Eligible research projects for ACU Nutrition Science Honours Scholarships


Project Title: The Nutritional Intake of Professional Rugby Union Players

Established Supervisor: Jonathon Weakley <Jonathon.Weakley@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Lachlan Mitchell
Third Supervisor: Adrienne Forsyth

Project Description

The energy that is consumed throughout a training week is an essential consideration for elite level sporting performance. Additionally, in collision sports such as rugby union, there is a need to carefully consider the macronutrient intakes of athletes so that the athletes are adequately fuelled for the demands of the sport. This project will investigate the nutritional intake and body composition of professional Super Rugby players as they train. This Honours project would be ideal for a candidate who is passionate about sports nutrition and working within elite sport.

Description of the research internship opportunity

This scholarship will provide the student an opportunity to work alongside the National Head of Performance Nutrition at Rugby Australia and support the collection of data that feeds into a wider, ongoing project.


Project Title: Determining the efficacy of two different oral iron supplements in female team sport athletes with low iron stores

Established Supervisor: Dr Alannah McKay <Alannah.McKay@acu.edu.au> 
Emerging Supervisor: Dr Sophie Broome

Project Description

Iron deficiency is a global health problem estimated to affect ~33% of non-pregnant women globally. Comparative to men, women can face additional challenges to maintaining healthy iron stores, which includes menstrual blood loss and cyclical changes to estrogen concentrations across the menstrual cycle and the life span. Furthermore, female athletes are at increased risk of iron deficiency due to the additional impact of high-volume exercise on iron regulation. This project will see a student lead one arm of an ongoing randomised control trial, where they will be involved in athlete recruitment, data collection and data analysis. This project will examine the effectiveness of two different oral iron supplements (Ferrograd C™ and Maltofer™) to determine which is better at repleting iron stores over 12 weeks in team sport athletes. A secondary aim will be to determine which supplement is associated with better tolerance and adherence.

Description of the research internship opportunity

The proposed honours project is one arm of a larger RCT been conducted in the MMIHR. The successful student will have the opportunity to contribute to other aspects of the trial. This includes working with other participant cohorts (post-menopausal women, endurance athletes) and learn new analysis techniques (PCR analysis of DNA material). Additionally, the Dr McKay is simultaneously conducting another longitudinal study in a similar space (iron turnover in athlete populations; FeAR study). The successful student will also be invited to work alongside Dr McKay on this trial, gaining experience in new techniques (CO2 rebreathing for haemoglobin mass and administration of food frequency questionnaires for capture of dietary intake). Data collection for this study occurs at the Victorian Institute of Sport, and the applicant’s involvement in this study will facilitate introductions with industry-based staff and exposure to the high performance sport environment.


Project Title: Assessment of dietary quality during time-restricted eating 

Established Supervisor: Evelyn Parr <Evelyn.Parr@acu.edu.au> 
Emerging Supervisor: Lachlan Mitchell
Third Supervisor: Zoe Siviour and Dr Brooke Devlin

Project Description

Individualised dietetic advice is the gold-standard for improving dietary quality for individuals with or at risk of a chronic disease such as Type 2 Diabetes. Recently, dietary advice in the form of time-restricted eating (TRE) has become popular due to a lack of focus on what to eat and a greater focus on when to eat. However, the impact of TRE on overall diet quality is not well understood. This project will involve dietary data collection and diet analysis including assessment of diet quality, to help understand how changing timing of dietary intake influences diet quality and inform future research.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Within the MMIHR, we are conducting multiple in-person human research projects. We obtain information from participants through body composition scans, blood sampling and analysis, exercise tests and questionnaires, as well as dietary records. We are also currently in the process of establishing a metabolic chamber which will involve pilot testing throughout 2024. 

Through the honours project, the student will be immersed in the research team to obtain experience in our various projects from ethics application and participant recruitment through to data collection and final analysis. The internship opportunity would allow the student to build upon and broaden their research experience throughout their honours year


Project Title: Evaluating the feasibility of wearable cameras to capture children’s dietary behaviours 

Established Supervisor: Taren Sanders <Taren.Sanders@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Adam Walsh

Project Description

Self-reported measures of behaviour (including eating behaviours) are fraught with potential biases. It is difficult for parents to recall exactly what their children eat, how much, and when, and are also influenced by social-desirability to make their children's diets seem 'healthier'. Wearable cameras are one method for capturing objective data that can help us see through these problems. With data from 100 children already collected, this project focuses on evaluating the reliability and consistency of coding this image data. The aim is to assess the effectiveness of wearable cameras in providing clear, unbiased insights into children's eating habits and environments.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Dr Sanders leads a research program within IPPE. The research program provides opportunities for students to engage in multiple research projects, and develop experience and skills in areas such as data collection and processing, project management, data analysis, and literature reviews. In the past, students who have taken up internships in the program often transition to paid research assistant work.


