Originally graduating from Nutrition and Dietetics, Alex Manson and Dimity Dutch have gone onto complete their PhDs side-by-side and graduate together today!
Alex’s research explored perceptions of the current school food system and the features that influence parental acceptability of a potential school-provided meal system in Australia, while Dimity’s investigated child health behaviour screening in primary health care as a strategy to support growth, health and development in the early years.
To cut through the health jargon for you – they both want to see children live happy, health lives. We chatted to Alex and Dimity on graduation day.
ALUMNI TEAM (AT): With so many avenues for dietitians, why did you choose to focus your research on improving and supporting childhood health?
We are both passionate about supporting children and families in the settings where they learn, grow, work, and play. Our PhD programs of work explore different strategies for ‘building the village’ that it takes to raise a child in Australia.
Alex: My work focuses on equitable, nutritious food being available in schools. I was drawn to this area because of the opportunity to make a population impact within key developmental years, reaching all Australian children.
Dimity: My work focuses on encouraging and enabling early childhood health promotion in primary health care. Primary health care is a valued and trusted setting for children and families, and is therefore an ideal setting for promoting and supporting children’s eating and movement behaviours.
AT: What real-world impact do you hope to achieve with the work you did in your PhD?
Alex: I am excited that my research has led to transformation of the school food systems in several schools across Australia, now providing hot meals during the school day. I received a Heart Foundation Fellowship to support me in continuing my work in the school food space, translating my PhD findings and community needs into a toolkit to design and implement school-provided meals.
Dimity: I hope that the findings of my PhD, along with other collaborative projects I am involved in, continue to build the evidence base to transform early childhood health promotion in primary health care. My PhD developed and pilot-tested a child health behaviour screening tool to support monitoring and health promoting conversations between caregivers and healthcare practitioners. The child health behaviour screening tool, embedded into routine child health checks or immunisation appointments, would enable tailored, non-stigmatising, and positive health behaviour focussed conversations in primary health care.
AT: How did you support each other through the PhD process? How did the Office of Graduate Research and wider Uni support you?
Dimity: I feel so grateful to have been on this journey together. It was the little moments that made all the difference for me. The morning coffee runs, taking a break to enjoy lunch outside, and sending each other snippets of work or questions to get the other persons feedback.
Alex: We both also loved being at Flinders for our PhD journeys, feeling very supported by the OGR while navigating the complexities of completing a PhD. The OGR supported me through an international field trip grant and Dimity through international conference attendance, allowing us to network and gain unique research experiences. I was also a HDR Representative in CNHS and really enjoyed contributing to fostering a supportive HDR community in the college. Having supportive people in our villages, including each other, made a huge difference in our PhD experiences.
AT: What are your future goals and plans?
Alex: I love the area I work in, so I hope to continue supporting schools and seeing impactful school-provided meal programs grow!
Dimity: I am currently living and working as a postdoctoral researcher at University College Cork in Ireland. I am loving all the new adventures and opportunities that this role has given me so far (both personally and professionally) and I am excited for whatever comes next!