UK Nutrition Research Partnership – Advancing Dietary Intake Assessment Virtual Forum: 14 and 21 January 2021, 1–5pm GMT 

The UK Nutrition Research Partnership (UK NRP) for health and disease is a partnership between the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), which resulted as a direct implementation of the recommendations of the OSCHR Review of Nutrition and Human Health Research (PDF, 3.00MB).

Following the publication of this review, the UK NRP wishes to strengthen the UK nutrition research base by supporting robust nutrition-related science, and to foster its integration with research in health and disease, with the aim of optimising health outcomes.

The Advancing Dietary Intake Assessment Virtual Forum aims to contribute towards this overarching ambition of the UK NRP.

Background

Currently, it is not possible to accurately assess and thus understand what people eat, a key factor in defining their nutritional and food environments. Misreporting of dietary intake and variable food composition are the Achilles heel of nutritional science; it limits the robustness of many reported outcomes, from clinical trials to epidemiological studies and the monitoring of government nutritional policies. There has been very little change made to dietary assessment methods for the last 100 years. What can modern technology offer?

The Forum

The Forum will be a two half-day (1-5pm GMT) immersive virtual programme where participants will learn about the challenges around dietary intake assessments and explore technological avenues that might offer solutions. Over the two online working sessions, participants will have an opportunity to engage with researchers from diverse backgrounds, develop research ideas, test and refine these.

The ambition is to foster new collaborations and research projects in an area that is in great need of innovative ideas. The two complementary online working sessions will provide an opportunity to advance the field by building working groups around shared interests, exploring project ideas, as well as discussing funding needs and opportunities. The conversations and insights from the meeting will also inform the discussion and future UK NRP activities.

Organising members of the Forum:

• Prof Gary Frost; Head of Section for Nutrition Research; Imperial College London
• Prof Helen Roche; Full Professor of Nutrigenomics; University College Dublin
• Prof Judy Buttriss; Director General; British Nutrition Foundation
• Prof John Draper; Chair: Nutritional Metabolomics; University of Aberystwyth

Overarching aim of the Forum

To advance the field of dietary intake assessment by developing collaborative and interdisciplinary interactions that facilitate high quality, multidisciplinary solutions and grant applications in the area.

There are five main objectives

1. Develop an interdisciplinary network of scientists who will take the field beyond the state-of-the-art
2. Develop a gap analysis and examination of new opportunities, and the research required to progress this area
3. Explore how improved, robust standardised measures of dietary intake and exposure, suitable for different living environments and demographic groups, can be developed
4. Develop a toolbox which would enable specific questions/gaps to be addressed
5. Develop pathways and research questions for the utilisation and integration of new/emerging technologies

We are particularly keen to foster lateral thinking and exciting and transformative ideas by bringing together expertise from within and outside the current nutrition field, and from diverse disciplinary and methodological backgrounds.

Who should apply

We are looking for people from a broad range of scientific and technical backgrounds who have an interest in nutrition-related science and finding solutions to improve on the current methodologies. If you are interested in attending, please fill in the short application form below and explain your interest in this area of research. To foster opportunities for in-depth conversations and explorations over the two online sessions, places are limited. Please note, attendance to both of the 1-5pm GMT online working sessions is compulsory.

Application details

Attendance will be free of charge. As places are limited, attendees interested in attending need to submit the short application below providing an overview of their experience, their interest in the topic of dietary intake assessment, and what they hope to gain from joining the Forum. Applications will be assessed based on the following criteria:  

• Potential to meaningfully contribute to research on the topic of dietary assessment

• Experience and approach to working in a team

• Motivation for attending the Forum

• Ability to explain complex research topics to non-experts

• Ability to develop, or contribute to the development of, new and original research ideas 

The deadline for application has passed. We will aim to get back to all applicants with an answer by 11th December.