Rate My Professor Jessica Calverley

Jessica Calverley is a graduate of the University of Otago's School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, where she completed her PhD in 2024. Her doctoral thesis, "Understanding prehab behaviour: Capability, opportunity, and motivation for pre-operative physical activity in osteoarthritis patients," examines pre-surgical physical activity interventions. Supervised by Associate Professor Elaine Hargreaves and Dr. Kate Thomas from the Department of Surgical Sciences at the Dunedin School of Medicine, her work emphasizes motivations and best practices to promote inter-disciplinary collaboration in prehabilitation from practitioners to patients. Prior degrees include an MSc in Sport, Exercise and Health, a Postgraduate Diploma in Science (Physiology), and a BSc in Physiology and Microbiology, all obtained from the University of Otago. Her research specialization lies in Physical Activity and Health Psychology.

Throughout her academic career, Calverley has been recognized with key awards: the Otago Doctoral Scholarship in 2020, the University of Otago 2019 Research Group Award as a Master's student, and the Otago Summer Studentship in 2017. She has authored or co-authored several impactful publications. Notably, in 2023, she contributed to "Feasibility and pilot outcomes of the Move More @ Work intervention designed to encourage employees to be physically active for 2 minutes after every 30 minutes of sitting," published in the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine alongside E.A. Hargreaves, S. Shaw, T. Scott, and M.C. Peddie. In 2022, her paper "Active travel in rural New Zealand: A study of rural adolescents’ perceptions of walking and cycling to school" appeared in Active Travel Studies, co-authored with D. Hopkins, E. García Bengoechea, K. Coppell, J.C. Spence, and S. Mandic. That same year, "Nature-based physical activity and hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing: The mediating roles of motivational quality and nature relatedness" was published in Frontiers in Psychology, with M. Jenkins, C. Lee, S. Houge Mackenzie, E.A. Hargreaves, and K. Hodge. Additional contributions include studies on changes in physical activity levels pre-, during and post-lockdown COVID-19 restrictions in New Zealand and the explanatory role of daily hassles (2021, Frontiers in Psychology); and physical activity and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown, relationships with motivational quality and nature contexts (2021, Frontiers in Sports and Active Living).