
Dr. Michelle Patel and Nicola Nixon, Dept. Health Sciences, York
Children’s dietary quality affects their social, educational and health outcomes. Children consume 30% of their food in school and despite increasing public interest and significant public investment in school food, there remains a lack of understanding over the food quality provided. The recent Food Standards Agency pilot monitoring school food standards compliance found potential for wider adoption of the monitoring scheme, but highlighted issues regarding the ability of the questions used to measure compliance. The student will be an integral part of the FixOurFood team, working on a project related to school food quality. They will be supported to develop a research question and will gain essential research skills including data analysis, critical thinking, academic writing and writing policy briefs. Support will be given to formulate their research question and evaluate the pilot questions by incorporating existing FSA data from the pilot and/or data collected by the FixOurFood in schools team. There will also be regular contact with the teams at the Food Standards Agency and shadowing opportunities. Students will need to find their own accommodation and be expected to present their findings orally at a research day in York in September 2025.