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Eating for Health: Addressing health inequality in Nottingham through improving food and nutrition

    Cohort 2025 PhD Project

    About The Project

    This project seeks to co-produce a model of community healthcare for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire focused on improving diet, food and nutrition. Pervasive health inequalities exist across the city and county which disproportionately affect the way that chronic disease and ill health, related to food and nutrition, impact on different communities and groups.   

    The project builds on the previous Diet in Nottingham (DiNo) research which examined the wider determinants of health and barriers to healthier lifestyles that impact and influence the development of Type 2 diabetes and obesity across Nottingham City’s diverse communities. This work found how intersecting factors at the individual, group, regional and national levels affecting people’s diets, varied amongst different communities in Nottingham. It also identified the way in which multiple organisations, including leisure centres, schools and religious institutions, are involved in shaping the food choices of different groups.   

    This PhD project will deepen and extend the DiNo research, collecting data from a broader geographical area across Nottinghamshire and with a wider range of groups and communities. Findings from the research will help to understand the barriers to disease prevention, self-management, accessing support and care, including, but not limited to, race, culture, heritage, education, geographical area, age, and family dynamics. Further, the project will contribute to the co-production of community care services relating to food and nutrition, as well as the health conditions affected by these (i.e., obesity and Type 2 diabetes).  

    Project Aims 

    The overall aims of the project are:    

    1. Understand the cultural/heritage context around food and nutrition in certain populations in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, in relation to obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and other long-term health conditions.   
    1. Understand how local and community infrastructure and resources can positively or negatively impact access and decision-making around food and nutrition in these populations, and how different populations are impacted differently by these.   
    1. Understand how to reach and engage with populations with higher health inequity, empower them to make positive, sustainable health-related decisions, and keep them engaged long-term in health care and support.   
    1. Understand the challenges and obstacles specific to underrepresented groups and those from populations with higher health inequity (e.g. culture, race, geography, education) that exist in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. 

    Project Team