Professor Cindy Sit is a Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is the President and Fellow of the International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity (IFAPA) and Former President of the Asian Society for Adapted Physical Education and Exercise (ASAPE). Her research interests focus on investigations of correlates and determinants of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children and adolescents with disabilities (CAWD) or special educational needs (SEN). She is committed to promoting health equity and social inclusion in different population groups through adapted physical activity and sports.

Dr. Tuija Tammelin is a Research Director at LIKES – Research Center for Sport and Health Sciences in Jyväskylä, Finland. She earned her PhD in physical activity epidemiology at the University of Oulu and her MSc in exercise physiology at the University of Jyväskylä. She has published more than 100 peer reviewed scientific articles on physical activity, fitness and public health during the life-course. Her current research at LIKES focus on the enhancement of physical activity: on the determinants of physical activity and sedentary behaviour, the effectiveness of physical activity interventions in different populations, and the significance of physical activity on health, well-being and learning at different phases of life, especially in youth. Dr. Tammelin has led the follow-up research related to national physical activity programme Finnish Schools on the Move aiming to make school-day more active and pleasant in comprehensive schools in Finland.

Grant Tomkinson is a research professor and member of the Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA) at the University of South Australia. He is interested in how people’s physical fitness levels relate to their health. Physical fitness refers to people’s ability to perform physical activity, and it is important for sporting success and good health. He has a particular interest in whether today’s people are fitter than their peers from the past. He was the first to conclusively show that kids’ aerobic fitness levels have, in fact, declined worldwide since about 1975 and have plateaued since 2000. His research has informed policy nationally and internationally, with contributions to policy in Australia, Canada, France, and the UK, and to the International Olympic Committee’s consensus statement on Fitness and Health of Young People through Sport and Physical Activity. He is a Young Tall Poppy Science Award winner. He is also the Associate Editor for the Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness and on the Executive Committee of Active Healthy Kids Australia.

Professor Stephen Wong is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Sports Science and Physical Education of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He also serves as Co-Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research at CUHK.
Professor Wong is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Hong Kong Association of Sports Medicine and Sports Science (HKASMSS). He is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism and the ACSM Health and Fitness Journal, and advisory board of the Journal of Sports Sciences. He also serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Exercise Science and Fitness. Professor Wong’s research interests involve exercise metabolism, sports nutrition, and physical activity and health. He has obtained his B.Ed. (Hons) degree from the University of Liverpool and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree from Loughborough University.

Salomé Aubert grew up in New Caledonia but moved to France to complete three bachelor’s degrees at the Université de Rennes 2 between 2009 and 2012 in health and physical activity sciences. She pursued with the completion of an MSc in which she worked on the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the student’s lifestyle behaviour and conditions of living in the city of Rennes. She completed her PhD in Population Health at the University of Ottawa. Her work focused on the international promotion of an active healthy lifestyle among children and youth. In her free time, she is also an artist and an outdoor enthusiast.

Dr. Iryna Demchenko is part of the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Canada (www.haloresearch.ca), where she is involved in research focused on physical activity and health of children and youth. She earned her Medical Doctor degree from Odessa State Medical University (Ukraine), holds a MSc degree in Health Science, Technology and Policy from Carleton University (Canada), and is currently pursuing a PhD in Health Sciences at Carleton University. Dr. Demchenko been involved in Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance’s (AHKGA) initiatives since 2019, initially as a research/project coordinator for the Global Matrix 4.0 and more recently as an AHKGA Fellow for the Global Matrix 5.0 (2024-2026). Prior to her research career, Iryna carried out 10+ years of clinical practice in Ukraine.

Emily Stone is a Research Coordinator with the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group (HALO) at the Children’s Hosptial of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Emily obtained her Master’s degree from Carleton University in Health Science, Technology and Policy. Emily aided in the production of the Canadian 2024 ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth during her Master’s degree. Emily’s interests involve making physical activity more accessible and encouraging more time spent outdoors.

