Information : Job Vacancies and PhD Position

This post brings you some information on a job vacancy and an available funded PhD position. Please make a note of the closing dates for these positions. These have been formatted in bold for your convenience

Job Position: Programme officer (Food safety and nutrition)

Consumers International (CI) is an independent global campaigning voice for consumers. With over 220 member organisations in 115 countries, we are building a powerful international consumer movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere. They are looking for a Programme officer (Food safety and nutrition).

As Programme Officer you will be responsible for developing and delivering an international programme of work addressing consumer concerns in the area of food safety and nutrition. A significant proportion of the work will be delivered in the context of a joint work programme agreed with the World Health Organisation.

The candidate should have at least two years of experience in the subject area and at least one year’s experience of working on multi partner projects.

Consumers International is an equal opportunities employer with a policy to ensure that no job applicant or employee should receive less favourable treatment on any grounds not relevant to good employment practice.

Consumers International is a not for profit company

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job title: Programme officer (4 days per week)

(Food safety and nutrition)

Location: London

Managed by: Head of Campaigns

Duration: Permanent.

Salary: 27,404 pro rata

For more information on this job and to apply visit Consumers International’s website

www.consumersinternational.org/jobs

Contact

Kate Scott

HR Officer

Consumers International

24 Highbury Crescent

London N5 1RX

UK

Tel: 00 44 20 7226 6663

Fax: 00 44 20 7354 0607

Email: kscott@consint.org

Closing date for applications: 5pm Thursday 24 June

Interviews will be held the week beginning 5 July 2010.

PhD studentship available to start in October 2010

*Healthy Environments Research Programme PhD Studentship*

*Neighbourhood food environment and diet in Pittsburgh, USA*

The Healthy Environments Research Programme (HERP) in the Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London in collaboration with RAND, Pittsburgh, USA invites applications for a three-year Queen Mary College Studentship commencing in October 2010.

This studentship will capitalise on an exciting opportunity to be involved in a large 5-year project funded by the US National Institutes of Health investigating the role of the neighbourhood environment on diet in Pittsburgh, USA. This studentship will capitalise on data generated by this project and/or allows scope for a complementary study to take place within the context of the larger project. The final project will be defined by the student in collaboration with the supervisors. The project will involve travel and fieldwork in Pittsburgh and there may be significant opportunities to work with a number US colleagues at RAND, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Illinois, Chicago.

The award is available as a three year Queen Mary College Studentship.
The project will be supervised by Dr Steven Cummins and Dr Dianna Smith (Queen Mary) and Dr Tamara Dubowitz (RAND Pittsburgh, USA).

Candidates should have a good first degree with a strong social scientific component (minimum 2.1). A relevant Masters degree would also be preferred (Geography, GIS, Epidemiology, Public Health, Environmental Psychology, Medical Sociology, Public Health Nutrition and related areas). Applications from individuals with applied or business and industrial experience are also welcome.

Closing Dates :Friday 11th June.

Interviews will be held the week beginning Monday 28th June

Further details are available from here:

http://webspace.qmul.ac.uk/healthyenvironments/opportunities.html
http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/admissions/postgraduate/humangeography/index.html

Professional Development Opportunities

Private sector - Nutrition Research Manager, The Sugar Bureau, London, UK
The Sugar Bureau is offering an exciting opportunity to a Nutrition Research Manager who will be responsible for commissioning new research projects and managing the Sugar Bureau's Research Programme. This will involve keeping abreast of scientific literature in the area of sugar and health, preparing contractual agreements, and managing the research portfolio. In this role you will also be responsible for managing in house and external Sugar Bureau publications, overseeing the research database as well as liaising with the Nutrition Communications Manager to ensure timely issue of press release.

If you have excellent scientific research credentials and hold a relevant post graduate nutrition or food sciences qualification, then this opportunity may be just what you are looking for! You should also be able to demonstrate good interpersonal skills with an ability to communicate at all levels, experience of budget management, attention to detail and a proven track record of consistent achievement of objectives under pressure. Experience at a similar level in a Nutrition or food sciences role would be an advantage.

