Discipline: Nutrition Science

Continuous glucose monitors have entered the market for people with type 2 diabetes, but they currently come at a higher cost to the consumer. There is active lobbying to improve and subsidise the access to such monitors, which would increase uptake. As a result, there is a need to develop resources which will assist Allied Health professionals, such as Accredited Practising Dietitians, to integrate feedback from glucose monitors into consultations. As a part of a larger project, this work will involve the development and evaluation of resources specific to dietitians supporting individuals with type 2 diabetes and continuous glucose monitoring.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Dr Evelyn Parr (evelyn.parr@acu.edu.au), Dr Lachlan Mitchell, A/Prof Adrienne Forsyth, Dr Brooke Devlin (UQ)

Campus where project is available: Melbourne

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 (evelyn.parr@acu.edu.au), Dr Lachlan Mitchell, Dr Brooke Devlin (UQ)

Campus where project is available: Melbourne

The emergence of GLP-1 agonist drugs in the treatment and management of obesity and type 2 diabetes has reshaped the obesity field. Whilst many GLP-1 intervention studies have rigorously assessed weight loss outcomes, very few have objectively assessed the impact on dietary intake, and none have assessed dietary quality. Consequently, there is a risk that post-GLP-1 dietary behaviours may impact other disease states, including exacerbating the loss of lean tissue through low protein intake. This project will objectively assess dietary intake and perceptions of dietary behaviours of individuals prescribed GLP-1 medications for obesity within an established weight loss clinic.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Dr Evelyn Parr (evelyn.parr@acu.edu.au), Assoc Prof Xochitl de la Piedad Garcia, Dr Marno Ryan (St Vincents Hospital, Melbourne), 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 (Sharon.croxford@acu.edu.au) & Emma Stirling

Campus where project is available: Melbourne and North Sydney

Building on an earlier project, this project aims to further explore the changes in culinary publications in relation to changes in the cultural diversity in Australia. Australia has a long history of migration with various groups migrating in significant numbers over the past 70-80 years. At the same time Australia has a strong history of culinary publications in newspapers, magazines and food and cook books. The project aims to bring these themes together to analyse culinary publications from a multicultural perspective and to explore representation of culture through these texts.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Sharon Croxford (Sharon.croxford@acu.edu.au) & 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. A mobile teaching kitchen has potentially greater influence as it can reach into communities to deliver interventions. The aim of this research project is to understand the need for a mobile teaching kitchen 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.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Sharon Croxford (Sharon.croxford@acu.edu.au) & Emma Stirling

Campus where project is available: Melbourne

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 (doug.whyte@acu.edu.au), Adrienne Forsyth, Helen Aucote, Ryan Tam

Campus where project is available: North Sydney and Melbourne

Research-informed practice underpins work in nutrition and exercise environments, from general and clinical populations through to world champion athletes. The validity of findings in such research is often limited to the population in which the research was conducted. While research findings with healthy, recreationally active individuals supports nutrition and exercise recommendations for this large demographic, it has limited transferability to elite athletes due to myriad reasons, including genetics, physiological adaptations, and extremely high training loads. Given this limitation in research transferability, recruiting elite athletes into research can support the health and performance of this population. However, there is a constant challenge in accessing such a population to participate in research studies. Therefore, this study aims to explore strategies used to recruit national, international, and world class athletes as research participants. One on one interviews with experienced researchers who conduct research with elite athletes will be conducted. Interviews will focus on the strategies used by to recruit athletes as participants. Interviews will be recorded, transcribed, and thematically analysed using an inductive approach. Findings will support researchers to recruit elite athletes as participants in future research.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Lachlan Mitchell (lachlan.mitchell@acu.edu.au), Adrienne Forsyth

Campus where project is available: North Sydney and Melbourne

Melbourne (and Victoria) is known for its multiculturalism, with most migrants in Australia living in Victoria. While there is a lag between the settlement of a new migrant group and established access to foods from the migrant groups traditional culinary culture, inevitably food stores, cafes and restaurants become open in areas where the migrant group settles. The aim of this project is to evaluate whether 'ethnic' eating establishments in neighbourhoods affect people's perception of that 'ethnic' culture and cuisine. Do they help to build cultural literacy or tolerance? Do they help to establish social cohesion? Can they help to break down barriers? This research builds on an earlier project to answer some of these questions.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Sharon Croxford (Sharon.croxford@acu.edu.au) & Adrienne Forsyth

Campus where project is available: Melbourne and North Sydney

Social prescribing is increasingly recognised as an important future development of personalised healthcare particularly with vulnerable communities. Social prescribing connects people to local, non-clinical services in their area to support their health and wellbeing. Culinary nutrition interventions such as cooking classes are an example of one type of activity. Referrals to social prescribing services can be made by both GPs and other healthcare professionals, as well as schools, housing associations and other community organisations. Cultivating Community is a Melbourne based not-for-profit organisation gaining expertise in culinary nutrition interventions linked to social prescribing. Building on an earlier study, this project will continue to explore success factors and barriers to implementation of social prescribing.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Sharon Croxford (Sharon.croxford@acu.edu.au,) Emma Stirling

Campus where project is available: Melbourne and North Sydney

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 (Adrienne.forsyth@acu.edu.au), Lachlan Mitchell, Adam Walsh, in collaboration with St Vincent's Hospital

Campus where project is available: Melbourne

Dietitians are often under-recognised members of palliative care teams. There is little research on dietetics in palliative care, and studies exploring dietitians' views have identified a need for research to establish evidence for this area of practice. Using a patient-centred approach to healthcare, patient views will be explored as a first step in establishing the importance of dietetic services. This project aims to understand patient perspectives on the role of the dietetic service in an inpatient palliative care service.

Project supervisor(s) and contact email address: Adrienne Forsyth (Adrienne.forsyth@acu.edu.au), Wendy Stuart-Smith, in collaboration with St Vincent's Hospital

Campus where project is available: Melbourne