Professor Mark Tremblay has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Sports Administration and a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education degree from Laurentian University. His graduate training was from the University of Toronto where he obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Department of Community Health with a specialty in Exercise Science. Dr. Tremblay is a Senior Scientist with the Healthy Active Living and Obesity (HALO) Research Group at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, President of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Founder of the Sedentary Behaviour Research Network, President of Outdoor Play Canada, and Adjunct/Visiting Professor at five other universities on four continents. Dr. Tremblay has published >600 scientific papers and book chapters in the areas of childhood obesity, physical activity measurement, exercise physiology, sedentary physiology, outdoor play and health surveillance. According to Scopus, his h-index is 106 and his published research has been cited >47,000 times, consistently placing him on the Clarivate list of highly cited researchers (top 1% in the world). He has delivered or coauthored over 1,000 scholarly conference presentations, including more than 150 invited and keynote addresses, in 22 different countries. Dr. Tremblay received an honorary doctorate from Nipissing University, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Lawson Foundation 60th Anniversary Award, the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology Honour Award and John Sutton Memorial Lecturer Award, the Victor Marchessault Advocacy Award from the Canadian Pediatric Society, the Vic Neufeld Mentorship Award in Global Health Research from the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research, the International Network of Time-Use Epidemiologists Laureate Award, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Trailblazer Award in Population and Public Health Research, and the Obesity Canada Distinguished Lecturer Award for his leadership contributions to healthy active living in Canada and around the world. Dr. Tremblay’s most productive work has resulted from his 35-year marriage to his wife Helen, yielding four wonderful children.

Salomé Aubert grew up in New Caledonia but moved to France to complete three bachelor’s degrees at the Université de Rennes 2 between 2009 and 2012 in health and physical activity sciences. She pursued with the completion of an MSc in which she worked on the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the student’s lifestyle behaviour and conditions of living in the city of Rennes. She completed her PhD in Population Health at the University of Ottawa. Her work focused on the international promotion of an active healthy lifestyle among children and youth. In her free time, she is also an artist and an outdoor enthusiast.

Dr. Vanderloo received her PhD in Health Promotion from the University of Western Ontario in 2016. Her area of research focuses on the objective measurement of physical activity and sedentary time, and how these behaviours impact physical, mental, and social well-being. In 2021, she completed her Research Fellowship at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, where her research examined the association between movement behaviours and various health outcomes in young children. Currently, Dr. Vanderloo is working as the Scientific Director at ParticipACTION (national non-profit organization) and currently managed the Canadian Physical Activity Report Card for Children and Youth.

Javier Brazo-Sayavera has a Bachelor in physical activity and sport sciences from the University of Extremadura (Spain), a Master degree in high-performance training from the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain), and a PhD degree in exercise physiology from the University of Extremadura (Spain).

Dr. Brazo-Sayavera has been an Associate Professor at the Universidad de la República in Uruguay since 2017 and currently serves as an Assistant Professor at Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville (Spain). He is the director of the research group that develops projects related to physical activity indicators in Uruguay (Research group on human performance analysis). He has been involved in youth sport and recently started his dedication in the research field. He took part in the Global Matrix 3.0 and 4.0 as the Report Card leader for Uruguay. Dr. Brazo-Sayavera also serves as the Chair of the AHKGA Communications Committee.

I am an associate Professor at the Universidad de la República (UDELAR) in Uruguay. I have developed different profiles along the ten last years due to my different ubications. The first part of this trajectory was in line with exercise physiology at the University of Extremadura (Spain), while the last part has been more related to physical activity and health. One of the main reasons for my current profile is the position at the UDELAR, where I have started a new project to promote research in physical activity and health because of the lack of information on this field in Uruguay. Since 2017 I have led a new research group and a Lab with the aim of increasing the knowledge and to study the problems related with physical activity and to provide solutions, principally for the Uruguayan population. Thanks to the help of different colleagues around Latin-America I am part of different movements with the same aim but for Latin-American countries. I have been actively involved in pushing forward the policy and practice agenda for physical activity promotion and sedentary behavior reduction in Uruguay. Leading the Global Matrix project in 2018 to create the first report card on indicators of physical activity in Uruguay was an opportunity to increase the background in research skills as well as provide valuable insights to the Uruguayan scientific community.