To apply, please send a copy of your CV and covering letter quoting reference NRM 01 to Dr. Alison Boyd ( alison at sugar-bureau.co.uk ) or at The Sugar Bureau, 25 Floral Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DS

Closing date: Friday 7 May 2010

If successful, you must be available to attend an interview between 18th - 19th May 2010. We will only be able to respond to applicants who are invited to attend an interview.
For more information about the Sugar Bureau please visit http://www.sugar-bureau.co.uk/.

CPD - Exposure Assessment in Nutrition Research, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
1st International Advanced Course

30 August - 3 September 2010
Wageningen, The Netherlands

Background
One of the main objectives of nutrition research is to provide scientific evidence to support understanding of the role of diet in human health and disease. Knowledge on the performance of dietary assessment methods and biomarkers is crucial to optimally design studies in this field. Nutrition research is often blamed for poor exposure assessment that might impair its usefulness. Therefore, studies that evaluate reproducibility and validity of dietary assessment methods are important to allow proper inference. Consequently, researchers must get insight in the concepts and principles underlying evaluation studies.

Target group
The course is meant for university graduates in biomedical sciences; nutrition, epidemiology etc. Knowledge on basic statistical concepts and methods (e.g. linear regression, paired t-test, correlation, ANOVA) and study designs is assumed. The course is focused on PhD students and post-docs as well as participants from the industry and research centres.
The course language will be English.

Registration & course fee
The number of participants to the course is limited to 30.
Please register by completing the course registration form.
Note: to be able to fill in the course registration form, you need an account. To create an account, please click the link above. Don't forget to fill in the course registration form after creating your account.
The final registration date is 26 July 2010. Registrations are accepted in the order in which the course fee payment is received.
The course fee (which includes materials, coffee/tea during breaks, lunches and one dinner but does not cover accommodation) depends on the participant's affiliation:
Industry / For-Profit € 1300
University staff / Non-Profit organisations € 650
PhD students € 450
VLAG PhD students € 225
Applicants will be informed of acceptance of their registration within two weeks of the final registration date. They will then receive instructions for payment, a letter of acceptance and further course details. Cancellations may be made free of charge until, 26 July 2010. After this date the charge will be 25 % of the course fee paid or due. Substitutions may be made at any time.

More details can be found below
http://www.vlaggraduateschool.nl/courses/expo-nut.htm

Alpro Foundation Award for MSc thesis
The Alpro Foundation is calling for master theses related to food and nutrition. The Award is up to €5000.
Submission deadline 20th September 2010
More details can be found below
http://www.alprofoundation.org/awards/masters/announcements/

Deakin University's Short Course on Obesity Prevention

Registrations for the annual Obesity Prevention 5-day Course, hosted by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University and the CO-OPS Collaboration are now open.
Details
Dates: 28th June to 2nd July 2010
Content: Presenters include experts in a range of fields related to obesity prevention and practitioners involved in implementing local community-based obesity prevention programs.
Cost: $1450 early bird rate (before 4th May), $1600 full rate
Includes:

• Comprehensive manual.
• A copy of all presentations.
• Pre-course readings
• All refreshments and lunch for 5 days.
• A copy of the newly released book 'Preventing Childhood Obesity: Evidence, Policy and Practice' featuring contributions from key international experts in a wide range of issues related to childhood obesity prevention.

For program details and registration procedures visit http://www.co-ops.net.au/Pages/Public/Professional_Development.aspx

Rewards for Innovative Ideas in Global Health

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $100 million to encourage scientists worldwide to expand the pipeline of ideas to fight our greatest health challenges. Grand Challenges Explorations, which is funded by the foundation, fosters innovation in global health research. Launched in 2008, Grand Challenge Explorations grants has so far been awarded to 262 researchers from 30 countries.
This grant program is open to all disciplines. The program is open to students, tenured professors, and researchers or innovators from any organization – colleges and universities, government laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies.
The initiative uses an accelerated grant-making process with short two-page applications and no preliminary data is required. Applications are submitted online, and winning grants are chosen approximately 4 months from the submission deadline.
Initial grants of $100,000 are awarded two times a year. Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to $1 million.
The fifth round of applications for grants is now open. For Round 5 of Grand Challenges Explorations, completion of the review process and announcment of decisions is likely in October 2010.
For more information on the topics and procedures visit http://www.grandchallenges.org/Explorations/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Opinion Article:

