Discipline: Nutrition Science

Individuals with type 2 diabetes are regularly included in clinical trials which investigate dietary and/or exercise advice. However, there is a large gap between what is conducted in a clinical trial and what exists in the "real world" for people with type 2 diabetes. This project aims to capture the experience with and utilisation of health care services to manage type 2 diabetes, with regards to nutrition and physical activity/exercise. This project will involve qualitative interviews with individuals with type 2 diabetes, to help understand barriers and facilitators to making changes to behaviours to manage diabetes and inform future research.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Dr Evelyn Parr ([email protected]), Dr Lachlan Mitchell, Dr Brooke Devlin (UQ)

Campus where project is available: Melbourne

Knowledge and skills in culinary arts is increasingly recognised as an important area of study for students in human nutrition science degrees in order to take advantage of emerging opportunities within industries that are looking for graduates with culinary, food and nutrition science expertise. Undergraduate nutrition science degrees have traditionally attracted students with an interest in food and nutrition from a dietary intervention perspective with varying levels of interest and literacy in the culinary arts. Through the development of a purpose-built survey, the project will collect baseline data from 1st years nutrition science students to measure their culinary science literacy.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Sharon Croxford ([email protected]) & Emma Stirling

Campus where project is available: Melbourne and North Sydney

Teaching kitchens provide opportunity for participants to increase their food and nutrition related knowledge and skills, through practical activities, and achieve positive health outcomes. Teaching kitchens can have many different delivery formats including fixed locations, mobile or online and can reach into communities to deliver interventions. The aim of this research project is to understand the need for a teaching kitchen delivering targeted culinary nutrition interventions in a central Melbourne local government area, with perspectives from local government, local health services, residents, practitioners, and academics used to inform a proposed model.

Established Supervisor: Associate Professor Sharon Croxford

Emerging Supervisor: Dr. Emma Stirling

Hydration is critical for performance. Dehydration not only reduces physical performance but also performance across a range of cognitive tasks including sensation, perception, motor coordination, executive function, attention, and memory. It also appears to impair learning in school children, but whether dehydration impairs the learning of sport-related motor skills remains unknown. Sport-related motor skills are often developed through implicit learning, capitalising on subconscious processes to automate the skill performance, making it more robust in the face of fatigue or psychological pressure. Therefore, this study will assess the impact of thirst and hydration status on implicit learning in young adults.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Doug Whyte ([email protected]), Adrienne Forsyth, Helen Aucote, Ryan Tam

Campus where project is available: North Sydney and Melbourne

Elderly patients with fractured neck of femur are often malnourished on admission. Malnutrition can lead to delayed recovery, an increased length of stay, and increased risk of postoperative complications. Blanket referral to dietetic services and implementation of strategies to prevent or manage malnutrition enables access to dietetic services without the need for screening of this high-risk group. This project will assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the ortho-geriatric clinical pathway with a retrospective audit of dietetic interventions and nutrition outcomes.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Adrienne Forsyth ([email protected]), Lachlan Mitchell, Adam Walsh, in collaboration with St Vincent's Hospital

Campus where project is available: Melbourne