Project Title: Exploring social prescribing and culinary nutrition interventions in vulnerable communities

Established Supervisor: Sharon Croxford <Sharon.Croxford@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Emma Stirling
Third Supervisor: Jess Mbaya

Project Description

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. Through the development of a purpose-built study, this project will collect baseline data on the emerging model of social prescribing and explore success factors and barriers to implementation.

Description of the research internship opportunity

The candidate will have the option to participate in knowledge translation activities related to this research including preparing recommendations and reports. There are further opportunities within the discipline to work alongside and learn from researchers in Nutrition & Dietetics conducting ongoing research and participating in other research with the community partner.


Project Title: Sports health professionals’ perspectives and recommendations regarding ultra-processed sports foods

Established Supervisor: Adrienne Forsyth <Adrienne.Forsyth@acu.edu.au> 
Emerging Supervisor: Emma Stirling

Project Description

Sports foods are designed to provide a convenient source of nutrients and are recommended to athletes to support nutrition for performance, recovery, or health where whole foods may be impractical to consume. Their use in sport is strongly supported by the literature; however, the ultra-processed nature of commercial sports foods may be of concern given their association with poor mental and physical health and all-cause mortality. Our earlier research found that half of athletes were concerned about ultra-processed foods. This project will involve interviews with sports health professionals to understand more about their perspectives and recommendations regarding ultra-processed sports foods.

Description of the research internship opportunity

The candidate will have the option to participate in knowledge translation activities related to this research including preparing fact sheets and presentations for athletes and professional bodies. There are further opportunities within the discipline to work alongside and learn from researchers in Nutrition & Dietetics conducting ongoing research including completing data collection and analysis for meta-analyses, contributing to data collection and analysis for scholarship of learning and teaching projects, and participating in co-design workshops with community partners.


Project Title: The representation of indigenous foods in culinary publications in Australia 

Established Supervisor: A/Professor Adrienne Forsyth <Adrienne.Forsyth@acu.edu.au> 
Emerging Supervisor: Associate Professor Sharon Croxford

Project Description

Culinary texts documenting ingredients and recipes have been produced in Australia for more than 150 years. The diet of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders prior to the arrival of Europeans consisted of a rich variety of native animals and plants. The diet of Europeans consisted of imported foods of limited variety, yet they did not enrich their supplies through the exploitation of locally available foods. The aim of the project is to explore the representation of native foods within culinary texts over the past 150 years. The project will incorporate qualitative research methods including content analysis, comparative analysis and an in-depth analysis of recipes by culinary typology.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Students engaged in the Nutrition Science Honours program will have the opportunity to develop research skills and experience through further engagement in ongoing discipline research projects. Activities related to this project include contribution to a systematic review of the literature related to how health professionals, including nutrition and dietetic practice professionals develop cultural competence and safety to practice, and to the development of survey elements on assessing culinary cultural competencies, for embedding in a broader survey on assessing culinary competence in nutrition science and dietetic practice students and professionals.


Project Title: Understanding patient perspectives of face-to-face versus video telehealth/telephone dietetic service for outpatients attending radiotherapy and day chemotherapy services 

Established Supervisor: A/Professor Adrienne Forsyth <Adrienne.Forsyth@acu.edu.au> 
Emerging Supervisor: 
Dr Adam Walsh

Project Description

Telehealth is an effective method of providing dietetic services. It is increasingly offered as a treatment option that may be preferred by patients with geographic or other constraints to face-to-face attendance, or those accessing frequent medical care, such as those attending radiotherapy and day chemotherapy services. The feasibility of providing dietetic services via telehealth should be assessed within the context of the health service and the community it serves. This project will involve small focus groups or interviews with individual patients to explore their perspectives of face-to-face versus video telehealth/telephone dietetic service for outpatients attending radiotherapy and day chemotherapy services.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Students engaged in this project will have the opportunity to develop research skills and experience through participation in ongoing related research activities at ACU and St Vincent’s Hospital. These include, but are not limited to, analysing food record data of completed studies, contributing to systematic reviews exploring related topics, collecting and analysing data for ongoing quality assessment studies, and contributing to the development and validation of new patient-reported experience measures. Further, there will be opportunity to collaborate with discipline staff on other ongoing projects which may afford the opportunity to gain experience across diverse methods and/or areas of expertise.


Project Title: Effectiveness of implementation of an ortho-geriatric clinical pathway for fractured neck of femur admissions 

Established Supervisor: A/Professor Adrienne Forsyth <Adrienne.Forsyth@acu.edu.au> 
Emerging Supervisor: Dr Lachlan Mitchell 
Third Supervisor: Dr Adam Walsh

Project Description

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.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Students engaged in this project will have the opportunity to develop research skills and experience through participation in ongoing related research activities at ACU and St Vincent’s Hospital. These include, but are not limited to, analysing food record data of completed studies, contributing to systematic reviews exploring related topics, collecting and analysing data for ongoing quality assessment studies, and contributing to the development and validation of new patient-reported experience measures. Further, there will be opportunity to collaborate with discipline staff on other ongoing projects which may afford the opportunity to gain experience across diverse methods and/or areas of expertise.