Research interests

We offer a range of nutrition related research interests within the department sub-specialisations. Find out more about our staff and what their research interests are.

Associate Professor Andrea Braakhuis

Human clinical nutrition and food behaviours  

Specific research interests:

  • Food, behaviour and cognitive research
  • Functional foods and bioactive products and their effect on human health
  • Sport and exercise nutrition
  • Body composition and malnutrition in health and disease

Dr Rajshri Roy

Food environment

Public Health

Specific research interests:

  • Digital (m-health) and social media (e-health) interventions in young adults.
  • Food environment interventions for dietary behaviour change.
  • Nutrition education research and dietary interventions for improving dietary behaviours.
  • Impact of dietary behaviours on food security and sustainability.

Dr Troy Merry

Molecular mechanism of metabolic disease

Exercise metabolism

Specific research interests:

  • Understanding the genetic and cellular signalling mechanism controlling metabolism and risk of metabolic disease.
  • Investigative the cellular mechanism through which exercise improved metabolic health.

Dr Amy Lovell

Early life nutrition, weaning foods and their effect on the diversity of the gut microbiome and immune health.  

Specific research interests:

  • Optimising nutrition status in childhood cancer.
  • Paediatric feeding disorders.

Professor Clare Wall

Early life and childhood nutrition

Specific research interests:

  • Influence of diet on the diversity of the gut microbiota.
  • Nutrition and early life course health and development.
  • Dietary assessment methodologies.

Dr David Musson

Mechanisms of musculoskeletal disease onset, progression and healing

Specific research interests:

  • Developing in vitro models to better understand musculoskeletal disease.
  • Understanding the link between increased fat mass and altered metabolic status with tendon disease.
  • Interventions to improve tendon healing.
  • Molecular cross-talk between musculoskeletal tissues.
  • Epidemiology of musculoskeletal disease in New Zealand.
  • Observational studies exploring the relationship between increased fat mass and musculoskeletal disease outcomes.