Dr Sanjoy Deb

Sanjoy joined ARU in May 2023 and is Associate Professor in Sport and Exercise Nutrition. He leads the Better Living Lab in the Research Centre for Better Living, an interdisciplinary group spanning behavioural science, public health, psychology, performance science and eye health, which co-creates and implements evidence-informed solutions with communities, public organisations and industry. He is also a member of the ARU Stroke and Brain Injury Research Group. Before ARU, he was an academic at the University of Westminster, where he was a course leader and a principal investigator at the Centre for Nutraceuticals.

Sanjoy leads mixed methods research that pairs controlled human trials with co-production and participatory methods, working with local government, the NHS and industry. He has attracted around £1.4 million in contract research funding and industry-supported PhD scholarships, with partners in Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, Hong Kong and India.

His early years work is delivered through the Nourishing Our Future programme with Essex County Council, which now reaches more than 140 early childhood education and care settings, won silver in the population and public health category at the Local Government Association awards. His stroke work is delivered in partnership with clinical colleagues in Cambridge, including establishing the Anglian Stroke Partnership for Increasing Research Engagement (ASPIRE).

Sanjoy's research is organised around three themes:

• Early years food and nutrition understanding and improving food provision, food education and nutrition practice in early childhood education and care settings, and how families and the early years system together shape what young children eat. This work is delivered with local government and public health partners, and uses participatory methods including photovoice with settings across the most and least deprived areas of Essex.
• Nutrition in stroke recovery: understanding the dietary behaviours of stroke survivors and their carers, the nutritional care they receive, and the effectiveness and acceptability of oral nutritional interventions during rehabilitation. This work is developed with people affected by stroke through ASPIRE and delivered with clinical and academic partners across the East of England.
• Dietary supplements, nutraceuticals and functional foods: designing and delivering human clinical trials on the effects of nutrients, supplements and functional foods on health, recovery, cognition and physical performance, largely in partnership with industry.

Sanjoy supervises doctoral research across all three of his research interests, and welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD, MSc and summer project students.

Early years food and nutrition:

• Co-producing approaches to promoting sustainable fish intake in early childhood education and care settings.
• Food provision, food education and family food practices in the early years.

Nutrition in stroke recovery:

• Exploring the effectiveness and acceptability of oral nutritional interventions in stroke rehabilitation.
• Dietary behaviours of community-dwelling stroke survivors and their carers.

Dietary supplements, nutraceuticals and functional foods:

• Omega-3 phospholipid supplementation, recovery and neuromuscular function.
• Novel insights into the interaction between iron and curcumin and its physiological consequences on gut permeability.

• BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science
• Performance and Exercise Nutrition module

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Nutritional Physiology, Edge Hill University
• Master of Science (MSc) in Sport and Exercise Nutrition, Leeds Beckett University
• Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Sport and Exercise Science, University of Birmingham.

• Editorial Board, Nutrition Reviews
• Review panel member, Wellcome Trust Accelerator Award
• Academic Associate, Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENr)
• Member, ARU Stroke and Brain Injury Research Group
• Previously: CASES Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board

2026: ESRC Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership studentship, Interoception and UPF overconsumption.

2026: Developing and testing a visualisation intervention to encourage consumption of UK-caught fish. Business Interaction Voucher, BBSRC-funded Consumer Lab, with the Fishmongers' Company's Fisheries Charitable Trust.

2026: Vice Chancellor's PhD match studentship with the Fishmongers' Company's Fisheries Charitable Trust, sustainable fish intake in early childhood education and care settings.

2026: Vice Chancellor's PhD match studentship with Essex County Council, extending food and nutrition engagement with early childhood education and care settings.

2025: Digital health prototype for early years settings, developed through the Health Innovation East digital innovation hub.

2024: Nourishing Our Future programme, Essex County Council Public Health.

2024: Active Romega: the effects of herring roe derived omega-3 phospholipid on exercise metabolism and recovery. PhD scholarship and contract research funded by Arctic Bioscience, Norway.

2024: Active Romega: herring roe derived omega-3 phospholipid and the healthy ageing. PhD scholarship and contract research funded by Arctic Bioscience, Norway.

2022: The effect of a novel nutraceutical supplement on stress, cognition and wellbeing. Gencor and Pharmako Biotechnologies Ltd, Australia.

2022: The co-production of a lifestyle-enhancing digital health behaviour intervention for mid-life women. Public Participatory Research Funding Award.

2021: Novel insights into the interaction between iron and curcumin and their physiological consequences. Pharmako Biotechnologies Ltd, Australia.

2019: Research to Practice: optimising evidence-based nutritional recommendations to preserve health and performance in professional saturation divers. Equinor, Norway.

2018: Holiday Hunger Camps Impact Evaluation. Tower Hamlets Council, UK.

Deb, S. K., Harris, M., Randall, S., Wisbey, M., Hawkins, M., et al. (2026) 'Nourishing Our Future: knowledge mobilisation for nutrition in early childhood education and care'. Preprint. Available at: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-10469492/v1

Lang, A., Álvarez-Martínez, M., Zariwala, M. G., Ganesh, A., Geva, S., Ray, S., Evans, N. R. and Deb, S. K. (2026) 'Oral nutritional interventions for stroke recovery: a systematic review', Nutrition Reviews. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuaf179

Lang, A., Geva, S., Evans, N. R., Cavallerio, F., Vasconcelos e Sá, D., Ali, A., Nichols, S. and Deb, S. K. (2026) 'Stroke survivors' and carers' experiences of nutritional care after stroke: a qualitative study', Frontiers in Stroke. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fstro.2026.1733430

Dalmay, D., Marques Pinto, J., Gámez-Fernández, M. M., Robbins, D., Wells, J. E. T., Gough, L. A., Witard, O. C. and Deb, S. K. (2026) 'The effect of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation on neuromuscular function in humans: a systematic review with narrative synthesis', Nutrition Reviews. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuag102

Deb, S. K., Kim, N., Parolin, B., Renshaw, D. and Zariwala, M. G. (2025) 'The effects of formulated palmitoylethanolamide supplementation on indicators of stress and heart rate variability in female university students: a randomised cross-over trial', Frontiers in Nutrition. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2025.1586409

Sediva, H, Robertson, C., Cartwright, T. and Deb, S. K. (2022) 'Behaviour change techniques in digital health interventions with midlife women: Systematic review of behaviour interventions', JMIR mHealth and uHealth. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2196/37234

Deb, S. K., Dolan, E., Hambly, C., Speakman, J., Eftedal, O., Zariwala, M. G. and Eftedal, I. (2021) 'The Assessment of Daily Energy Expenditure of Commercial Saturation Divers Using Doubly Labelled Water', Frontiers in Physiology. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.687605

Tiekou, H., Deb, S. K., Begum, G., Renshaw, D. M. and Zariwala, M. G. (2021) 'Comparative Assessment of the Acute Effects of Whey, Rice and Potato Protein Isolate Intake on Markers of Glycaemic Regulation and Appetite in Healthy Males Using a Randomised Study Design', Nutrients. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13072157

Full list of publications available on Sanjoy's ResearchGate profile.