Dear all,

"As a special series of the PHN blog post, we invite young researchers from developing countries to provide a personal view on public health nutrition in their country and how the YPHN can make a difference. A first contribution comes from Asia, from your blogger / news editor Sangeetha Shyam. If you wish to contribute to this section, please contact us. We hope you enjoy the reading."-The Young Public Health nutrition Network. "

Public Health Nutrition in Asia

The Asian Challenge
Asia is a continent that is best defined by its diversity and this reflects in all aspects of life in Asia, public health nutrition included. Nutritional challenges posed to public health nutritionists in Asia are as diverse as the continent itself. On one side, impoverished regions in Asia struggle to eradicate malnutrition and under-nutrition compounded by the existing illiteracy and poverty. At the other end of the spectrum are the problems associated with over nutrition and obesity. Rapid changes in life style and environmental conditions, and loss of traditional food habits have paralleled an increase in the prevalence of obesity. Therefore Asia’s public health nutrition concerns include a wide spectrum of issues that include ( but is not limited to): decreased purchasing power in the rural and semi-urban areas, food security issues propagated by the distancing of urban population cluster from the food production areas and additional healthcare measures that need to parallel the increasing life expectancies .
There is also the need to ensure gender equality in terms of healthcare, nutrition and education. The fabric of joint-families is unravelling and increasingly the society is getting to see the establishment of nuclear families and with this crumbles the support system for older adults who are getting to live longer. Today’s socio-economic changes have brought in more women into the workforce. The rapidly transitioning Asian society raises more demands and initiatives to maintain healthy lifestyles.

Recognition of Medical Nutrition Therapy

The increasing realization and acceptance of diet in the prevention and treatment of diseases has given “Nutrition” recognition as an allied health science. Nutrition and dietetic courses are offered at various levels at various institutes and universities and are sought after by students. Local print and electronic media often carry articles and columns on food and diet. Issues ranging from weight maintenance to carcinogens in utensils are discussed and deliberated upon. Nutritional knowledge is disseminated to the sections of the society with adequate financial resources and literacy levels that allows them to seek and make use of the available information. There is in essence a definite acceptance of the importance of nutrition in health.

Realizing the Scope for Public Health Nutrition

While nutrition or diet therapy has been recognized as an (optional) adjunct to medical therapy, its application is generally restricted to treatment. It should be noted that there is at present no course that specializes in Public Health Nutrition or "Community Nutrition" as most people know it here, even at post-graduate levels. Opportunities for nutritionists or dieticians are currently restricted to hospital settings or "pseudo"- health care centres- and not enough of these jobs exist for the hundreds of students who pass out every year. Sometimes even these existing positions are under duress because physicians or medical consultants double up as nutritionists since the general feeling is that they are equipped to do so. Research and academic vacancies are still few and rare. The lack of opportunities has driven many nutrition and dietetic students to migrate to other lucrative fields that find increasing “demand” in this geographical region and beyond.

Today, the increased strain on public health care systems caused by genetic predisposition to gestational diabetes, Type 2 DM, and CHD etc. and the increasing health care demands caused by the socio economic issues discussed earlier have led governments to look more into the role of public health nutrition. Results published from various nutritional epidemiological studies conducted here and elsewhere in the world, that identify diet-disease links, and life style modification studies that aim to prevent or delay the onset of chronic diseases, have increased general interest in preventive nutrition, nutritional epidemiology and public health nutrition. Universities and research institutes are increasingly undertaking research projects in public health nutrition. The research projects include cross-sectional studies (that study current trends and assess knowledge, attitude and beliefs related to food consumption, nutritional and physical activity status) and the translational research (with lifestyle intervention that target populations for risk prevention).

Therefore the current climate calls for capacity building among public health nutritionists in Asia to step up to the challenge that is now posed to them and improve their employability in the public health nutrition sectors. Networking among individuals, groups and societies creates effective forums that facilitate exchange of information, and provides windows of opportunities to learn from each other’s experience. Moreover such an interaction builds up recognition and creates an identity for the public health nutritionist. Internet is an economical and effective medium through which such capacity building could be effected. YPHN network has all the elements to be that platform and the link for all public health nutritionists in Asia.

