Professor Haggarty's research is concerned with the dietary and social determinants of physical and mental ageing, the importance of early life events, and the individual variation in response to diet. His current work is focused on epigenetics and nutritional metabolism, primarily using large human cohorts, with a particular interest in inequalities, reproduction and intergenerational effects, and the consequences for physical health and cognition in later life.

Current projects include investigations on:

the importance of early life nutrition and intergenerational effects, particularly in relation to epigenetics, and the consequences for growth, health and cognitive ability

the role of ethnicity and life-history in determining dietary needs, and the response to diet

epigenetic mechanisms in health and diseases such as breast cancer

inequalities and the interaction between social and biological factors

the development of simplified approaches to assessing nutrient intake and nutritional status

His research is funded by government, ESRC/BBSRC, and medical charities.