Back to search results

PhD Studentship: Greening Minds and Bodies: Assessing the Physical, Psychological and Environmental Impacts of a Plant-based Diet Intervention. MRC GW4 BioMed DTP PhD Studentship 2025/26 Entry

University of Exeter - Public Health and Sport Sciences - Department of Public Health and Sport Sciences

Qualification Type: PhD
Location: Exeter
Funding for: UK Students, EU Students, International Students
Funding amount: £19,237
Hours: Full Time, Part Time
Placed On: 11th September 2024
Closes: 4th November 2024
Reference: 5246

About the GW4 BioMed2 Doctoral Training Partnership

The partnership brings together the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff (lead) and Exeter to develop the next generation of biomedical researchers. Students will have access to the combined research strengths, training expertise and resources of the four research-intensive universities, with opportunities to participate in interdisciplinary and 'team science'. The DTP already has over 90 studentships over 6 cohorts in its first phase, along with 58 students over 3 cohorts in its second phase.

Project Summary:

Are you passionate about the intersection of health, sustainability, and behaviour change? Join our cutting-edge research project to learn interdisciplinary skills and drive real-world change! This project examines the potential benefits of plant-based diets, which have 75% less environmental impact and could prevent 24% of premature deaths.

We’ll explore the effects of a temporary plant-based diet plus personalised feedback on health and environmental benefits in students in catered halls. We’ll examine effects on nutrition, environmental impact, physical and psychological health and assess the immediate and longer-term effects, while identifying the key challenges and enablers of adopting a plant-based diet.

Project Information

Project Description:

Large reductions in meat and dairy intake are crucial to achieving population health and climate goals. Vegan diets, with 75% less environmental impact (Scarborough et al., 2023), could prevent 24% of premature deaths (Willett et al., 2019), and increase the proportion of adults (one-third) meeting recommended fruit and vegetable intake. Governments are keen to implement policies that promote plant-based diets to meet net-zero commitments and improve population health. Changing default meals (e.g., in university catered halls) and providing personal feedback on the health and environmental impact of diets are among the most effective strategies (Onwezen et al., 2024; Frie et al., 2022). This unique project will examine the effects of a temporary plant-based diet (i.e., Vegan for one month) in students on multiple outcomes including nutritional intake, environmental impact, physical and psychological health, and attitudes. Participants will receive personalized feedback on nutrition via an app developed by our commercial partner, Fueld (https://www.fueld.ai/). As an iCase studentship, Fueld will provide access to their app and will host the student for a 3-month placement where the student will develop distinctive data analysis and app development skills. The study will evaluate the effects during a one month intervention and at a six-month follow-up.

*RQ: Does switching from an omnivorous to a plant-based diet for one month have a positive impact on nutrition, environmental impact, physical health, psychological wellbeing and attitudes towards plant-based diets?

We will recruit omnivorous students in university catered halls to facilitate dietary change and standardise meal measurement. Participants will receive guidance on how to follow a plant-based diet for one month, choosing options in their catered halls (breakfast/dinner), and university food outlets (lunch). They will log their daily food intake using a smartphone app (Fueld.ai) before and after the intervention to assess adherence. The control group, from a separate catered hall, will only receive information about UK dietary guidelines (omnivorous diet). The student will work on validating and testing the feasibility of a smartphone app to capture dietary intake data, measure environmental, physical and psychological outcomes associated with adopting a plant-based diet, and use results to engage with stakeholders to help implement lessons learnt.

We value your feedback on the quality of our adverts. If you have a comment to make about the overall quality of this advert, or its categorisation then please send us your feedback
Advert information

Type / Role:

Subject Area(s):

Location(s):

PhD tools
 

PhD Alert Created

Job Alert Created

Your PhD alert has been successfully created for this search.

Your job alert has been successfully created for this search.

Ok Ok

PhD Alert Created

Job Alert Created

Your PhD alert has been successfully created for this search.

Your job alert has been successfully created for this search.

Manage your job alerts Manage your job alerts

Account Verification Missing

In order to create multiple job alerts, you must first verify your email address to complete your account creation

Request verification email Request verification email

jobs.ac.uk Account Required

In order to create multiple alerts, you must create a jobs.ac.uk jobseeker account

Create Account Create Account

Alert Creation Failed

Unfortunately, your account is currently blocked. Please login to unblock your account.

Email Address Blocked

We received a delivery failure message when attempting to send you an email and therefore your email address has been blocked. You will not receive job alerts until your email address is unblocked. To do so, please choose from one of the two options below.

Max Alerts Reached

A maximum of 5 Job Alerts can be created against your account. Please remove an existing alert in order to create this new Job Alert

Manage your job alerts Manage your job alerts

Creation Failed

Unfortunately, your alert was not created at this time. Please try again.

Ok Ok

Create PhD Alert

Create Job Alert

When you create this PhD alert we will email you a selection of PhDs matching your criteria.When you create this job alert we will email you a selection of jobs matching your criteria. Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply to this service. Any personal data you provide in setting up this alert is processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice

Create PhD Alert

Create Job Alert

When you create this PhD alert we will email you a selection of PhDs matching your criteria.When you create this job alert we will email you a selection of jobs matching your criteria. Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply to this service. Any personal data you provide in setting up this alert is processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice

 
 
 
More PhDs from University of Exeter

Show all PhDs for this organisation …

More PhDs like this
Join in and follow us

Browser Upgrade Recommended

jobs.ac.uk has been optimised for the latest browsers.

For the best user experience, we recommend viewing jobs.ac.uk on one of the following:

Google Chrome Firefox Microsoft Edge