Margaret Defeyter
{{Short description|British psychologist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Margaret Anne Defeyter
| workplaces = Northumbria University
| alma_mater = University of Essex
| thesis_title = Acquiring an understanding of design : evidence from functional fixedness problems and verbal fluency tasks
| thesis_url = https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/498845708
| thesis_year = 2003
}}
Margaret "Greta" Anne Defeyter is a British psychologist who is Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Northumbria University. Her research looks to understand food insecurity and the impact of holiday hunger programmes on the cognitive performance of children. She was Children's Food Hero by Sustain in 2006, and appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2024.
Early life and education
Defeyter returned to the United Kingdom in 1993 after living in the United States.{{Cite web |title=Poverty 'I'm one of them' |url=https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/im-one-them}} She studied psychology at the University of Essex. She has said that whilst she was supported by a Local Education Authority grant, she still struggled to make ends meet. She was awarded an Economic and Social Research Council grant to support her doctoral research, where she studied verbal fluency tasks.{{Cite web |date=2003 |title=Acquiring an understanding of design : evidence from functional fixedness problems and verbal fluency tasks |url=https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/498845708 |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=search.worldcat.org}} Her early research looked to understand how children understand the functions of objective. She was appointed a lecturer at Northumbria University, where she supervised a doctoral researcher who was interested in how breakfast cereal impacted children's cognition. This prompted Defeyter to study the impact of school breakfast club attendance on young people's education outcomes.
Research and career
Defeyter founded the ‘Healthy Living’ Lab at Northumbria University. Her research considers food insecurity and how it influences the cognitive performance and behaviour of young people. Defeyter has demonstrated that food insecurity is associated with poor health outcomes, and that the that proportion of children who experience food insecurity over the holidays is increasing.{{Cite web |date=2015-07-20 |title=Research reveals impact of the school holidays on struggling families |url=https://newsroom.northumbria.ac.uk/pressreleases/research-reveals-impact-of-the-school-holidays-on-struggling-families-1194222 |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Mynewsdesk |language=en}} She showed that children on free school dinners lag behind their more affluent peers.{{Cite web |title=Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) |url=https://arc-nenc.nihr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Greta-Defeyter.pdf}} Defeyter worked with Kellogg's to show the influence of breakfast clubs on school attendance and punctuality.{{Cite web |date=2024-12-31 |title=OBE for researcher who evidenced importance of school breakfast and holiday clubs |url=https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/news-events/news/obe-for-researcher-who-evidenced-importance-of-school-breakfast-and-holiday-clubs/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=www.northumbria.ac.uk |language=en}}
Defeyter served as an advisor on the Department for Education Holiday Activities and Food Progamme which provides food and childcare to low income families in the United Kingdom. She is an advisor on the Gateshead Poverty Truth Commission,{{Cite web |date=2020 |title=Growing Changes in Gateshead |url=https://poverty-truth.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Gateshead-PTC-Growing-Change-final-PTC-report.pdf}} which develops strategies to tackle poverty and inequality in Gateshead.{{Cite web |title=Case study: Gateshead Poverty Truth Commission: who are we? |url=https://www.gateshead.gov.uk/article/26360/Case-study-Gateshead-Poverty-Truth-Commission-who-are-we |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Gateshead Council |language=en}}
Defeyter worked with the Centre For Young Lives to create an evidence-based strategy to increase children's physical activity, mental health and wellbeing. This included enrolment on free school dinners, improve the nutritional content of school meals and increase access to physical activity throughout the school day.{{Cite web |date=2024-06-03 |title=New report calls for more support for schools to improve children's health and wellbeing |url=https://newsroom.northumbria.ac.uk/pressreleases/new-report-calls-for-more-support-for-schools-to-improve-health-and-wellbeing-in-children-and-young-people-3327200 |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Mynewsdesk |language=en}}
Awards and honours
- 2006 Sustain Children's Food Hero
- 2020 The Big Issue Top Change Maker{{Cite web |date=2024-12-31 |title=The Big Issue names Northumbria academic as one of the UK's Top 100 Changemakers |url=https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/news-events/news/the-big-issue-names-northumbria-academic-as-one-of-the-uks-top-100-changemakers/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=www.northumbria.ac.uk |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2020-01-13 |title=The Big Issue names Northumbria academic as one of the UK's Top 100 Changemakers |url=https://newsroom.northumbria.ac.uk/pressreleases/the-big-issue-names-northumbria-academic-as-one-of-the-uks-top-100-changemakers-2959606 |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Mynewsdesk |language=en}}
- 2015 Fellow of the British Psychological Society
- 2024 Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire{{Cite web |date=2024-12-31 |title=Northumbria University academic awarded OBE for work on childhood food poverty |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/24825083.northumbria-academic-awarded-obe-fighting-child-poverty/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=The Northern Echo |language=en}}
Selected publications
- {{Cite Q|Q52802143}}
- {{Cite Q|Q73507802}}
- {{Cite Q|Q47694389}}
References
{{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Defeyter, Margaret}}
Category:British psychologists
Category:Developmental psychologists
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