgins V, Feyerabend C, Bryant A, Cook DG. (2000) Children's exposure to passive smoking in England since the 1980s: continue evidence from population surveys, British Medical Journal 321 (7257), 343-345
Higgins V and Ball R. (1999) Local Authority Anti-Poverty Strategies in Scotland, Public Policy and Administration 14 (1), 60-75.
Ball R and Higgins V. (1996) The Management and Development of Local Authority Anti-Poverty and Social Strategies, Local Government Policy Making 22(5),13-20
Conference presentations
Higgins V and Dale A. (2009) Ethnic differences in food consumption, European Sociological Association Conference, Lisbon
Higgins V and Dale A. (2009) Ethnic differences in diet, physical activity and obesity, Health Surveys User Meeting, London
Higgins V and Dale A. (2009) Ethnic differences in diet, physical activity and obesity, Understanding population Trends and Processes Workshop, 2009, Leeds
Higgins V and Wathan J. (2008) Linking value added documentation to government survey data: work by the UK Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS), 3MC Conference, Berlin
Higgins V and Dale A (2008) Ethnic differences in obesity, diet and physical activity British Society for Population Conference 2008, Manchester.
Higgins V and Dale A (2008) Ethnic differences in physical activity, diet and obesity: the research potential of the Health Survey for England British Sociological Association Conference 2008, Warwick.
Higgins V and Dale A. (2008) Ethnic differences in obesity, diet and physical activity, Understanding population Trends and Processes Workshop, 2008, Leeds
Higgins V and Wathan J. (2007) The UK Large-Scale Government Social Survey Datasets: Untapped Potential, British Sociological Association Conference 2007, London.
Higgins V, Hope V, Hickman M and Bellis MA. (2002) Measuring the proportion of injecting drug users who contact harm reduction services, International Conference on the Reduction of Drug-Related Harm, Slovenia.
Other relevant publications
Higgins V. Using Government Surveys for Crime Research, ESDS Government, 2009
Williamson L, Brown M, Wathan J, Higgins V. Secondary Analysis for Social Scientists Analysing health using the 2002 Health Survey for England, 2008
Williamson L, Brown M, Wathan J, Higgins V. Secondary Analysis for Social Scientists Analysing attitudes to same-sex relations using the British Social Attitudes Survey, 2008
Williamson L, Brown M, Wathan J, Higgins V. Secondary Analysis for Social Scientists Analysing the fear of crime using the British Crime Survey, 2008
Williamson L and Higgins V. Introductory guide to using the large-scale
government surveys for research on Consumption, ESDS Government, 2008
Higgins V. Introductory Guide to using the large-scale government surveys for health research, ESDS Government, 2004
Hickman M, Higgins V, Hope V, Bellis MA. (2004) Estimating prevalence of problem drug use: multiple methods in Brighton, Liverpool and London (Home Office online research report)
Higgins V. Employment and the labour market introductory user guide, ESDS Government, 2003
Flatley J, Connolly H, Higgins V. (2001) Parents Experiences of the Process of Choosing a Secondary School, Queens Printer, Norwich.
Higgins V. (2000) Teenage Smoking Attitudes in 1998, TSO, London.
Goddard E and Higgins V. (2000) Drug use, Smoking and Drinking among Young Teenagers in 1999, TSO, London.
Goddard E and Higgins V. (1999) Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young Teenagers in 1998 Volume1, England and Volume 2, Scotland, TSO, London.
Rowlands O, Singleton N, Maher J, Higgins V. (1996) Living in Britain. The Result of the 1995 General Household Survey, TSO, London.