Dr Rowena Katherine Merritt

• Lead for Fix My Food – a global youth advocacy programme engaging young people in 20+ countries to improve food systems and promote national policy adoption, including SSB taxes, marketing restrictions, and front-of-pack labelling.
• Lead on Practice Pillar for First Foods Africa, strengthening practical actions, capacity building, and behavioural drivers for improving infant and young child feeding across multiple African countries
• Contributed technical leadership to 2025 flagship report on food systems and obesity, providing behavioural science insights.
• Developed strategy for Social and Behaviour Change to prevent obesity in school-aged children.
• Supported UNICEF offices in designing and evaluating impactful behaviour change programmes for nutrition.
• Implemented innovative behavioural science methods, including social marketing and nudges, to improve outcomes in regional offices.
• Led Social Return on Investment study assessing the economic and social value of school- and university-based public health nutrition interventions in South Africa and Zimbabwe, providing evidence to inform programme scale-up and donor investment decisions.
• Incorporated social and behavioural perspectives into global policy discussions on malnutrition prevention.

• Conducted capacity building workshops with professionals and stakeholders working on criminal justice reforms.
• Supported with train-the-trainer workshops, to utilise behavioural science to overcome issues such as cognitive biases, and improve training techniques.
• Reviewed work plans and made recommendations on how to integrate Social and Behaviour Change principles and tools to train legal professionals, fight against gender-based violence and discrimination, and police and penitentiary reform.
• Developed behavioural insights methodology for “Advancing Participatory and Human Rights-Based Local Democracy” and for “Enhancing Human Rights Compliant Approach in Law Enforcement Institutions” including developing theories of change, log frames, and monitoring and evaluation plans and data collection tools.
• In Moldova, facilitated a workshop on strengthening the human rights-compliant criminal justice system; led co-creation sessions and applied systems thinking to generate solutions and produced action-focused recommendations.

• Designed and delivered “Health in Emergencies: Assessing and Responding to Health Care Needs in Complex Situations” course for postgraduate and professional participants.
• Covered emergency public health assessment, outbreak control, health protection, and integration of social and behaviour change strategies in humanitarian contexts.
• Facilitated interactive sessions using case studies from conflict and disaster-affected settings.

• Led the behavioural change component in the development of Ukraine’s new national Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) strategy, ensuring integration of evidence-based Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) approaches to improve population health outcomes.
• Designed and delivered national training on social marketing to government and public health officials, supporting strategy formulation and implementation.
• Conducted training needs analysis to assess learning styles, existing skills, and capacity gaps, tailoring content for maximum relevance and uptake.
• Produced comprehensive training manuals, modules, and teaching aids on the application of social marketing and SBC theories and principles to NCD prevention and control.
• Strengthened Ukraine’s public health workforce capacity to design and deliver effective NCD interventions aligned with international best practice.

• Led the national nutrition team and portfolio, providing strategic direction for all SBC-related public health programming.
• Co-developed and secured government approval for Armenia’s first cross-government Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) strategy for nutrition, launched in 2022, integrating health promotion into national policy.
• Mainstreamed SBC approaches into social protection, food systems, and gender equality programmes, ensuring multi-sectoral impact.
  
  Designed and managed a diverse portfolio of SBC interventions across the food system, targeting farmers, manufacturers, retailers, and consumers.
• Mobilised new funding for SBC initiatives from USAID, GIZ, SwissAid, and national private sector partners.
• Conducted barrier and opportunity assessments to support the transition of vulnerable populations from state benefit systems to self-reliance/self-employment in agriculture and food production.
• Developed a national school nutrition curriculum for academic years 5–11; piloted in 2022 and rolled out nationally in 2023.
• Partnered with a national dairy producer to pilot and evaluate a ‘Milk for Schools’ scheme; positive results led to a planned national scale-up in 2024.

• Provided technical leadership on social and behaviour change (SBC) across 17 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia - from Ukraine to Algeria and Tajikistan - working with governments, other UN agencies, and donors to strengthen national nutrition and public health strategies.
• Operated effectively in fragile and conflict-affected settings, including Gaza, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, adapting SBC approaches to humanitarian constraints and volatile political environments.
• Developed the Regional SBC Strategy and guided its integration into national health and nutrition plans.
  
