Launching Digital Food PhD

When starting my PhD in October last year, I knew I wanted a way to record my journey and share my research outputs as the work progresses. Therefore, I am now launching my Digital Food PhD blog, which I plan to post updates on throughout my journey as a Postgraduate Researcher. My goal for 2024 is to write a monthly article for the blog covering different aspects of my research journey and advice for current and future students, as well as provide information for academics, public health and industry professionals, and general audiences. 


Over the first three months of my PhD, I have had some incredibly insightful conversations with key stakeholders from government departments, industry and academia. I thoroughly enjoyed these brilliant opportunities to discuss my research and understand how it fits into the bigger picture. I’m also very grateful for the substantial interest my research ideas have received and am genuinely excited to use this blog as a platform to keep anyone interested updated!

Digital Food Environments & Beyond

What does my research cover and what are my long-term ambitions for the project?


The core theme of my research is Digital Food Environments (e.g. online food retail, meal delivery apps and social media platforms) and the digital features that can influence consumer choice. Carrying out my Master’s degree project on the implementation of promotional restrictions on High Fat Sugar Salt (HFSS) products online (link) led to a strong interest in researching digital features that could influence our food choices.

For my PhD, I work closely with my supervisory team, Dr Sally Moore, Dr Victoria Jenneson and Professor Michelle Morris, who all provide critical guidance to bring my research ambitions to life.

The long-term vision for my work is to develop crucial research outputs on Digital Food Environments to guide the development of digital features and government policies that can encourage the shift towards healthier and more sustainable food purchases.

Balancing My Unique Situation


I am fortunate to have my work funded by the Leeds Doctoral Scholarship, which involved a highly competitive application process for one of the seven awards made available to University of Leeds applicants in 2023. My experience is also quite unique in that I am also undertaking a full-time job as a Regulatory Affairs Advisor at a research consultancy (Campden BRI) whilst carrying out my work as a part-time Postgraduate Researcher (University of Leeds). Both roles are highly interconnected, particularly considering the policy implications of my work in digital settings. Balancing a full-time job and part-time PhD is no small task and is something that I am continuing to navigate. Still, having a PhD project I am super passionate about and a highly supportive circle is helping to keep me grounded, and I look forward to sharing more details on how I balance this going forward.

Reflecting on the First 3 Months

The first three months have been all about deep diving into the published work on Digital Food Environments, developing my research ideas and refining them into distinct projects. I have also had the chance to make many new connections with key contacts across the field, including contacts from the World Health Organisation, Nesta, Department for Food, Environment & Rural Affairs, FoodSteps, Open Food Facts, The George Institute, Nourish Network, Spoon Guru and The Food Foundation. Connecting with these stakeholders has been an exciting learning opportunity for me and has really helped with developing my own research plans.


As part of my full-time work life, in the past three months I have had the fantastic opportunity to present on several training courses and deliver two guest lectures to students at the University of Leeds and Oxford Brookes University. These presentations have covered a variety of topics, including food labelling, additives, packaging, promotional restrictions and careers in Regulatory Affairs. For the past few years, I have always had a big fear of presenting and so set myself the task to build up the skill. These recent opportunities have allowed me to conquer that fear and really prepare for presenting future outputs from my PhD.

Biggest challenge in the first 3 months: Realising that a PhD is a marathon, not a sprint, and balancing commitments whilst maintaining a social life.

Biggest opportunity for growth in the first 3 months: Connecting with lots of key contacts to understand the potential impact of my work.

What’s on the Horizon?


My first project is about the features available within Digital Food Environments that influence consumer food purchases. At the end of January, I am presenting a 3-minute flash presentation to academics at the University of Leeds Food Science & Nutrition Postgraduate Researcher Conference, where I will share details about the vision for my PhD and the projects I plan to carry out. I am really looking forward to talking more about this area of research! The field is rapidly expanding and I am excited to see how it progresses over the coming years.