Vacancy- Nutrition Manager,Haiti Emergency Response

World Vision is urgently seeking an emergency nutritionist for their response in Haiti.
Overview : The purpose of this position is to provide technical leadership and management to nutrition programming within WVs emergency response (short and medium term). This position will work in close collaboration with Health, Food, Water/Sanitation/Hygiene sectors and will report to the Health & Nutrition Manager.
Closing Date: February 28, 2010
Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Duration: 1 year
Key Responsibilities
-Establish nutrition surveillance system in WV operational areas
-Conduct nutrition assessments
-Program design – integrate nutrition with health, food and WASH activities
-Develop monitoring and evaluation systems for nutrition activities
- Establish and manage nutrition interventions including, ‘Baby Friendly Areas’ to provide infant feeding support to women with young children, Community-based management of acute malnutrition
-Capacity building – provide training for staff on key nutrition issues (infant and young child feeding, nutrition assessment).
-Develop resources for community level nutrition training
-Represent WVs nutrition programs to local partners – nutrition cluster, Ministry of Health, other NGOs
-Prepare monthly reports on program activities
-Liaise with WV partnership entities - Nutrition Centre of Expertise, Support Offices
Qualifications
-Master’s degree in nutrition, with a minimum of 3 year’s relevant work experience, or a bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 5 year’s relevant work experience
-Strong nutrition technical skills and experience in implementing nutrition programs in the emergency context
-Experience with infant and young child feeding and Community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) programming
-Strong organizational skills
-ability to relate to and motivate local staff effectively
-Good communication skills
-Knowledge of French is desirable
As a child focused organization, World Vision is committed to the protection of children and does not employ staff whose background is not suitable for working with children. All employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of all applicable background checks, including criminal record checks where possible.
Contact: Irene Kiiza Kayaoke, Nutritionist Advisor, World Vision at irene_kiiza@wvi.org

Upcoming Conferences - 2010

Here is a list of conferences lined up for the year 2010
4th Asia Pacific Nutrigenomics conference
“Genes, Diet and Gut Health”
February 21-26, Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.nutrigenomics.org.nz/index/page/220
Contact: john.walker@auckland.ac.nz

Joint Conference - 50th Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention-and- Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism
March 2-6, San Francisco, California, USA
E-mail: scientificconferences@heart.org

Food Safety Education Conference
“Advancements in Food Safety Education: Trends, Tools and Technologies”
March 23-26, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
www.fsis.usda.gov/Atlanta2010

Open Healthgrain Conference 2010
Theme: "Enhancing health benefits of cereal foods - results, perspectives and challenges"
5-7 May 2010, Lund, Sweden
http://lund2010.healthgrain.org/home

3rd World Congress on Controversies to Consensus in Diabetes, Obesity and Hypertension
May 13-16, Prague, Czech Republic
http://www.codhy.com/

The First International Vitamin Conference
May 19-21, Copenhagen, Denmark
http://www.vitamin2010.dk/

78th European Atherosclerosis Society Congress
June 20-23, Hamburg, Germany

4th Scandinavian Pediatric Obesity Conference
July 9-10, Stockholm, Sweden
http://www.childhoodobesity.info/

XI International Congress on Obesity (ICO 2010)
July 11 - 15, Stockholm, Sweden
URL: http://www.ico2010.org/

XV International Congress of Clinical Nutrition
September 19-22, Sokhna Resort, Egypt
Contact: egcairouw@yahoo.com

Second World Congress of Public Health Nutrition
Moving towards a healthy & sustainable nutrition for all
23 to 25 September, Porto, Portugal
https://www.skyros-congressos.com/ni_congressos.asp?id=311 and
http://www.wphna.org/
Contact: mailto:%20nutrition2010@skyros-congressos.com

4th Africa Nutritional Epidemiology Conference
Nutrition and Food Secuity: Successes and Challenges.
October 4-8, Nairobi, Kenya.
http://www.anec4.or.ke/

American Dietetic Association Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo
November 6 – 9, Boston, USA
http://www.eatright.org/

14th Asia Oceania Congress of Endocrinology
December 2-5, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
http://www.aoce2010.com/

Y Public Health Nutrition's New Blogger/ News Editor

I know this introduction is coming in a bit late, but nevertheless I just wanted to say "Hi!"
I am Sangeetha. I am the new blogger or news editor at http://yphnutrition.blogspot.com/. I have a Masters in Food and Nutrition from Women’s Christian College, affiliated to the University of Madras, India. I currently reside with my family at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where I am a PhD student in Nutrition at the International Medical University. I have also lived in Indonesia for over a decade before we moved in to KL. I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy the unique character of each of these countries, their colour, culture and lifestyle.

