Global Youth Essay Competition and Research Dissemination: Youth as Agents of Change

Author: Priyanka Kotak

Reviewed and edited by: Sumantra (Shumone) Ray and Sarah Anderson

The morning of 13th December was dedicated to research dissemination and youth engagement at the 11th International Summit on Food, Nutrition & Health. Hosted at St Leon

ards School in St Andrews, the setting reflected the Summit’s commitment to education, early leadership, and intergenerational dialogue, reinforcing the role of both emerging research and youth voices in shaping future food and nutrition systems.

This final morning brought together two complementary strands of the Summit’s mission. The announcement of the BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health Scientific Poster Competition results highlighted the strength and diversity of current nutrition research, while NNEdPro’s first Global Youth Essay Competition created space for young people to critically engage with global food, nutrition, and planetary health challenges. Together, these sessions underscored the importance of knowledge exchange, capacity building, and empowering the next generation as active contributors to policy-relevant dialogue.

Headmaster Will Gainsford opened the session, welcoming participants and setting the tone for a morning centred on curiosity, critical thinking, and youth-led ideas.

Research Dissemination: Abstract and Poster Competition

The day began by celebrating today’s

nutrition innovators, as the results of the BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health Scientific Poster Competition were announced. This year’s competition received a record number of submissions, showcasing cutting-edge research shaping contemporary food and nutrition science and offering inspiration for the many

directions in which the field continues to evolve.

The diversity of topics spanned clinical and precision nutrition, public health nutrition, nutrition education, food systems, and sustainability. All accepted abstracts will be published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, supporting global knowledge sharing across the nutrition community.

2025 Abstract Winners 

Winner 

The effect of flexitarian, time-restricted eating on body composition in young men without obesity: a factorial randomised controlled trial (The FlexiFast® Study) 

Marta Lonnie, Lidia Wadolowska, Graham Horgan, Alexandra M. Johnstone 

Runner-up 

True Cost Accounting for Food (TCAF): Tool or Trap for Just Food System Transformation? 

Rolf Arnold, Agathe Crosnier, Kate Dassesse, Emilia Schmitt, Evelyn Markoni, Laurence Jeangros, Franziska Götze, Theresa Tribaldos 

Second runner-up 

Daily potato consumption increases parasympathetic activity, assessed by 24‑hour heart rate variability, in healthy adults: results from the STARCHy randomised controlled trial 

Anya R. Klarner, Sarah E. Berry, Wendy L. Hall 

View all abstracts here. 

Youth Essay Competition 

After three days of Summit proceedings focused on experts working across food and nutrition, this session shifted attention to the voices of young people internationally who will help shape the future of the field. Centred on the theme Youth as Agents of Change: Fresh Perspectives and Solutions on Global Food and Nutrition Challenges, NNedPro’s first Global Youth Essay Competition was open to young people aged 13 to 19, and invited them to engage with real-world issues via structured topics across three broad themes: Food and Nutrition Policy; From Human to Planetary Health; and Nutrition and Health. 

Junior essays most frequently explored the nutrition and health theme, focusing on how everyday food environments, education, and behavioural factors influence wellbeing. Many demonstrated a strong ability to connect campaign ideas to their own lived experience, often grounding global nutrition challenges and solutions in school or community contexts. In contrast, senior essays largely focused on food and nutrition policy, demonstrating a more advanced understanding of the broader dynamics shaping evolving food systems. 

2025 Youth Essay Competition Winners 

Junior Category (Ages 13 to 15) 

Winner: Rose Howison  

Runner-up: Utkarsh Gupta  

Joint second runners-up: Eva Sampson and Lennja Bowels  

Senior Category (Ages 16 to 19) 

Joint winners: Maryam Bahzad and Natalie Tha  

Runner-up: Adit Mital  

Joint second runners-up: Chidera Chioma  

Finalists were also invited to present their essays (either in-person or online), condensing their work into three-minute presentations. Translating substantial research into such a concise format is no small task, yet it is a vital skill to develop for a future in science - ideas that cannot be communicated clearly are difficult to advocate for or implement.  

Presentations were followed by a judging panel discussion marked by optimism and a shared recognition of the quality of submissions across both age groups. What stood out was participants’ capacity to use statistics and conduct research to support their arguments, alongside a clear understanding of the relationship between macro-level food systems and policy and micro-level action in communities and schools. The competition structure encouraged students not only to identify problems, but to articulate their own perspectives and propose practical, evidence-informed solutions. 

Notably, some finalists even reflected on how the process of writing their essay prompted real-world action, for example, investigating food waste in their own school environment,

illustrating the tangible impact of reflective, research-based learning that engaging in this competition offered. Further, these essays demanded interdisciplinary thinking: the broad topics enabled students to draw connections between biological science and social science to create change – a skill that might not be expected given that subjects are typically taught discretely in schools, yet participants managed to make these links impressively well.  

Writing an essay of this nature and subsequently presenting it orally requires critical engagement with evidence, the synthesis of complex ideas, as well as confidence and conviction in proposing solutions. These skills are essential not only for producing rigorous academic work but also for putting the interventions discussed in their essays into practice. As someone who has only recently completed postgraduate study, it is encouraging to see school-age students already demonstrating such strong research, analytical, and communication skills. 

Presenters of the Day 

Junior Category – In person: 

Rose Howison  

Senior Category – In person: 

Ginny R. Hathaway  

Junior Category – Virtual: 

Utkarsh Gupta  

Senior Category – Virtual: 

Maryam Bahzad  

View the finalists’ essays here. 

Closing Remarks – The Importance of Youth Action 

The session closed with Inspiring Tomorrow’s Thinkers, a talk by Dr Patrick Cortbaoui, Director of the Institute for Global Food Security at McGill University. He highlighted the demographic reality that young people already constitute the majority in many regions, yet food systems are too often shaped without their voices. As those who will live longest with the consequences of today’s decisions, from food insecurity to biodiversity loss, young people must be more than passive recipients of inherited challenges, but rather, co-owners of the solutions. 

This Global Youth Essay Competition explicitly demonstrated that generational continuity is fundamental to building sustainable, future-proof food systems. Hosting an education-focused competition within a school created space for young people to research, innovate, and articulate their ideas. By doing so, it effectively handed the baton to the next generation and recognised the value that the youth can, and already bring to shaping solutions - evident in both the thoughtfulness of their essays and impassioned presentations.