Persone PhD CandidatesXXXVII ciclo Margarita Kokkorou

XXXVII ciclo Margarita Kokkorou

3rd year

Curriculum: Food Science and Technology

Supervisor: Prof. Erminio Monteleone and Prof.ssa Sara Spinelli

Email:  margarita.kokkorou@unifi.it

Office address: via Donizetti, 6 - 50144 Firenze

Mobile phone: +44 7365844840

Profile

Margarita Kokkorou is a dedicated public health nutritionist with a passion for promoting healthy and sustainable eating behaviours. She holds a BSc degree in Nutrition Science from the Alexander Technological Institute of Thessaloniki (GR) and a MSc degree in Human Nutrition with specialization in Clinical Nutrition from the University of Glasgow (UK). During her BSc degree, she also participated in the Erasmus program at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (NL) in a Minor in Health and Active Lifestyle.

Margarita's work experience is diverse and extensive. She was a Senior Policy and Public Affairs Officer at the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) International (UK), where she performed research and analysis of nutrition, physical activity, and alcohol policies. Prior to this, she held a traineeship at the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission (EC) in Ispra (IT), where she analyzed unhealthy food marketing restrictions. She has also worked as a Nutritionist at a dietetic office in Athens (GR), a Research Assistant at the University of Glasgow, where she investigated the role of gut microbiota in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and a Clinical Dietitian at a public hospital in Greece. She has also volunteered in nutrition education programs and interned in community health interventions, demonstrating her commitment to public health.

Research interests and PhD project

Margarita's research interests lie in promoting healthy and sustainable eating behaviours, with a focus on public health nutrition policy and advocacy. She is particularly interested in exploring alternative protein sources and developing evidence-informed nutrition policies to prevent non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Her research also explores the intersection of food systems, sustainability, and public health.

Margarita is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology. Her Ph.D. project, titled "Veggie Twist", focuses on developing a sensory-based intervention to promote healthier and more sustainable eating habits in school canteens. This project is a collaboration between the University of Florence and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).

Papers

• Margarita Kokkorou, Sara Spinelli, Caterina Dinnella, Erminio Monteleone (2024). Interventions based on sensory-hedonic strategies and on nudging to facilitate vegetable and pulses consumption in the school environment. Comprehensive Reviews In Food Science And Food Safety. https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.13312
• Developing tailor-made plant-based dishes with adolescents for school canteens. European Journal of Public Health, Volume 33, Issue Supplement_2, October 2023, ckad160.1423, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckad160.1423. Published: 24 October 2023
• Ioana Vlad, Kate Oldridge-Turner, Knut-Inge Klepp, Harry Rutter, Jonas Rekdal Mathisen, Arnfinn Helleve, Anne-Siri Fismen, Janetta Harbron, Gaironeesa Hendricks, Sonia Malczyk, Fiona Sing, Margarita Kokkorou, Diva Fanian, Jennifer O'Mara, Giota Mitrou, Martin Wiseman, Kate Allen (2023). The development of the NOURISHING and MOVING benchmarking tools to monitor and evaluate national governments' nutrition and physical activity policies to address obesity in the European region. Obesity Reviews, 24(S1). https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13541
• Anne-Siri Fismen, Jonas Rekdal Mathisen, Ioana Vlad, Kate Oldridge-Turner, Jennifer O'Mara, Knut-Inge Klepp, Hannah Brinsden, Harry Rutter, Margarita Kokkorou, Arnfinn Helleve (2023). Pilot test of the NOURISHING policy index—Assessing governmental nutrition policies in five European countries. Obesity Reviews, 24(S1). https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13532
• Kate Oldridge-Turner, Margarita Kokkorou, Ioana Vlad, Knut-Inge Klepp, Harry Rutter, Arnfinn Helleve, Diva Fanian, Fiona Sing, Jennifer O'Mara, Giota Mitrou, Martin Wiseman, Kate Allen (2022). Scan of physical activity policy actions in Europe: Lessons learned from populating the MOVING database. Obesity Reviews, 24(S1). doi:10.1111/obr.13523.
• Kate Oldridge-Turner, Margarita Kokkorou, Fiona Sing, Knut-Inge Klepp, Harry Rutter, Arnfinn Helleve, Bryony Sinclair, Louise Meincke, Giota Mitrou, Martin Wiseman, and Kate Allen (2022). Promoting Physical Activity Policy: The Development of the MOVING Framework. Journal of Physical Activity and Health. Volume 19(4), 292–315. https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2021-0732
• Konstantinos Gerasimidis, Ben Nichols, Mhairi McGowan, Vaios Svolos, Rodanthi Papadopoulou, Margarita Kokkorou, Martina Rebull, Teresita Bello Gonzalez, Richard Hansen, Richard Kay Russell, Daniel Richard Gaya (2022). The Effects of Commonly Consumed Dietary Fibres on the Gut Microbiome and Its Fibre Fermentative Capacity in Adults with Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Remission. Nutrients 2022, 14(5), 1053; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14051053
• K Oldridge-Turner, I Vlad, M Kokkorou, D Fanian, K-I Klepp, A Helleve, A-S Fismen, J Harbron, G Hendricks, K Allen (2021). Benchmarking physical activity and nutrition policies in Europe: Lessons from the co-create project. European Journal of Public Health, 31(Supplement_3). https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.069
• Sagar, Nidhi M. and Duboc, Henri and Kay, Gemma L. and Tauqeer, Alam and Wicaksono, Alfian N. and Covington, James A. and Quince, Christopher and Kokkorou, Margarita and Svolos, Valos and Palmieri, Lola J. and Gerasimidis, Konstantinos and Walters, Julian RF and Arasaradnam, Ramesh P., (2020). The Pathophysiology of Bile Acid Diarrhoea: Differences in the Colonic Microbiome, Metabolome and Bile Acids. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3675450
• Danielle Edge, Kate Oldridge-Turner, Margarita Kokkorou, Ioana Vlad (2020). Addressing childhood obesity across Europe: a review of a snapshot of diet and physical activity policies from the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom (Policy Brief). World Obesity Federation. Apr 1, 2020 https://www.worldobesity.org/downloads/healthy_voices_downloads/Brief_V1.4_WCRF_FINAL_.pdf
• Marketing of alcoholic beverages: what can be done to protect the adults of the future?  A Sarasa-Renedo, E Grammatikaki, P A Maragkoudakis, M Kokkorou, R Cardoso, B Torighelli, J Wollgast, S Caldeira European Journal of Public Health, Volume 30, Issue Supplement_5, September 2020, ckaa165.073, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.073
• Grammatikaki, E., Sarasa Renedo, A., Maragkoudakis, P., Teixeira Gomes Cardoso, R., Kokkorou, M., Torighelli, B., Wollgast, J. and Louro Caldeira, S., (2019). Restrictions on marketing of food, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages to protect health, European Commission, 2019, JRC118693. http://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/collection/id-00244
• Development of a toolkit to support food and alcoholic beverages marketing restrictions in the EU. GRAMMATIKAKI Evangelia, KOKKOROU Margarita, RENEDO, Ana Sarasa, MARAGKOUDAKIS Petros; CARDOSO Rafael, CALDEIRA Sandra, WOLLGAST Jan Conference: International Symposium on Understanding the Double Burden of Malnutrition for Effective Interventions. December 2018. https://conferences.iaea.org/event/158/contributions/13062/contribution.pdf

