Research Interests:

My primary research focuses on elucidating the role of food and diet on sustainable health and disease prevention. Specialist methodological areas include dietary assessment, modelling optimised diets, and nutritional epidemiology.

 Key interests include:

• Understanding the role of diet on health and wellbeing in both UK and low to medium income countries.
• Identifying the dietary and environmental factors associated with flare risk of patients living with inflammatory bowel disease  
• Assuring fair access safe food and sustainable diets
• Evaluating and modelling diet quality and the impact of dietary mycotoxin exposure in vulnerable populations (e.g. children and risk of stunting).  
• Compiling and developing novel food composition databases

Activities:

• Manager of the University of Aberdeen’s dietary assessment service, providing dietary assessment and analytical support to external partners and collaborators.
• Member of advisor group for Aberdeen City Health & Social Care Partnership, local outcome improvement plan.
• UK Nutrition Society member & committee member of Scottish section.
• Invited peer reviewer for nutrition journals including British Journal of Nutrition; Public Health Nutrition, American Journal of Nutrition; European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Nutrients.
• Member of EuroFIR network, the European Food Information resource team.  

 Postgraduate Research Supervision

 - PhD research projects:

• Kadri Bobrovski (2021-current) ‘Development short dietary assessment tools for monitoring diet disease interactions
• Aroub Alnasser (2013-2020, PT) ‘Using mobile technology for weight reduction among Saudi women’ (completed 2020)
• Natasha Falconer (2014-2018) ‘Rice: maximising nutrient quality, while ensuring environmental sustainability and minimum heavy metal contamination’ (completed 2017).
• Santosh Gaihre (2013-2018) ‘Feasibility of community-based agricultural and household interventions to improve health, household food security and the environment in Nepal’ (completed 2016)
• Dilip Upreti (2010-2014)‘Nutritional needs for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) in Nepal’ (completed 2014).

 - MSc research project supervision 2-4 students annually since 2012

• MSc research topics have include:
  • Resourcefulness, Desperation, Shame, Gratitude and Powerlessness: Common Themes Emerging from A Study of Food Bank Use in Northeast Scotland' 
  • Dietary iodine intake and status of UK population
  • Land use requirements of a sample healthy environmentally sustainable diet
  • Inflammatory diets and IBD risk
  • FODMAP and IBD flare risk
  • AGEs exposure association with levels of cognitive function
  • Diet and reduction of flare in an IBD patient cohort
  • Antidiabetic properties of plant-based foods

 Teaching:

• Programme coodinator for online Masters in Public Health (2020-current) and  MSc Human Nutrition programme 2013-2019
• Individual course coordinator: Public Health Nutrition (2015-2016, 2019-current); Foundations of Nutrition (2013-2016); Nutrition and Health (2013-2016); Assessment of Nutrition Status (2013-2016); Metabolic Nutrition (2013-2015); MSc research projects (2012-2019).
• External examiner: Plymouth University BSc (hons) Dietetics and Human Nutrition (2020-2024) & University of Malta, BSC (hons) Food Science and Human Nutrition (2019-2020 & 2021-2022).
• Memeber of Institute of Applied Health Sciences Assessment review panel.