Alexandra Manson is from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and is one of the eight winners of the Best HDR Student Publication Award for 2024.

Her winning publication Unpacking the cost of the lunchbox for Australian families: a secondary analysis explores the potential of school-provided meals in Australia, particularly understanding the parent perspective.

Alexandra is supervised by Dr Brittany Johnson and Professor Rebecca Golley at Flinders University.

We invited Alexandra to share insights into her PhD journey and what winning this award means.

 

What does your publication explore?

This publication aimed to determine what families are currently paying for school lunchboxes in Australian primary schools, and to examine associations between food costs and socio-demographic factors with diet quality.

This research, conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Newcastle, explored the costs of lunchboxes to Australian families, recognising the challenges of rising costs of living for parents and need to create supportive systems to ease the burden of school food.

I promoted this research in a media release, resulting in me being interviewed for a national TV news story and numerous radio interviews unpacking school lunchbox spending in Australia, which was a great experience.

Tell us about your PhD journey so far

I am at the end of my PhD journey, which is bittersweet! I have loved the PhD experience, particularly being part of a supportive team and being involved in the college as a CNHS HDR representative. I enjoyed the opportunities provided by a PhD, including the chance to complete an international field trip to see school food systems in the UK, Sweden and France.

I have learnt a lot over my PhD journey, finding a passion for school food research and working with communities, schools, teachers, parents and students.

What does winning this award mean to you?

It was an honour to receive this award. I will use the award to support me in travelling to Auckland, New Zealand to present at the ISBNPA conference in June.

Why did you choose to commence a PhD?

I began my PhD after completing my undergraduate degree in Nutrition and Dietetics here at Flinders Uni. I completed a placement in a primary school, then my honours on the nutrition of school food, finding an interest in public health and the potential of the school setting. Completing a PhD allowed me to design research studies that interested me, with potential to make an impactful change with my research.

What are your future goals and plans? / Where do you see your career heading in the future?

I am currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Caring Futures Institute, mainly focused on school food research and community nutrition. I continue to work closely with communities, now supporting them in establishing new school-provided meal programs. It is incredibly rewarding to be involved in the school food sector and I hope to continue my work in this area!