Salomé Aubert grew up in New Caledonia but moved to France to complete three bachelor’s degrees at the Université de Rennes 2 between 2009 and 2012 in health and physical activity sciences. She pursued with the completion of an MSc in which she worked on the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the student’s lifestyle behaviour and conditions of living in the city of Rennes. She just completed her PhD in Population Health at the University of Ottawa. Her work focused on the international promotion of an active healthy lifestyle among children and youth. In her free time, she is also an artist and an outdoor enthusiast.

Dr. Iryna Demchenko is part of the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Canada (www.haloresearch.ca), where she is involved in research focused on physical activity and health of children and youth. She earned her Medical Doctor degree from Odessa State Medical University (Ukraine), holds a MSc degree in Health Science, Technology and Policy from Carleton University (Canada), and is currently pursuing a PhD in Health Sciences at Carleton University. Dr. Demchenko been involved in Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance’s (AHKGA) initiatives since 2019, initially as a research/project coordinator for the Global Matrix 4.0 and more recently as an AHKGA Fellow for the Global Matrix 5.0 (2024-2026). Prior to her research career, Iryna carried out 10+ years of clinical practice in Ukraine.

Dr. Aleš Gába is an Associate Professor at the Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. Dr. Gaba’s main research interest is in the role of 24-hour movement behaviors in promoting health and preventing chronic disease. He is engaged in research looking at the associations of physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and sleep with health outcomes in different age groups. He also is concerned with assessment tools and statistical methods that are suitable for 24-hour movement behaviors.

Taru Manyanga (co-leader of Active Healthy Kids Zimbabwe), is an Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy at the University of Northern British Columbia and a registered physiotherapist with the College of Physical Therapists of British Columbia. Taru holds a Bachelor of Medical Rehabilitation-Physical Therapy and an MSc in Community Health Sciences from the University of Manitoba as well as a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Ottawa. Taru’s research interests include exploring geographical and cultural differences in relationships among physical behaviors (sleep, sedentary time, physical activity) and health outcomes. Taru is also interested in expanding his research from only apparently healthy children and adolescents to include clinical populations, especially those with musculoskeletal and cardiorespiratory disorders. Taru is a member of many organizations including but not limited to: College of Physical Therapist of British Columbia, the Canadian Physiotherapists Association, Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Active Healthy Kids Zimbabwe, the African Physical Activity Network, Sedentary Behavior Research Network, Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research, Outdoor Play Canada, and the Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program.

Dr. Riaz Uddin completed a PhD from The University of Queensland School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, Australia specialising in preventive medicine, health promotion, and epidemiology. During his PhD, he has developed expertise in research methodology, measurement of activity behaviours, a broad range of advanced quantitative data analysis techniques, and statistical modeling and computing. Dr. Uddin published in prestigious journals, including The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health and Preventive Medicine. In 2020, Dr. Uddin has joined Deakin University Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Australia as an Alfred Deakin Post Doctoral Research Fellow. His current research is focused on active lifestyle behaviours, digital health, mental health, and secondary prevention of cardiometabolic conditions.

Professor Cindy Sit is a Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is the President and Fellow of the International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity (IFAPA) and Former President of the Asian Society for Adapted Physical Education and Exercise (ASAPE). Her research interests focus on investigations of correlates and determinants of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children and adolescents with disabilities (CAWD) or special educational needs (SEN). She is committed to promoting health equity and social inclusion in different population groups through adapted physical activity and sports.

