Ms Emma Stirling
Associate Professor
Discipline of Nutrition and Dietetics
Areas of expertise: nutrition; culinary nutrition; food is medicine dietetics; gastronomy; food science; food trends; dietary behaviours; nutrition communication; food industry product development; online teaching; work integrated learning; nutrition employability; entrepreneurship
Phone: 03 9230 8578
Email: Emma.stirling@acu.edu.au
Location: ACU Melbourne Campus
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1702-838X
Emma Stirling is an Associate Professor in nutrition and dietetics at our Melbourne campus. She is also an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian, Fellow of Dietitians Australia and anaward-winning nutrition communicator. As Culinary Nutrition Practice Lead Emma brings her extensive industry experience from the food, hospitality, media and health sectors to the curriculum design, teaching and research of this exciting new field. At ACU Emma is also responsible for helping drive partnerships and programs with a range of community, cultural and industry groups nationally and in the Asia Pacific region.
Select publications
- Stirling, E., Croxford, S., & Thomas, O. (2025). Developing a Competency Framework for Culinary Nutrition and Culinary Medicine: Defining Interconnecting Domains for Interprofessional Practice and Delivery. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 125(10), A9–A9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2025.06.037 with full Interprofessional Framework of Culinary Nutrition and Culinary Medicine Competencies for PDF download here: https://lnkd.in/gyZM4UjV
- Croxford, S., Stirling, E., MacLaren, J., McWhorter, J. W., Frederick, L., & Thomas, O. W. (2024). Culinary Medicine or Culinary Nutrition? Defining Terms for Use in Education and Practice. Nutrients, 16(5), 603. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16050603
- Croxford, S., Stirling, E., McLeod, S., Biesiekierski, J., Murray, E., Ng, A. H., Bramley, A., & Forsyth, A. (2022). An exploratory study of industry perspectives to inform undergraduate nutrition employability initiatives. Nutrition & Dietetics, 79(4), 447-455. https://doi.org/10.1111/1747-0080.12731
- Stirling, E., Willcox, J., Ong, K.-L., & Forsyth, A. (2021). Social media analytics in nutrition research: a rapid review of current usage in investigation of dietary behaviours. Public Health Nutrition, 24(6), 1193-1209. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980020005248
- Murray, E., McLeod, S., Biesiekierski, J., Ng, A., Croxford, S., Stirling, E., Bramley, A., & Forsyth, A. (2020). Employability initiatives in undergraduate education and application to human nutrition: A scoping review. Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability, 11(1), 63-80. https://doi.org/10.21153/jtlge2020vol11no1art901
- Horvath, D., Stirling, E., Bevacqua, J., Coldrey, M., & Buultjens, P. (2019). Plan, prepare and connect : How investing in understanding and tracking the evolving needs of online students informs the development of targeted programs for transition and success. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 16(1), 47-61. https://doi.org/10.53761/1.16.1.4
Textbook:
- Croxford, S., & Stirling, E. (2020). Understanding the science of food : from molecules to mouthfeel. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Projects
2020 - ongoing
- Defining key terms, competencies and practice in culinary nutrition, culinary medicine, teaching kitchens and food is medicine
2021- ongoing
- Investigating culinary nutrition interventions in various settings, populations and interprofessional practice
Accolades and Awards
- Council on Future Practice FNCE 2025 Scientific Poster Prize– Issued by Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
- Fellow Dietitians Australia – 2024
- Lecture of Honour Recipient - Presented by Karen Inge Dietitians Australia National Conference 2021
- Advanced Accredited Practising - Issued by Dietitians Association of Australia · Sep 2018
- La Trobe University Staff Award - Contributing to an outstanding student experience - Dec 2016
- 2014 BUPA National Best Blog Award - Healthy Eating Category 2014 for Scoop Nutrition
- National Award of Merit - Issued by Dietitians Association of Australia · Apr 2012
- Recognising Emma's mentoring and leadership in social media innovation within the profession.
Appointments and Affiliations
- Fellow Dietitians Association of Australia
- Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian, Dietitians Australia
