Frank Chen

From digital footprints to place-based insights for better health decisions

About me

I am currently a PhD student at the Healthy and Sustainable Places Data Service, the University of Leeds.

I study how food behaviours shape health outcomes, combining retail sales data with NHS health outcome data in spatial, place-based analyses. The goal is to identify health inequalities and provide evidence for more targeted interventions.

My pathway has evolved from genetics to AI and data science, then to how social norms and public policy influence individual behaviour and population health, with a focus on data-driven and bias-minimising methods.

Current focus

  • Retail food environments and place-based inequalities
  • Linking behavioural data with NHS health outcomes
  • Spatial accessibility, mobility, and local context
  • Interventions that are measurable, targeted, and useful

Where have I been?

317,517 GPS records from 13 May 2006 to 5 Mar 2026