Update from the Irish Section

Dr Emma Feeney, UCD Institute of Food and Health

It was with great pleasure that I took up the reins of Irish Section Secretary of The Nutrition Society in the Summer of 2022. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to Dr Anne Nugent, who recently vacated the role, and who kindly completed an additional year in the role during my maternity leave.

I am an Assistant Professor at UCD, where I teach modules in Human Eating behaviour, Principles of Sensory Science, and Food ingredients to both undergraduates and MSc students, and this role comes up at an encouraging time of hope and anticipation, as we all make the move towards face-to-face events.

Currently within the Irish Section, we are planning for a number of conferences. Notably, the Irish Section Summer Conference in 2023 will be hosted at TUS Athlone, 14-17 June, led by Dr. Trish Heavey as the local organiser. With the theme of ‘Understanding the role of sex and gender in nutrition research’, the topic is particularly timely, and aims to improve our understanding of how to identify and interpret sex and gender differences in nutrition research and to understand how these might affect or influence nutrition interventions and outcomes. This upcoming conference promises to be an exciting one, and will cover many areas of interest under this umbrella subject matter.

Continuing the theme of conferences, many of you will already be aware that plans are in motion to grow the traditional Nutrition Society Annual Summer Conference to a larger, more congress-style meeting over a 4-day event. This will leverage partner organisations, allowing a broader and more general audience to attend the meetings. The Irish Section is delighted to be hosting the inaugural meeting in Belfast in the summer of 2024. Plans are afoot, and we will share more details of this highly anticipated conference in the coming months. In the meantime, I look forward to engaging with all of you in the coming years.