Margaret Anne Defeyter

Margaret "Greta" Anne Defeyter is a British psychologist who is Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Northumbria University. Her research looks to understand food insecurity, school breakfast club programmes, and the impact of holiday hunger programmes on the cognitive performance and wellbeing of children. She was Children's Food Hero by Sustain in 2006, and appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2024. In 2026 she was included in the UK's Who's Who.

Early life and education Defeyter returned to the United Kingdom in 1993 after living in the United States. She studied psychology at the University of Essex. She has said that whilst she was supported by a Local Education Authority grant, she still struggled to make ends meet. Her early research looked to understand how children understand the functions of objective. She showed that children on free school dinners lag behind their more affluent peers. Defeyter worked with Kellogg's and Magic Breakfast to show the influence of breakfast clubs on school attendance and punctuality.

Defeyter served as an advisor on the Department for Education Holiday Activities and Food Programme which provides food and childcare to low income families in the United Kingdom. which develops strategies to tackle poverty and inequality in Gateshead.

Defeyter worked with the Centre For Young Lives to create an evidence-based strategy to increase children's physical activity, mental health and wellbeing. This included enrolment on free school dinners, improve the nutritional content of school meals and increase access to physical activity throughout the school day.

Awards and honours 2006 Sustain Children's Food Hero 2015 Fellow of the British Psychological Society

Selected publications