Dr Suzanne Spence
Lecturer in the Human Nutrition and Exercise Research Centre and former NU Research Fellow
I am currently a lecturer based within the Population Health Sciences Institute. I followed an unusual path to academic independence, initially working as a children’s nurse in the NHS and internationally. I then made the move to become a Research Assistant at Newcastle University in 2007. Following this I completed my PhD in 2015 and won a NU Research Fellowship (NURF) in 2018.
The faculty fellowship allowed me to develop research independence and external collaborations, secure funding, appoint PhD students, access training and mentorship, and develop skills to provide academic expertise on local and national issues related to school food. All of these have been key in supporting my path to research independence.
The Faculty of Medical Sciences has a strong record in public health policy research. During my fellowship I found that Newcastle supports ‘real-world’ research and translation into practice, encourages engagement with external stakeholders locally and nationally, and importantly, an appreciation of the challenges to accomplish this. I’ve also had the pleasure to work with senior leaders from across disciplines who have taken time to support and guide my career progression.
At Newcastle there is support for ‘real-world’ research and translation into practice.
My research focuses on improving what children and young people eat and drink across the socio-economic spectrum through school-based policies and interventions. Public health research is a team-effort, where our work has led to the implementation of Universal Infant School Meals across England, and built evidence to understand the complexity of the school food system. Our research also has an international impact, we researched the facilitators and challenges for stakeholders in Brazil to provide healthy and sustainable school meals in primary schools.
My Long term ambitions are to lead my own team and develop evidence-based approaches to positively improve children and young people’s diets, which is central to wider health and well-being issues.