The conference will take place within the Innovation Complex.
A number of Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University academics are involved in organising the 2023 Joint Conference of the Nutrition Societies of New Zealand and Australia, which is being held from 28 November to 1 December.
The conference, which is being held on the university’s Auckland campus, centres on the theme of Nutrition and Wellbeing in Oceania. The programme includes keynote speakers from across Oceania and the United States, as well as workshop sessions and networking events.
Professor Pamela von Hurst, who is Chair of the organising committee, says hosting the conference on the university’s Auckland campus is a great opportunity to put nutrition and dietetics at Massey on the map, as well as highlight the importance of nutrition as a science in Oceania.
“As non-communicable, lifestyle-related diseases become an increasingly challenging problem throughout Oceania, it is more important than ever to recognise the role of nutrition, and therefore nutritional science, in the prevention of disease. This conference brings together nutrition scientists from the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand to learn from each other and form collaborations beneficial to all.”
The event is looking to be the biggest in the conference’s history, with 380 attendees registered. The array of keynote speakers will cover topics such as nutrition in education settings, nutrition and wellbeing, nutrition and women’s health, monitoring healthy diets, and nutrition in our land and water.
Massey staff involved in the conference include Professor Nick Roskruge, Ātiawa, Ngāti Tama-ariki, Professor Cath Conlon, Associate Professor Lisa Te Morenga, Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei, Te Uri o Hau, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Associate Professors Kathryn Beck, Dr Nikki Renall, Taranaki, Dr Nick Smith from the Riddet Institute, and PhD students Maria Casale and Cassie Slade.
Also taking place at the conference is the launch of the Federation of Oceanic Nutrition Societies (FONS), which aims to bring people together for the advancement of nutrition science, health and wellbeing throughout Oceania.
Supported by the International Union of Nutrition Sciences, FONS has been created following consultation with stakeholders representing various sectors (nutrition, dietetics, public health, government, universities etc) across Oceania. Consultation confirmed the usefulness of a federation to represent and be a collective voice for nutrition in this part of the world.
It is particularly fitting that the conference is to be held at Massey, as the university this year celebrated 10 years of the Nutrition and Dietetics major within the Master of Science.
By introducing the major in 2012, Massey offered the first Auckland-based dietetics training programme for students who had completed a Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition. The foundation of the course has provided an optimal pathway into the workforce and continues to grow.
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