Meet the team

Byron Tibbitts

Byron holds a BSc (Hon) in Sports Conditioning and Coaching from the University of the West of England, and in 2008 graduated with distinction from the University of Bristol with an MSc in Nutrition, Physical Activity and Public Health.

Byron:

“I am a keen enthusiast for anything that gets me outdoors and moving around!  At school I made the choice to make physical activity my job somehow, and after studying related topics at university I found my way in to researching the effects of physical activity on health.  This has brought me to Bristol and on to the PEAR Project. 

When I’m not in the office or out at schools collecting data I love to chase a rugby ball around, or head to Wales or Devon with my kite for some kite surfing.  Summer’s the best time of year for me! ”

Maria Baquedano

Maria (“Mai”) holds a First class BSc (Hon) in Biological Sciences from the University of Navarra (Spain). After working in research for several years, Mai moved to England where she worked as and IT developer and project manager for HBOS.

Yet the positive impact of nutrition and exercise on health has always been her passion. This was reflected in the creation of a Health and Fitness website providing information and dietary/activity challenges to IT colleagues and, in 2008, wanting to make the transition into this field official, Mai enrolled in the MSc in Nutrition, Physical Activity and Public Health at the University of Bristol. She graduated with distinction in 2010. After this, she spent several months volunteering for the Exercise, Nutrition and Health department at Bristol University, providing support on the PEACH project and now works on PEAR.

In her free time, Mai enjoys an active lifestyle having played basketball for 30 years. Mai also enjoys mountain hiking and skiing.

Becky Loaring

I have been interested in exercise and health since a young age which led to me studying it at university. After a couple of years working within the health industry for BUPA Wellness I decided it was time to go back to studying. I went to the University of Exeter and did a masters specialising in children's exercise and health. I put my newly learnt knowledge into practice out in the field working for a local authority on a number of projects, including after school clubs, weight management, Sure Start centres, walking initiatives. Now I find myself here with the task of collecting all the data from the PEACH participants and also working on the new exciting PEAR project.

I try and put my knowledge into practice personally as well. I have danced since I was 4 years old in the disciplines of ballet, tap, modern and Irish, most of which I stopped when I went off to university; however I continued to keep up with the Irish dancing and performed up until recently when my body could go on no longer. I have recently started ballet again going weekly to a friendly relaxed adult class. I also enjoy regularly attending exercise classes and I am actually a trained instructor. Running is something else I enjoy to do especially when the weather is nice and have competed in a number of 10k races and hope to continue with an aim to hopefully up the distance in future years.

Tom Griffin

Watch this space.