Dr. Asunta received her MSc and PhD in Physical Education at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland). During her MSc, she also studied adapted physical activity at Freie Universität Berlin (Germany). She is an assistant professor/docent in physical education, especially adapted physical activity at the University of Turku (Finland), and works as a chief specialist at JAMK University of Applied Sciences (Finland). Her special expertise and research interests focus on motor learning and assessment, adapted physical education, developmental disabilities, and motor learning difficulties, which she studied in her doctoral thesis in 2018. Dr. Asunta is working on many multidisciplinary national and international research and developmental projects. She coordinated the last Finnish Para Report Card 2022. Asunta is a former (2022-2024) European Regional Representative of the International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity (IFAPA) and is currently a Vice-President of the Finnish Adapted Physical Activity Committee (FINAPA). She is deeply invested in the development and implementation of strategies that enhance the accessibility of physical activities for children who have disabilities and special needs.

Dr. Bhekuzulu Khumalo, hailing from Wanezi Mission in Zimbabwe’s Insiza District, stands as a distinguished sports scientist, educator, and community advocate. With a notable career devoted to sports science, he specializes in enhancing wheelchair basketball accessibility in Zimbabwean cities. Armed with a Ph.D. in Sports Science from the University of KwaZulu Natal, Dr. Khumalo boasts extensive qualifications, including an MSc in Adapted Physical Activity from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and the University of Limerick, Ireland.

His expertise extends to exceptional management, teaching, and coaching abilities, underpinned by sound decision-making and innovative thinking. Dr. Khumalo has left an indelible mark on higher education institutions such as the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE) and the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). His commitment to service excellence and strong leadership is evidenced by his roles as Acting Head of Department at NUST and currently Sports Science Program Coordinator at MUST.

Beyond academia, Dr. Khumalo actively engages in community service, holding roles such as Vice-President Technical for the Public Universities Staff Sports Association of Malawi and Founder Member/Adviser at Major Sports Consultancy Africa. A respected figure in the academic and sporting spheres, Dr. Khumalo’s multifaceted career reflects his unwavering dedication to education, sports science, and community development.

Dr. Eun-Young Lee is an Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, cross-appointed with Gender Studies at Queen’s University. Lee’s research program focuses on the social epidemiology of health behaviour and bridging quantitative epidemiological methods with social and feminist theories, with a focus on intersectionality. Lee’s peer-reviewed publications have appeared in leading international social science and public health journals (Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=UWK8-DUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao). Outside of academia, Lee is interested in off-the-grid, sustainable living.

Taru Manyanga (co-leader of Active Healthy Kids Zimbabwe), is an Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy at the University of Northern British Columbia and a registered physiotherapist with the College of Physical Therapists of British Columbia. Taru holds a Bachelor of Medical Rehabilitation-Physical Therapy and an MSc in Community Health Sciences from the University of Manitoba as well as a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Ottawa. Taru’s research interests include exploring geographical and cultural differences in relationships among physical behaviors (sleep, sedentary time, physical activity) and health outcomes. Taru is also interested in expanding his research from only apparently healthy children and adolescents to include clinical populations, especially those with musculoskeletal and cardiorespiratory disorders. Taru is a member of many organizations including but not limited to: College of Physical Therapist of British Columbia, the Canadian Physiotherapists Association, Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Active Healthy Kids Zimbabwe, the African Physical Activity Network, Sedentary Behavior Research Network, Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research, Outdoor Play Canada, and the Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program.

