Professor Petra Wark leads the Research Methods and Evaluation Unit (RMEU), which specialises in health and community wellbeing research and is based in the Centre for Healthcare and Communities.

Her expertise encompasses nutritional and chronic disease epidemiology, digital health, health services research, and applied statistics. Petra is committed to employing valid, accurate, ethical, efficient, and feasible data collection and analytical methods to address critical research questions. Her research aims to enhance well-being and manage disease through the development and validation of health technologies, risk factors, and outcome measures. She evaluates the efficacy and effectiveness of health interventions and technologies in practical settings, thereby considering their applications in research, health promotion, and healthcare.

She has led several multidisciplinary projects, such as validating an online 24-hour dietary assessment tool, and developing and evaluating platforms for disease or lifestyle management. Her work has secured significant funding from organizations such as the MRC, Innovate UK, and EIT Digital. She is a member of NIHR's Integrated Clinical and Practitioner Academic Programme Advanced Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (ACAF) Fellowship Funding Committee. 

Earlier in her career, Petra focused on understanding the causation of chronic diseases using data from large cohort studies. She combined this research with her role as an MSc course organizer, running several epidemiology and chronic disease modules, and co-founding and managing a leading short course.

Petra enjoys working in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary teams, learning from other disciplines and cultures to enhance her insights, work, and methods. She values inclusivity, diversity, and teamwork, aiming to make a tangible difference in people's lives.

Within the Centre for Healthcare and Communities, Petra supervises and examines PhD, MRes, and MSc students and is a UKCGE Recognised Research Supervisor. She also serves as an Ethics Lead.

• Interdisciplinary and innovation research projects on health, healthcare, self-management and study conduct
• Nutritional and chronic disease epidemiology
• Efficacy and effectiveness of digital, and other new, health technologies in primary and secondary chronic disease prevention; and methodological aspects thereof
• Validation, evaluation and assessment of diet, lifestyle, wellbeing and health status using new digital technologies (including other aspects of health)
• Additional insight gained from the additional data that digital health technologies provide, how to make use of the new technologies and embed them in practice

New digital health solutions and technologies emerge daily. Several of these developments are very exciting. They have potential to improve one’s wellbeing or health. Many others are not yet optimal and/or do not meet society’s, the health care system’s or the user’s needs. A technological solution or treatment is also not always the most appropriate.

It is important to optimise the chances of making a true impact. I believe that technologies should be validated and evaluated throughout their lifecycle, and they should be evidence-based. Sometimes my work starts while the technology is being developed or improved. My work can also start after the technology is being implemented, or when already on the market. Doing so requires insight and methods from several disciplines. I thus collaborate with people from different backgrounds. I also collaborate with industry.