Susan Carr is Reader in Public Health and Primary Care at Northumbria University,UK, where she researches and teaches public health and primary care issues.Nigel Unwin is Professor of Epidemiology, in Advancing Research in Chronic Disease Epidemiology (ARCHES) and lead of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Diabetes, in the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University, UK.Tanja Pless-Mulloli is Professor of Environmental Epidemiology and lead of the Environment and Health team in the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University, UK.