About Us

Background

The Smart Foods Centre was originally established in 1999 as an ARC Key Centre for Teaching and Research, and from 2007 has continued to be a University of Wollongong research initiative within the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences.

The Smart Food Centre was established with a mandate to provide research and educational support for the Australian Food Industry. The Centre provides a research base for one of Australia's most prestigious training programs in nutrition and dietetics.

Vision

To provide leadership and excellence in food and nutrition research and teaching in Australia.

Mission

To support the University of Wollongong’s investment in food and nutrition by providing an internationally linked, innovative and productive research and teaching environment, with a strong work ethic to deliver quality research products and services for professional, government and food industry stakeholders .

Teaching

The Smart Foods Centre provides a rich environment for research at the professional, graduate student and post doctorate level. Academic staff support the teaching of research methodology in the School of Health Sciences and help build the PhD student base. The Centre maintains a number of international linkages, with at least six international students on placement during the year. The Centre has a formal arrangement with the University of Kuopio and receives students regularly from France, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Research

The Smart Foods Centre conducts research funded through the National Competitive Grants Scheme, with outcomes and impact factors that fit within the UOW strategic plan. The Centre also supports its research funding through commercially funded research projects for companies within the Australian food and beverage industry.

The core capabilities of the research within the centre are:

Clinical dietary intervention trials

• Expertise in trial design with food, food components and whole diet variables
• Meal studies to assess appetite, short term intervention studies (crossover or parallel designs), long term dietary intervention trials
• Assessment of usual dietary intake, body composition and general clinical outcome variables

Whole room calorimeter studies

• Experimental protocols and data analysis for 8hr and 24hr energy expenditure

Observational studies

• Cross sectional studies of dietary variables and health

Social and behavioural research

• In depth interviews and focus groups (Thematic and discourse analysis with a range of theoretical positions)
• Survey research

Health services research

• Quality assurance studies
• Health service evaluation

Critical reviews of the scientific literature

• Evidence based practice reviews
• Narrative reviews
• Regulatory reviews

Commercial reports/nutrition communications

• The roles of foods in the healthy diets
• Opportunities in functional foods

The research of the Centre focuses on diet and lifestyle related disease, notably obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, with further work on meeting nutritional requirements. There is an emphasis on translation of research to practice. This includes a separate research stream on the social and behavioural aspects of nutrition relating to nutrition communications, food policy and public health nutrition policy.