National Teen’s Food Consumption Survey II - Food choice and eating behaviour of 13 to 18 year olds in Ireland

DIT is seeking to recruit a PhD student to work on a Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Marine (DAFM) funded Project. Dr John Kearney, in collaboration with other Irish Universities through the Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance (www.iuna.net), will investigate the dietary intakes of the Irish teenage population and its potential impact on nutrition and health. While several studies have collected data on behaviours and attitudes on feeding styles and food choice in teenagers they lack information on these other variables (dietary, anthropometric and sociodemographic). A particular strength of this study will be having data on diet, physical activity, anthropometry and socio-demographic variables in addition to data on food choice behaviour and attitudes. Research funding from the DAFM has been secured to carry out a dietary survey of school aged children (aged 13-18 years), to be conducted in collaboration with University College Dublin and University College Cork. The successful applicants will be an enthusiastic graduate in BSc Human Nutrition/Dietetics (or equivalent) with a minimum of a 2.1 honours degree or an MSc. The role will involve database construction and analyses and will be principally desk-based. The fieldwork phase for this study is expected to be completed within the first year. Full training will be provided; however, experience of working with food consumption databases and/or dietary intake assessment as well as SPSS would be a distinct advantage and a high level of initiative is expected.