Conference talks and seminars

• P01-05. Development of the MOVING policy framework: monitoring and promoting action in physical activity policy.European Journal of Public Health, Volume 32, Issue Supplement_2, September 2022, ckac095.005, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckac095.005
• O6-2. Physical activity policy actions in Europe: the MOVING benchmarking tools. Kate Oldridge-Turner, Margarita Kokkorou, Ioana Vlad, Arnfinn Helleve, Anne-Siri Fismen, Jonas Rekdal Mathisen, Janetta Harbron, Gaironeesa Hendricks, Knut Inge Klepp, Kate Allen, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 32, Issue Supplement_2, September 2022, ckac094.042, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckac094.042 Published: 29 August 2022
• P01-13. A pilot study benchmarking physical activity policy actions in Europe: Lessons learned from the CO-CREATE project. Margarita Kokkorou, Kate Oldridge-Turner, Ioana Vlad, Diva Fanian, Arnfinn Helleve, Anne-Siri Fismen, Sonia Malczyk, Janetta Harbron, Knut-Inge Klepp, Kate Allen. European Journal of Public Health, Volume 32, Issue Supplement_2, September 2022, ckac095.013, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckac095.013  Published: 29 August 2022
• P705 The effects of commonly consumed dietary fibres on the gut microbiome and its fibre fermentative capacity in adults with inflammatory bowel disease in remission. K Gerasimidis, B Nichols, M McGowan, V Svolos, R Papadopoulou, M Kokkorou, M Rebull, T Bello Gonzalez, R Hansen, R K Russell, D R Gaya Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, Volume 16, Issue Supplement_1, January 2022, Page i602, https://doi.org/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjab232.826
• P587 Fermentation capacity of gut microbiota in patients with inflammatory bowel disease compared to healthy controls. M. McGowan, M. Kokkorou, M. Rebull, Y. Koh, D.R. Gaya, R. Hansen, R.K. Russell, K. Gerasimidis. Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, Volume 11, Issue suppl_1, February 2017, Pages S379–S380, https://doi.org/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjx002.711

Blogs, reports and consultations

• What stops the world from being physically active? (Blog), Nov 3, 2021. https://www.wcrf.org/what-stops-the-world-from-being-physically-active/
• The MOVING physical activity database celebrates its 1st birthday! (Blog), June 25, 2021. https://www.wcrf.org/the-moving-physical-activity-database-celebrates-its-1st-birthday/
• How does the built environment influence our physical activity levels? (Blog), May 6, 2021. https://www.wcrf.org/built-environment-physical-activity/
• Web based consultation on a working document for development of an action plan to strengthen implementation of the Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. Response prepared by World Cancer Research Fund International December 2020. https://www.wcrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/WCRF_International_response_to_WHO_Alcohol_Consultation.pdf
• Do you know how active you should be? (Blog), Nov 27, 2020. https://www.wcrf.org/do-you-know-how-active-you-should-be/
• WCRF International's Building Momentum 3: lessons on implementing robust restrictions of food and non-alcoholic beverage marketing to children. Report Summary. (December 2020) https://www.wcrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/BM3-Abstract.pdf    
• What actually happens at the World Health Assembly? (Blog), June 12, 2019. https://www.wcrf.org/what-actually-happens-at-the-world-health-assembly