PhD Food Intolerances, Symptoms and Food Avoidance in Older Australians

Food Innovation on the Central Coast seeks to recruit a dynamic research student to undertake an exploratory degree to delve deeply into a largely overlooked health and wellbeing issue for some older Australians.

Food intolerances, including lactose malabsorption, FODMAP intolerances and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) are common in the community, yet less is known about the prevalence and self-management by seniors. This is important, as changing gut physiology health, the compounding actions of pharmaceutical drugs and ill-health may all impact on the prevalence and severity of food intolerances and IBS. As ageing has many possible adverse impacts on gut health this program will focus on breath hydrogen (a measure of mal-digestion) and symptom responses to a range of poorly digested carbohydrates, including lactose and fructose.

This project will include on-line questionnaires, focus group discussions and home-based breath hydrogen analysis. The project is therefore suitable for graduates from a wide range of possible discipline areas and can be tailored according to the discipline-expertise of the successful candidate. The position is primarily located on the Ourimbah campus, with the successful candidate joining the Doctoral Training Centre for Food and Agribusiness.

PhD Scholarship details

Funding: $28,854 per annum (2022 rate) indexed annually. For a PhD candidate, the living allowance scholarship is for 3.5 years and the tuition fee scholarship is for four years. Scholarships also include up to $1,500 relocation allowance.

Supervisor: David Cameron-Smith

Available to: Domestic students

PhD

Eligibility Criteria

The applicant will need to meet the minimum eligibility criteria  for admission.

Application Procedure

Interested applicants should send an email expressing their interest along with scanned copies of their academic transcripts, CV, a brief statement of their research interests and a proposal that specifically links them to the research project.

Please send the email expressing interest to d.cameronsmith@newcastled.edu.au by 5pm on 01 February 2023.