  Designed and delivered a regional capacity building programme for Country Offices, building SBC expertise among nutrition and evaluation teams through training, mentoring, and technical support.
• Supported the development of eight national SBC nutrition strategies, grounded in evidence and formative research, tailored to local needs and contexts.
• Created and implemented innovative evaluation methods to measure the impact of nutrition-focused initiatives within retail and Cash-Based Transfer (CBT) programming, assessing influence on purchasing behaviour.
• Led health protection interventions in Gaza and Jordan, integrating WASH and nutrition programming to prevent communicable disease outbreaks in humanitarian settings.

Advisor on different projects, including:

• Using social marketing to generate demand for eggs in Malawi. The social marketing project increased the consumption of eggs, with 51% of the target audience eating eggs twice or more a week at follow-up, an increase from 12% at baseline.
• Principle Investigator on a study exploring the potential for introducing egg powder into the Ethiopian market.
• Working with small to medium national food producers to increase access to fortified foods in West Africa.
• Development of a social marketing project to improve practices related to Multiple Micronutrient Supplements Among Pregnant Women in Bangladesh.

• For Hackney and City public health team, conducted a behavioural insights study and developed a campaign strategy to increase the number of young people adhering to the social distancing rules during COVID-19.
• Led an evaluation for the UK government to determine the impact and cost-effectiveness of the national Dry January campaign (aimed at changing drinking behaviours). The findings were used to refine future messaging and the development of an interactive game and App.
• Carried out an evaluation of the Breathe Easy Self-Help Group Network for the national UK charity British Lung Foundation. Based on the findings, a short film was developed showing the positive impact of the self-help groups on patients and carers. Media work was also done post evaluation to support the roll-out of the groups to other health organisations across the UK.
• Funded by the EU H2020, worked with non-profit and academic organisations across the EU and Ukraine to co-design a comprehensive communications and media strategy to expedite dissemination of EXCEPT programme (Social Exclusion of Youth in Europe: Cumulative Disadvantage, Coping Strategies, Effective Policies and Transfer).
• Conducted formative research to understand the coercive behaviours of men in Uganda breastfeeding from their partners. The research was featured in the Guardian newspaper and on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour.
• An advisor for the House of Lords Review on HIV/AIDS and for HRH Prince Charles on using marketing to reduce illegal poaching.

• Planned, developed and supported the implementation of a research insights driven strategy to improve maternal nutrition and infant and young child feeding practices in Ethiopia.
• Worked with an inter-ministerial group, made up of six government departments, and with other UN and aid agencies, to develop a national social marketing campaign to increase consumption of a balanced diet and improve WASH practices across Bangladesh. The campaign was launched in 2018.
• Developed a Theory of Change and evaluation framework to evaluate the programme's outputs, outcomes and impact.

Established and directed a limited company, providing strategic communications, public health consultancy, and social marketing services for a range of clients including:

• NHS London: Developed a Sexual Health Strategy for North and East London, a three year strategy aimed at reducing prevalence of STIs and HIV and increasing uptake of services.
• For the European Parkinson's Disease Association: Developed and directed a major multi-country study on people with Parkinson’s disease and their experiences of healthcare systems across 11 European countries; Led all aspects of the research design, including both large-scale survey and qualitative interview components, ensuring robust cross-national comparability; Personally conducted the full statistical analysis of survey data and thematic analysis of qualitative interviews; Findings informed advocacy and service improvement across participating countries; Awarded the 2018 Silver Medal by the European Society for Person-Centred Healthcare in recognition of research excellence and impact.
• International Organisation for Migration: Developed a social marketing programme to reduce gender based violence in South Sudan.
• SNV Netherlands Development Organisation: Supported an evaluation to determine the impact of the WASH programme on rural communities in Cambodia.
• Red Cross: Developed a social marketing strategy to improve integration of refugees and asylum seekers into host communities in the UK.
• NHS London: To inform a mental health service review, conducted formative research with carers, service users, local NGOs, and current service providers. Based on the findings, recommendations for service improvements were made.
• USAID: Developed three best practice guidelines on how to conduct formative research to develop SBC strategies, and how to evaluate behaviour change projects. The three guides focused on: 1) Baseline Generation; 2) Formative Research; and 3) Summative Evaluation.
• Conducted social marketing training for Government departments in Norway, Finland, Slovenia, Estonia, Switzerland and the USA.

• Led the design and implementation of a national public health campaign to reduce alcohol consumption among high-risk groups, as part of Ukraine’s NCD prevention agenda.
• Developed the full research plan and all data collection tools, trained field teams, and oversaw data collection and quality assurance.
  
