Unsung food heroes

What the nutrition and dietetics workforce can do for you now and into the future

The nutrition and dietetics profession are readying themselves for a big future where diet is key to lifelong health and wellbeing in the face of climate change and an ageing population.

New research out today shows that the nutrition and dietetics profession of the future continues to diversify and will increasingly expand their work across six emerging roles which you may never have heard of before. These are:

Food Afficionados – using expertise on the contemporary human relationship with food and applying this to the health of individuals, communities, businesses and populations. Such as ‘school food and nutrition co-ordinators’.

Diet Optimisers - working to optimise health and wellbeing as well as to manage conditions with overlapping environmental, social, biological, transgenerational and comorbid drivers. Such as ‘mental health and addiction specialists’ or ‘ageing health coaches’.

Knowledge Translators – providing a critical scientific voice which counters non-science-based food and nutrition misinformation which could destabilise human health. Think ‘scientifically qualified social media influencers and personalities’ or ‘research communicators’.

Equity Champions - using an equity, trauma informed lens to address systemic and structural drivers of access to healthy food which is acceptable to individuals, communities and whole populations. Such as ‘disaster food relief coordinators and mobilisers’, ‘food policy advisors’ and ‘person-centred diet coaches’.

Systems Navigators and Food System Activists – leading action to create food and agricultural systems which enable food consumption patterns for human health and also restore a safe climate for planetary health. For example ‘nutrition consultants to agri-business, urban farms and gastro-tourism’.

Change Makers, Activists and Disruptors – negotiating the complex interactions between protecting human health through food, creating financially viable, profit-generating solutions and ensuring equitable food access. Such as a ‘minister of food’ or ‘trade agreement negotiators’ ensuring equitable global distribution of food that maximises human health and reduces the risk to planetary health.

The Council of Deans of Nutrition and Dietetics, Australia and New Zealand, actively works with stakeholders to optimise education and research for a dynamic workforce. A workforce that reimagines and continues to create new frontiers for the optimal health and wellbeing of people and the environment through food. Our university graduates will continue to be ready to reach and extend these boundaries.

This research is a call to the many departments of government and industry, for the many entrepreneurs, researchers, and technologists within and outside the profession, to ensure that we have this skilled nutrition and dietetics workforce everywhere that we need them.

On the tails of World Food Day, think about where the qualified nutrition and dietetics workforce could make a difference in your world right now.

#WorldFoodDay2021 #FoodHeroes

Contact for Professor Danielle Gallegos interview:
Queensland University of Technology
Council of Deans of Nutrition and Dietetics, Australia and New Zealand
danielle.gallegos@qut.edu.au
0409 681 807