Dr. Shawnda Morrison (PhD, CSEP-CEP) is a clinical exercise physiologist who has been an active member of Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance since 2015. She completed her MSc (University of New Brunswick, Canada), PhD (University of Otago, New Zealand) and Post-Doctoral Fellowships (University of Waterloo and UBC-Okanagan, Canada) conducting in-depth investigations in environmental physiology, specifically human thermoregulation, countermeasures to exertional heat strain, and bed rest deconditioning. She is currently serving as a Senior Research Fellow in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore as the Technical Lead of a project called “Cooling Singapore 2.0”, an interdisciplinary initiative aimed at determining how physical activity in the heat impacts vulnerable populations like children, heat-unacclimatised adults, and the elderly. Dr. Morrison is a Certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist from the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology and Principal Investigator or member representative for the Republic of Slovenia on several international initiatives aimed to get kids moving, including: Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Outdoor Play Canada, the FitBack Network, and the Global Heat Health Information Network. Her studies on the neuromuscular demands of passive heat stress and cardiovascular strain have led her to advocate for greater public health engagement on harnessing physical activity as a climate change countermeasure, especially in the paediatric population.
NUS profile page: https://discovery.nus.edu.sg/24064-shawnda-morrison
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ww2HKocAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Silva is a Brazilian Scientist with a multidisciplinary background. He completed his undergraduate studies (in Kinesiology) in 2007 by the Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil. He completed the Master’s course in Kinesiology at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil (2010) and the Ph.D course in Kinesiology at UFSC in 2012. Dr. Silva is interested in epidemiological studies and is part of different projects with researchers from Brazil, Canada, the United States, Portugal and Italy. He is an Associate Professor at UFSC, Brazil, and has research projects in the areas of Physical Activity and Health and Health-Related Physical Fitness. He is the leader of the Research Center in Kinanthropometry and Human Performance, Editor-in-Chief of the Brazilian Journal of Kinanthropometry and Human Performance, and he is a Principal Investigator of different research projects in Brazil.

Dr. Vanderloo received her PhD in Health Promotion from the University of Western Ontario in 2016. Her area of research focuses on the objective measurement of physical activity and sedentary time, and how these behaviours impact physical, mental, and social well-being. In 2021, she completed her Research Fellowship at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, where her research examined the association between movement behaviours and various health outcomes in young children. Currently, Dr. Vanderloo is working as the Scientific Director at ParticipACTION (national non-profit organization) and currently managed the Canadian Physical Activity Report Card for Children and Youth.

Dr. Shawnda Morrison (PhD, CSEP-CEP) is a clinical exercise physiologist who has been an active member of Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance since 2015. She completed her MSc (University of New Brunswick, Canada), PhD (University of Otago, New Zealand) and Post-Doctoral Fellowships (University of Waterloo and UBC-Okanagan, Canada) conducting in-depth investigations in environmental physiology, specifically human thermoregulation, countermeasures to exertional heat strain, and bed rest deconditioning. She is currently serving as a Senior Research Fellow in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore as the Technical Lead of a project called “Cooling Singapore 2.0”, an interdisciplinary initiative aimed at determining how physical activity in the heat impacts vulnerable populations like children, heat-unacclimatised adults, and the elderly. Dr. Morrison is a Certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist from the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology and Principal Investigator or member representative for the Republic of Slovenia on several international initiatives aimed to get kids moving, including: Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Outdoor Play Canada, the FitBack Network, and the Global Heat Health Information Network. Her studies on the neuromuscular demands of passive heat stress and cardiovascular strain have led her to advocate for greater public health engagement on harnessing physical activity as a climate change countermeasure, especially in the paediatric population.
NUS profile page: https://discovery.nus.edu.sg/24064-shawnda-morrison
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ww2HKocAAAAJ&hl=en

Professor Mark Tremblay has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Sports Administration and a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education degree from Laurentian University. His graduate training was from the University of Toronto where he obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Department of Community Health with a specialty in Exercise Science. Dr. Tremblay is a Senior Scientist with the Healthy Active Living and Obesity (HALO) Research Group at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, President of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Founder of the Sedentary Behaviour Research Network, President of Outdoor Play Canada, and Adjunct/Visiting Professor at five other universities on four continents. Dr. Tremblay has published >600 scientific papers and book chapters in the areas of childhood obesity, physical activity measurement, exercise physiology, sedentary physiology, outdoor play and health surveillance. According to Scopus, his h-index is 106 and his published research has been cited >47,000 times, consistently placing him on the Clarivate list of highly cited researchers (top 1% in the world). He has delivered or coauthored over 1,000 scholarly conference presentations, including more than 150 invited and keynote addresses, in 22 different countries. Dr. Tremblay received an honorary doctorate from Nipissing University, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Lawson Foundation 60th Anniversary Award, the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology Honour Award and John Sutton Memorial Lecturer Award, the Victor Marchessault Advocacy Award from the Canadian Pediatric Society, the Vic Neufeld Mentorship Award in Global Health Research from the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research, the International Network of Time-Use Epidemiologists Laureate Award, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Trailblazer Award in Population and Public Health Research, and the Obesity Canada Distinguished Lecturer Award for his leadership contributions to healthy active living in Canada and around the world. Dr. Tremblay’s most productive work has resulted from his 35-year marriage to his wife Helen, yielding four wonderful children.

