I am a qualitative social scientist whose research focuses the interactions between nutrition research and public health policy. My PhD Obesity: A historical account of the construction of a modern epidemic spanned medical sociology, public health policy and the history of medicine. I have subsequently worked on food security policy and commercial actors’ understandings of public health regulation. I have a growing teaching portfolio, experience of a range of research methods, including documentary analysis and interviewing lay and professional publics. I am also co-convenor of the interdisciplinary network Food Researchers in Edinburgh (FRIED) and currently organise the network’s seminar series.

National and international food policy, especially the areas of public health nutrition, food security and sustainability
Global health governance and the work of the WHO and the FAO
The development of nutrition science and chronic disease epidemiology in the UK and the US
Interactions between research evidence and public policy
Popular understandings of nutrition and healthy eating