  Conducted quantitative and qualitative data analysis, generating actionable behavioural insights to inform strategy design.
• Engaged vulnerable and high-risk groups through co-creation workshops to ensure messaging relevance and cultural appropriateness.
• Facilitated multi-sectoral buy-in by working closely with the Ministry of Health, national public health teams, other UN agencies, and civil society stakeholders.
• Translated research insights into targeted public health messages, which were pre-tested and refined through iterative co-design processes.
• Supported national partners in planning and rolling out the campaign, ensuring integration with existing public health infrastructure and priorities.

• Developed and delivered a community-based social marketing project to develop a branding framework and a range of social marketing products and services to reduce overweight and obesity, and smoking rates on a small isolated island in the South Atlantic.
• Conducted formative research, as well as co-creation with parents, children, and key stakeholders.
• Developed a social marketing strategy called 'Saints Together'. In an independent evaluation, 72 percent of respondents said they were aware of the ‘Saints Together' campaign, indicating strong brand visibility and awareness among respondents. Of those who were aware, the majority (59 percent) believed that the campaign had helped increased community awareness regarding health.
• Population survey data indicated that, during the first year of the implementation of the 'Saints Together' strategy, risk factors related to overweight and obesity, and smoking had reduced.

• Established a community based NGO in the Pacific.
• Identified funding sources and managed donor relations.
• Provided strategic communications, advocacy and behaviour change support for a range of clients including: The World Health Organisation; the World Meteorological Organisation and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

• Developed a social and behaviour change strategy to support the implement the Regional Action Plan for Healthy Newborns in the Western Pacific.
• Developed of a social marketing programme in Laos to improve birthing practices.
• Designed and delivered a process evaluation to understand how the national campaign (The First Embrace) had been taken up and implemented in the Philippines.

• Worked on the design and delivery of a multi-faceted training programme on social marketing and social and behaviour change approaches for national USAID project staff, and representatives of NGOs.
• Trained two cohorts of students behavioural science and social marketing and mentored over 30 national staff to develop, implement and evaluate eight behaviour change environmental programmes.

• Led the development of a national SBC strategy to increase compliance with the Hong Kong Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes among health professionals, in a highly challenging environment with strong opposition from commercial formula companies.
  
• Designed the research framework and all data collection tools, trained data collectors, and conducted full statistical and qualitative data analysis to provide the evidence base for policy action.
  
• Applied evidence to design targeted interventions addressing key barriers to code compliance, ensuring recommendations were grounded in both data and context.
  
• Built and sustained high-level relationships with government ministers, healthcare associations, and regulatory bodies to gain support for implementation.
  
• Coordinated multi-sectoral engagement to align government, public health bodies, and professional associations behind the strategy.
  
• Successfully navigated competing commercial and public health interests to strengthen breastfeeding protection measures within the health system.

• Set-up and delivered the first national pilot scheme for social marketing in England. The scheme was a key component of the Department of Health's strategic framework to build capacity and skills in applying social marketing principles to health interventions. Ten pilot projects were set up as part of the scheme. Based in local NHS trusts across England, they addressed a range of health issues and targeted various audiences.
• With three other colleagues, established the National Social Marketing Centre, a UK wide community interest company.
• Supported with the development of policies, including Ambitions for Health.
• Developed a series of Value for Money tools to support the Return on Investment evaluation of social marketing programmes across England.
• Seconded to DFID (UKAID) to develop social marketing programmes in China and Viet Nam to increase condom usage among high risk groups.

Managed and conducted research projects into the following areas:

• A cluster randomised controlled trial of a social marketing intervention aimed at university students.
• Three systematic reviews for the Cochrane on the clinical effectiveness of a number of antipsychotics and a systematic review of neurological disorders and violence.
• A longitudinal study of long term outcomes of primary care depression.
• A clinical survey with patients attending methadone clinics, exploring coercion.
• An ethnographic study investigating the experiences of care giving and burden in parents of people suffering from schizophrenia.

• Developed a marketing strategy to introduce new food products into the Japanese market. Executed marketing campaigns to promote brand visibility and drive engagement.
• Identified new customer segments and target audiences to expand reach.
• Conducted market research and analysis to identify emerging opportunities and maintain competitive market edge.
• Tracked marketing and sales performance and innovated strategies to gain favourable results.