Dr. Wendy Huang is an Associate Professor at Department of Sport, Physical Education and Health, and Director of Dr. Stephen Hui Research Centre for Physical Recreation and Wellness, Hong Kong Baptist University. She is the RGC Research Fellow. Her research interest centers on the comprehensive spectrum of 24-hour movement behaviours, encompassing physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep, across various populations. She is particularly intrigued by the interplay between these time-use elements and how they collectively influence overall health and child development. Dr Huang serves as the Associate Editor of International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, and Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness. She is a member of Grant Review Board of Research Council, Health Bureau of HKSAR, Board of Director of Asian Society for Adapted Physical Education and Exercise (ASAPE), and the Treasurer of Society for Adapted Physical Activity of Hong Kong, China (HKSAPA). Dr Huang is the co-leader of Active Healthy Kids Hong Kong Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents.

Angela is a Senior Lecturer in Exercise and Health at Ulster University, Northern Ireland. Her research interests include the development and evaluation of interventions to promote physical activity in children and adolescents, and the determinants of physical activity across the lifecycle. Angela has been involved in several national and international research projects and supervises doctoral students.

Angela is Principal Investigator on the Y-PATH NI project, involving the development and testing of the Youth – Physical Activity Towards Health intervention in post-primary schools in Northern Ireland. Angela’s current research collaborations also include the Walking In ScHools (WISH) Trial: A peer-led, school based walking intervention for adolescent girls, and EUMOVE, an Erasmus+ Project aimed at implementing a comprehensive set of strategies and resources to enable the educational community to promote healthy lifestyles. Angela recently led the all-island research working group for the 2022 Ireland North and South Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. Angela co-leads the Northern Ireland country card, as part of the Global Observatory for Physical Activity.

Salomé Aubert grew up in New Caledonia but moved to France to complete three bachelor’s degrees at the Université de Rennes 2 between 2009 and 2012 in health and physical activity sciences. She pursued with the completion of an MSc in which she worked on the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the student’s lifestyle behaviour and conditions of living in the city of Rennes. She just completed her PhD in Population Health at the University of Ottawa. Her work focused on the international promotion of an active healthy lifestyle among children and youth. In her free time, she is also an artist and an outdoor enthusiast.

I am an associate Professor at the Universidad de la República (UDELAR) in Uruguay. I have developed different profiles along the ten last years due to my different ubications. The first part of this trajectory was in line with exercise physiology at the University of Extremadura (Spain), while the last part has been more related to physical activity and health. One of the main reasons for my current profile is the position at the UDELAR, where I have started a new project to promote research in physical activity and health because of the lack of information on this field in Uruguay. Since 2017 I have led a new research group and a Lab with the aim of increasing the knowledge and to study the problems related with physical activity and to provide solutions, principally for the Uruguayan population. Thanks to the help of different colleagues around Latin-America I am part of different movements with the same aim but for Latin-American countries. I have been actively involved in pushing forward the policy and practice agenda for physical activity promotion and sedentary behavior reduction in Uruguay. Leading the Global Matrix project in 2018 to create the first report card on indicators of physical activity in Uruguay was an opportunity to increase the background in research skills as well as provide valuable insights to the Uruguayan scientific community.