I intend to post information regarding grants, vacancies and conferences, research updates, opinion articles and other issues pertaining to Public Health Nutrition and related fields. If you do have such information, and you want to share it with all our readers please write to me at the email address given below.

Each month we also hope to take up a theme of interest for discussion in this blog. YPHNN welcomes and looks forward to emails from all YPHNN members. We would love to hear your comments and suggestions on themes/subjects that you think should be discussed in this blog.
You can reach me at sangeetha.yphn@gmail.com
Regards,
Sangeetha

Fellowship Position at UNC

The American Institute for Cancer Research announces that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is now accepting applications for an AICR-funded two-year research track position in the Department of Nutrition.
The Marilyn Gentry Fellowship in Nutrition and Cancer is designed to support individuals who have completed their doctoral work. Fellows receive further training to enrich and accelerate a research career in the field of diet and cancer. The successful candidate will be appointed as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition and will receive two years of organized mentoring in the specific skills necessary to succeed as an academic scientist.
The 2010-2012 Fellowship will support a scientist in the area of epidemiology who studies an aspect of energy balance and cancer prevention, treatment, or survivorship. He or she will be under the mentorship of AICR Distinguished Professor, Dr. June Stevens, as well as other faculty at UNC Chapel Hill and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The American Institute for Cancer Research proudly announces that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is now accepting applications for an AICR-funded two-year research track position in the Department of Nutrition.
The Marilyn Gentry Fellowship in Nutrition and Cancer is designed to support individuals who have completed their doctoral work. Fellows receive further training to enrich and accelerate a research career in the field of diet and cancer. The successful candidate will be appointed as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition and will receive two years of organized mentoring in the specific skills necessary to succeed as an academic scientist.
The 2010-2012 Fellowship will support a scientist in the area of epidemiology who studies an aspect of energy balance and cancer prevention, treatment, or survivorship. He or she will be under the mentorship of AICR Distinguished Professor, Dr. June Stevens, as well as other faculty at UNC Chapel Hill and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Special Instructions:
To apply, use the electronic submission website at http://jobs.unc.edu/1002241. Submit the following materials electronically: curriculum vitae, statement of interest/qualifications, scores from GRE or similar standardized test taken within the past 10 years, and a list of three references with contact information. Position is open until filled.

Contact:
If you experience any problems accessing the system or have questions about the application process, please contact the University's Equal Employment Opportunity Office at (919) 966-3576 or send an email to equalopportunity@unc.edu.

If you have any questions about the job requirements or the hiring department, please contact Janet Scearce, Human Resources Facilitator, 919-966-5527, jscearce@email.unc.edu.
For more information visit this link

Research Communication- Longitudinal and secular trends in adolescent whole-grain consumption, 1999–2004

Study Authors: Teri L Burgess-Champoux, Nicole I Larson, Dianne R Neumark-Sztainer, Peter J Hannan and Mary T Story
Objectives of the Study: This study aimed to examine demographic disparities and 5-y longitudinal and secular trends (1999–2004) in whole-grain intake among 2 cohorts of Minnesota adolescents.
Results: In 1999, 11% of adolescent males and 13% of adolescent females reported that they consumed more than one daily serving of whole grains. Whole-grain intake was lowest among youth of the Native American and white races and among youth of high socioeconomic status. During the transition from middle to late adolescence, whole-grain intake increased by a mean of 0.14 daily servings among adolescent males and 0.09 daily servings among adolescent females. No significant changes in whole-grain intake were shown among either sex during the transition from early to middle adolescence. Yeast breads, popcorn, and ready-to-eat breakfast cereals were major sources of whole grains in 1999 and 2004.
Conclusion: Findings suggest the need to advance efforts that target improvements in the amount of whole-grain foods selected by adolescents.
Study Published in: Am J Clin Nutr 91: 154-159, 2010.
Link URL : http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/short/91/1/154?rss=1