2026 New Investigator Award in Public Health, Dr Edi Putra

I Gusti Ngurah Edi (“Eddy”) Putra (United Kingdom), Winner of the Award in Public Health, is a Lecturer in the Appetite and Obesity Group, Department of Psychology, and a Research Associate (NIHR DSE Fellow) in the NCD Prevention and Food Policy Modelling Group, Department of Public Health, Policy and Systems, University of Liverpool, UK. With a background in quantitative public health research, his current work focuses on understanding the effectiveness of food labelling policies (e.g., menu labelling) and estimating the long-term population-level health and economic impacts of obesity-related public health policies (e.g., taxation, front-of-package nutrition labelling). Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology, where he examined the role of psychological well-being in explaining weight change and obesity-related adverse physical health outcomes using large-scale longitudinal data from the UK and the US (e.g., see The Guardian, BBC). He also led research on the acceptability of obesity-related public health policies among UK adults with eating disorders and other mental health conditions, and contributed to studies evaluating the impact and accuracy of menu calorie labelling policy in England. His research interests include obesity and psychological well-being, obesity-related public health policies, non-communicable diseases, and social inequalities in health.