Dr. Iryna Demchenko is part of the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Canada (www.haloresearch.ca), where she is involved in research focused on physical activity and health of children and youth. She earned her Medical Doctor degree from Odessa State Medical University (Ukraine), holds a MSc degree in Health Science, Technology and Policy from Carleton University (Canada), and is currently pursuing a PhD in Health Sciences at Carleton University. Dr. Demchenko been involved in Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance’s (AHKGA) initiatives since 2019, initially as a research/project coordinator for the Global Matrix 4.0 and more recently as an AHKGA Fellow for the Global Matrix 5.0 (2024-2026). Prior to her research career, Iryna carried out 10+ years of clinical practice in Ukraine.

Dr. Katzmarzyk is currently a Professor and the Associate Executive Director for Population and Public Health Sciences at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA where he holds the Marie Edana Corcoran Endowed Chair in Pediatric Obesity and Diabetes. Dr. Katzmarzyk is an internationally recognized leader in the field of physical activity and obesity epidemiology, with a special emphasis on pediatrics and ethnic health disparities. He has over two decades of experience in conducting large clinical and population-based studies in both children and adults. Dr. Katzmarzyk has a special interest in global health, and has a record of building research capacity in physical activity and obesity research in developing countries. He has published his research findings in more than 400 scholarly journals and books, and has delivered over 160 invited lectures in 15 countries. He is currently an Associate Editor for Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise and an editorial board member for the International Journal of Obesity, Pediatric Obesity, and Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders. In addition to his research efforts, Dr. Katzmarzyk plays a leading role in several national initiatives related to children’s health advocacy, including the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Science Board and chairing the Research Advisory Committee for the U.S. Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, a subcommittee of the National Physical Activity Plan Alliance.

Marie Löf is Associate Professor, senior researcher and group leader at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, since 2011. Her research group studies early-life factors important for the establishment of childhood obesity with special emphasis on physical activity. Another area of Marie’s research concerns development and evaluation of methodology important for nutritional assessments. This work includes methodology to assess intake of foods and energy, physical activity and body composition. Recently this interest has primarily focused on the possibilities of using telecommunication technologies, such as mobile phones, to improve dietary and physical activity assessments in different populations with focus on children. One of her recent studies is the so called MINISTOP trial which is a mobile phone based intervention aiming at improving dietary habits, increasing physical activity and decreasing sedentary behavior in four-year-old children.

Taru Manyanga (co-leader of Active Healthy Kids Zimbabwe), is an Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy at the University of Northern British Columbia and a registered physiotherapist with the College of Physical Therapists of British Columbia. Taru holds a Bachelor of Medical Rehabilitation-Physical Therapy and an MSc in Community Health Sciences from the University of Manitoba as well as a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Ottawa. Taru’s research interests include exploring geographical and cultural differences in relationships among physical behaviors (sleep, sedentary time, physical activity) and health outcomes. Taru is also interested in expanding his research from only apparently healthy children and adolescents to include clinical populations, especially those with musculoskeletal and cardiorespiratory disorders. Taru is a member of many organizations including but not limited to: College of Physical Therapist of British Columbia, the Canadian Physiotherapists Association, Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Active Healthy Kids Zimbabwe, the African Physical Activity Network, Sedentary Behavior Research Network, Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research, Outdoor Play Canada, and the Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program.

Dr. Tuija Tammelin is a Research Director at LIKES – Research Center for Sport and Health Sciences in Jyväskylä, Finland. She earned her PhD in physical activity epidemiology at the University of Oulu and her MSc in exercise physiology at the University of Jyväskylä. She has published more than 100 peer reviewed scientific articles on physical activity, fitness and public health during the life-course. Her current research at LIKES focus on the enhancement of physical activity: on the determinants of physical activity and sedentary behaviour, the effectiveness of physical activity interventions in different populations, and the significance of physical activity on health, well-being and learning at different phases of life, especially in youth. Dr. Tammelin has led the follow-up research related to national physical activity programme Finnish Schools on the Move aiming to make school-day more active and pleasant in comprehensive schools in Finland.