Connecting Nutrition Students to Community Public Health Practice

A huge thank you to our incredible team of 22 academic volunteers for helping bring our community engagement and research model to life at the University of Leeds.

Through interactive activities such as Traffic Light Food Label Snakes and Ladders and Cultural Food Scavenger Hunts, students explored how evidence-based nutrition messages can be translated into practical, engaging activities for real community settings.

The session was led by Daniel Essom, Chief Executive of Rizon Health, alongside Dr Sally Moore RD PhD, Programme Leader for the MSc and BSc Nutrition courses at the University of Leeds. This marked the first of two co-production sessions in preparation for our upcoming Food Festival on 9 May — and represents just the tip of the iceberg for our knowledge exchange and civic partnership.

The Food Festival forms part of a broader public health strategy designed to improve social inclusion, promote healthy eating, and engage communities who may be less likely to access traditional health promotion approaches. Rather than delivering nutrition education in a clinical or classroom-style format, the model focuses on prevention through celebration, enjoyment, cultural food, practical activities, and community participation.

This partnership also creates valuable opportunities for students to apply their academic learning in a real-world setting. By working directly on community-facing activities, students can develop a deeper understanding of health inequalities, behaviour change, public engagement, and the importance of making nutrition education accessible, relevant, and enjoyable.

As part of the wider evaluation, MSc Nutrition student Lucy Richardson will independently assess the feasibility of this approach to help inform future improvements, funding opportunities, and the development of our public health model. Her work complements the Health Promotion and Nutrition Behaviour module, where Leeds nutrition students explore how to bring health messages to life and support healthier diets in practice.

A special thank you to Sarah Dennis and the Global Food and Environment Institute, University of Leeds, whose seed funding has made this partnership between Rizon Health and the University of Leeds possible.

Appreciation also to Dr Katherine Markwell for capturing the session through photography.