In June Dr Lucy Bell attended the International Society of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) annual meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland with a focus on behavioural nutrition and physical activity research that aims to improve human health. With over 1200 delegates, this was a fantastic opportunity to present posters titled ‘Prevalence and socio-economic distribution of eating, physical activity and sedentary behaviour among Australian children in urban and rural communities: An OPAL baseline Evaluation’ and ‘Dietary risk at 1-5 years of age is related to child neophobia and breastfeeding duration but not age of introduction to solids’. In addition to the strong networking opportunities, inspiring keynote speakers included Kylie Ball (Australia), on addressing socioeconomic inequalities in promotion of nutrition and physical activity behaviours, and Kelly Brownell (USA), on creating policy change.

In September Lucy further promoted her work at the 9^th International Conference on Diet and Activity Methods (ICDAM) in Brisbane, Australia. ICDAM is an important forum to discuss the measurement of usual dietary intake and physical activity. Measuring these behaviours is very challenging, yet accurate measurement is essential for understanding how these behaviours impact on health. Over the course of the three-days several experts presented in the field of dietary assessment, including Barbara Livingstone, Clare Collins and Janet Cade. ‘New technologies for improving dietary intake measurement’ was a strong and inspiring theme of the conference. Lucy presented a poster titled ‘Dietary risk at 1-5 years of age is related to child neophobia and breastfeeding duration but not age of introduction to solids’. This study utilised data collected with the Toddler Dietary Questionnaire, a short novel dietary assessment tool developed as part of Lucy’s PhD conferred earlier this year. Next possibility is the Joint Annual Scientific Meeting of the Nutrition Society of NZ and the Nutrition Society of Australia in NZ in December!