Eleonora (Ellie) Iob is a Wellcome Research Fellow in Epidemiology & Psychiatry at King’s College London (KCL), and she also works as a Lecturer/Research Fellow in Epidemiology & Statistics at University College London (UCL). Prior to joining KCL, Eleonora completed a BSc (Hons) in Psychology at the University of Manchester (first class). She was subsequently awarded a full-tuition scholarship to undertake an MSc in Social Statistics and Research Methods at the University of Manchester, which she completed in 2017 achieving a distinction. Following her MSc, Eleonora completed a PhD in Epidemiology & Psychobiology, funded by the Soc-B Centre for Doctoral Training in Biosocial Research (ESRC-BBSRC), and postdoctoral work at UCL.

Eleonora has received research awards and funding from the Wellcome Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the American Psychosomatic Society, and the Society for Social Medicine. Additionally, she is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).

Research 

Eleonora’s research seeks to elucidate the complex interplay between psychosocial, behavioural, and biological factors in the development of common mental health problems across the life course. She is also interested in the development and application of innovative data science methods, causal inference analyses, and advanced statistical modelling techniques to advance mental health research.

Eleonora is currently funded by a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship (2021-2025). Her fellowship’s project aims to apply a variety of cutting-edge causal inference methods (e.g. Mendelian Randomisation, G-methods, twin designs) to test the role of physical activity in promoting resilience against common mental disorders in young people, using data from several longitudinal cohort studies (e.g. ALSPAC, Generation R, and Millennium Cohort Study).

Her PhD at UCL investigated the neuroendocrine, inflammatory, and genetic mechanisms underlying the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and depression, using longitudinal data from large cohort studies of young people and older adults, including ELSA, ALSPAC, and TEDS. At UCL, Eleonora is also conducting research about the psychosocial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health, wellbeing, health behaviours of the population, using longitudinal data from the ELSA COVID-19 study and the UCL COVID-19 Social study. Additionally, she is contributing to a UKRI-funded project looking at pathways from loneliness to depression among vulnerable groups of older adults.

Teaching 

Eleonora has expertise in various statistical methods for the analysis of longitudinal biosocial data and several years of experience in teaching Statistics and Quantitative Research Methods. At KCL, Eleonora coordinates and teaches research methods courses and supervises research projects for the Developmental Psychology & Psychopathology MSc. As part of her Lecturer post at UCL, Eleonora develops and delivers training courses in Statistics and Longitudinal Data Analysis aimed at quantitative researchers, PhD students, and professionals (R and Stata). She is also involved in the supervision of research projects for the Health Psychology MSc and rotation projects for the Soc-B PhD programme. During her PhD, Eleonora worked as a Lecturer in the UCL Department of Political Science and the Q-Step Centre, and she contributed to the development and delivery of courses in Quantitative Research Methods, Data Analysis, and Visualisation in R for undergraduate and postgraduate social science students. Furthermore, she delivered lectures and ran seminars on Medical Statistics and Quantitative Research Methods in the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care (Stata and SPSS).

Alongside her academic career, Eleonora is a certified Vinyasa Yoga Teacher. She practices and teaches yoga in order to reduce psychological stress and improve both mental and physical health. Through her research and yoga practice, Eleonora hopes to reduce the current burden of mental health problems in the population and make a positive impact on the lives of others.